Archive February 25, 2026

Martin O’Neill is of the view VAR is “debilitating” for officials on the pitch as he branded the Scottish FA process for appealing against decisions “worthless”.

On Tuesday, Celtic lost their bid to have Auston Trusty’s red card against Hibernian overturned.

A club statement was critical of the ruling and called for an urgent review of VAR use, complaining that “VAR again decided to intervene to ‘re-referee’ an initial decision”.

Trusty was dismissed after a review of his chop on the arm of Jamie McGrath, while the pair tussled at a corner kick, leaving veteran manager O’Neill perplexed.

“I did the interview after the game and someone asked me if we were going to appeal it and I thought I’m really not sure about it, the appeals in this day and age are seemingly worthless,” he said.

“But when I get the info back from the club at what has been said in VAR I thought yeah, absolutely, because the referee has seen the incident, it’s not like he hasn’t seen it.

“And then you’ve got a very excited man on VAR saying ‘delay, delay, delay’ and they ask him and he says he’s going to have a word with the players.

O’Neill, in Germany for the second leg of their Europa League play-off with Stuttgart, added: “All I’m saying is that VAR, in time, we won’t need a referee.

“VAR will do it for them from wherever they’re doing it from because that’s what they do.

“They’ve asked the referee to go over something that he’s actually seen. He’s seen it, it’s not like he’s missed the incident.

“He’d said it was nothing, ‘I’m going to have a word with the guys’. I’ve now got a player who is going to miss three games.”

Asked if he agreed with the notion of VAR officials re-refereeing matches, O’Neill replied: “Of course they are. It’s such a nonsense.

“It’s fine if they’ve missed something dramatic and it constitutes something that they need to have a look at.

Daniel Dubois refused a fist bump from world champion Fabio Wardley as the pair came face-to-face at a lively news conference in London.

The world title fight between two of Britain’s biggest punchers takes place at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena on 9 May.

After some long-winded bickering between the two camps, the fighters – relatively restrained until that point – finally sparked into life.

Wardley said he would “flatten” the challenger. “My power is proven. If there’s time left on the clock, I’m taking you out of the fight,” he added.

The 31-year-old – with 19 stoppages in 20 wins – will make the first defence of his WBO crown, having claimed the ‘interim’ title against Joseph Parker before being upgraded to full champion when Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt.

Former IBF champion Dubois, 28, is coming off a devastating knockout loss to generational great Usyk last summer.

“If you look back, when it gets dicey, he’s not up for it,” Wardley said of Dubois, who has faced accusations of folding too easily in his three stoppage defeats.

Wednesday’s news conference took place at Dutch Hall, a converted 16th-century church tucked away in the heart of the city.

Dubois – never one for lengthy monologues – kept his answers short and matter of fact.

But the Londoner was clear in his intention. “Victory by knockout, by any means necessary,” he said.

When the fighters eventually stepped forward for the obligatory face-off, Dubois looked away first as Wardley smirked.

Before the face-off drama, a twitchy, stone-faced Dubois glanced around at the stained-glass windows as the managers went toe-to-toe backing their men.

Dubois’ representative Sam Jones predicted his fighter would “flatten” Ipswich’s Wardley in quick time.

Wardley’s manager Michael Ofo responded in kind, saying Wardley would “destroy Daniel Dubois early”.

The back-and-forth rumbled on, Wardley grinning as the volume increased.

Ofo referenced Dubois’ team and the recent changes in his training set-up. After the loss to Usyk, Dubois – who has worked with five trainers in his pro career – briefly parted ways with coach Don Charles before swiftly reversing the decision.

“It’s going to be hard for Daniel to overcome all the things going on in his camp,” Ofo said.

“The only person over there should be Stan [Dubois’ father] because we know he makes all the decisions.”

Charles responded that “talk is cheap” before launching into his own war of words.

After all that verbal sparring, promoter Frank Warren restored a little order.

“The winner of this will be fighting in a big stadium fight,” the Queensberry boss said.

“But to get there, they have to lace them up and we’ll see who is the best on the night.

You are never going to get a stream of soundbites from Dubois, but he usually gives you one moment. Before facing Anthony Joshua in September 2024, he famously banged the table with his fist.

This time, he kept that same fist to himself – and that made just as many headlines.

He does not appear to relish the media spotlight and that was evident again. He looked reluctant during press duties before the news conference.

Wardley, meanwhile, is entirely at ease with the limelight and happy to trade lines.

When the news conference started, there was more needle than many expected.

But strip all that away and this is a proper heavyweight fight. Credit to Wardley for selecting a high-risk opponent for his first defence. Credit to Dubois for swerving the easy payday after such a destructive loss to Usyk.