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This video can not be played Trusty sent off for swipe at Mc Grath Martin O'Neill is of the view VAR [video assistant referee] 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 Mc Grath, 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. "Then he has to trot over to change his mind. It's ridiculous. " Celtic call for VAR review after Trusty appeal fails Old Firm 'buckle under pressure' as incredible title race twists again 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. "But when a referee sees the incident themself, what he's being told is 'no you didn't see that incident, you didn't see that, you saw something else, ' that's got to be debilitating for the referee, it's got to be. " Visit our Celtic page for all the latest news, analysis and fan views Get Celtic news notifications in the BBC Sport app Champions League: Real Madrid heading through, 10-man Juve come from 5-2 down to level Sri Lanka collapse against New Zealand to exit T20 World Cup Man Utd post profit but debt rises to £1. 3bn The Bafta-winning documentary everyone is talking about Actor Rosamund Pike joins Romesh in the studio Squeeze perform alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra Have weight loss drugs gone too far? 'Aberdeen savour the most perfect game ever played' How Mc Tominay became a Napoli icon after Man Utd exit Scotland men's internationals to be shown live on BBC Commonwealth Games: Why is it so special to be part of Team Scotland? From titles to tinpottery - rank Scotland's top 10 clubs 'Historical moment' as Bodo/Glimt succeed against all odds 'The day Brook showed he is an England leader' 'It would be catastrophic' - are Spurs too big to go down? 'Equal in decay' - Mayweather v Pacquiao is another boxing 'carnival' Why Champions League return is crucial to Man Utd Why has it gone so wrong for Aston Martin? Five reasons for England's Six Nations slide Infantino sure of 'spectacular' World Cup in Mexico despite violence Five talking points from round three of Six Nations EFL's earliest-ever relegation - how Sheff Wed's sorry season unfolded 'Losing the dressing room' - what does it mean and how can it happen? Who are the winners and losers from F1 pre-season testing? How Hodgkinson broke a 23-year-old world record How safe is bare-knuckle boxing as it fights for mainstream appeal? Copyright © 2026 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.