Motherwell defender Paul McGinn says Scottish football’s VAR madness has gone too far… as his famous brother John chips in with savage putdown on the state of refereeing north of the border

Motherwell captain Paul McGinn has branded the recent spate of red cards in Scottish football for denying a goalscoring opportunity as complete madness — and says the SFA need to get a grip on an issue spiralling out of control.

The 35-year-old was stunned during the Fir Park side’s 2-0 Scottish Cup loss at Aberdeen on Wednesday night when they were reduced to nine men after defender Liam Gordon had tripped home forward Toyosi Olusanya just inside his own half.

McGinn felt both he and Stephen O’Donnell were providing cover and could barely believe it when referee John Beaton, who had flashed a yellow card for the foul, was called to the pitchside monitor by VAR Chris Graham and performed a U-turn by upgrading Gordon’s booking to a ordering-off.

McGinn, who saw his younger brother and Scotland star John label VAR in Scotland ‘a mess’ on social media site X, insists his frustration comes from a background of other recent sendings-off in similar circumstances, including:

• Celtic’s Auston Trusty being dismissed in his side’s 2-2 league draw at Hearts last month after a yellow card for bringing down Pierre Landry Kabore was changed to a red after a VAR review.

• Falkirk defender Liam Henderson being deemed to have denied a goalscoring opportunity when fouling Max Watters on halfway during his side’s 3-2 home loss to Dundee United last Saturday and having a yellow upgraded to a red after a video re-run.

John Beaton is sent to the monitor to take another look at Liam Gordon’s challenge on Olusanya

Motherwell defender Paul McGinn insists the recent spate of reds is embarrassing for the game

• And Dundee United’s Iurie Iovu going for an early bath in the opening minutes of the Tannadice side’s home cup win over Spartans for a bodycheck on Cameron Russell.

McGinn believes officials have dug themselves a hole by continuing to give these decisions in order to justify previous mistakes and reckons SFA refereeing chief Willie Collum, who has been contacted by Motherwell for an explanation of Gordon’s dismissal, must take action immediately.

‘It’s happened four times recently,’ he stated. ‘It’s not an isolated incident.

‘I watched Liam Henderson get done. Never a red card. I’ve watched the Dundee United boy the other night. Never a red card. And I don’t think the Celtic one at Hearts is a red card either, so I don’t know what’s going on — but they’d better fix it and fix it fast.

‘I’m talking to all the Aberdeen players on the park (on Wednesday) and they’re all agreeing it can’t be a red card.

‘I think they’ve just got themselves into a wee issue where they’re trying to defend the last decision, if they do it consistently. I don’t think that’s the right thing to do. For me, they’re all not red cards.’

Aston Villa and Scotland midfielder John McGinn made his displeasure clear on social media

Asked if he would have caught Olusanya, with Motherwell 1-0 down and still in the game, McGinn replied: ‘Yeah, all day long. He’s got to run with the ball as well. If he beats me, it’s time to hang up the boots, to be honest.

‘You would almost half-understand it if the ref had given a split-second decision and then they’d thought: “Right, we’ll not overturn that. But to then… I don’t know.

‘We were a bit toothless around the box (against Aberdeen), so we’ll just look at that and then, hopefully, they can sort out the sort of madness that I’m seeing.’

McGinn believes Motherwell did well not to let tempers flare on the pitch after Gordon’s sending-off. In responding to Beaton’s U-turn, Fir Park manager Jens Berthel Askou said: ‘It is a mystery and will remain a mystery for as long as I live how they can change that decision.’

McGinn’s brother John, the Scotland and Aston Villa midfielder, also took to social media site X on Wednesday night to state that ‘Scottish VAR is a mess’. He also criticised the VAR process at Pittodrie when writing: ‘I’ve sent you to the screen — let’s send you to an angle from the North Sea to back it up.’

‘He’d better not target me now.’ said the Motherwell defender. ‘That’s on him.

Aberdeen’s Geiger was also red-carded in a match that was not as ill-mannered as it seemed

‘I think he was probably just frustrated watching it as he couldn’t do anything about it, but, yeah, we did well not to boil over on the pitch.

‘As I said, I think it’s something they need to to nip in the bud quite quickly.’

At the time of Gordon’s sending-off, Motherwell and Aberdeen were both already down to 10 men. Oscar Priestman was red-carded for the visitors after a second-minute foul on Lyall Cameron at the edge of the box and home midfielder Dennis Geiger went after a VAR review for a high tackle on Lukas Fadinger.

Asked about Priestman’s expulsion, McGinn said: ‘From where I was, I don’t think Cameron’s getting the ball and I was kind of hoping that would come into consideration, but he slips and it’s right on the edge of the box.

‘If Cameron does get it, it’s probably a goal, so that one I can almost understand. I think it’s unlucky, but I can understand.

‘(Oscar) was gutted, but he can’t feel bad, really. He just slips.’

McGinn had also regarded Motherwell as serious contenders for the Scottish Cup and admits that makes the events of Wednesday at Pittodrie all the more difficult to take.

‘It’s frustrating,’ he said. ‘I’d imagine, after Rangers, we were probably the second favourites.’