The Premier League said its own figures showed the number of correct decisions in matches was at 96%, compared to 82% before VAR was introduced.

It claimed there were only five incorrect VAR interventions last season, compared to 105 correct calls – an improvement on 2022-23, with 11 wrong VAR decisions to 105 which were right.

“There were actually less errors last year than before. A small number of incidents live large in the memory,” Webb added.

He also said that match officials, including VAR, “only actually take away one in every 25 goals”.

The league’s chief football officer Scholes said the system will “never be perfect” but claimed that “four out of five want to keep VAR, based on our independent study”.

He added: “That says one in five would get rid of it and that’s a big minority. And most of the four out of five say we need to improve it.”

Scholes accepts that VAR “comes with a cost”, but explained: “The cost is partly inevitable – there are delays to the game, the supporter experience is poor. We know that and we’re not going to get rid of that, it’s an inevitable part of VAR. But our job is to minimise it.

“Our job is to make sure the delays are reduced to the point of reasonableness and the supporter experience is improved as well.”

So how will those two points be addressed?

It was also announced this week that the Premier League Match Centre, external account on social media platform X will post “near-live” explanations of VAR decisions.

The sport’s lawmakers Ifab have ruled out broadcasting the in-game discussions between officials as “too chaotic”, but are continuing trials of referees announcing decisions to the crowd, as seen in the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

So for now, Scholes and Webb say that to improve the experience for fans at top-flight games this season they plan to “put more replays on the big screens” and make more use of social media.

Scholes said the Premier League are “potentially” going to trial in-game announcements, but not yet because “with the changes we’re making we don’t want to put additional pressure on the referees”.

Webb hosts a regular show called Match Officials Mic’d Up which plays out the audio discussions between referees and the VAR around selected key decisions.

Since VAR was introduced, the guidance for its use has always been to correct “clear and obvious errors”. That measurement can also be subjective.

‘Clear and obvious’ remains the key test. But Scholes said they have a “six-point plan” approved by clubs and explained to players, which includes:

Scholes explained: “When we do see [VAR] we’ll see it applied quicker so that the delays that occurred after the incident at Liverpool last year which damaged everybody… I think you’ll see a reduction in delays and fewer VAR interventions.”

Webb added: “You don’t see it that much in the Premier League anyway, our intervention levels are less than pretty much every other league anywhere.

“What you will see is more efficiency. We know here that people don’t want forensic examination when that’s not necessary. We’re looking for those clear errors that should jump off the screen and if that doesn’t exist in the situation then check complete and we move on.”