Check complete: the VAR experiment in football has failed - it's time to bin it

LIVERPOOL'S demands for Premier League referees to "release the tapes" and vague threats of "escalation" have turned Saturday's VAR cock-up at Tottenham from another refereeing controversy into something resembling a high-stakes scandal.

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We are now entering day five of VARgate with little sign of any let-up in the relentlessness of the takes around video assistant referee Darren England's failure to award Luis Diaz the opening goal in Liverpool's defeat in north London.

The PGMOL - the body that officiates all Premier League matches - last night released audio of the incident, alongside the findings of a review, which at least proved it was a clanger rather than a conspiracy, but is unlikely to draw a line under the drama.

Much of the debate since the incident has focused on ways to improve VAR's application but I'll spare you my five-point plan for saving the technology because the obvious solution is simply to scrap it altogether.

VAR has made watching and following football immeasurably worse. It would be in the game's best interests to hold up its hands, admit the experiment has failed and take a reassuring step backwards.

More than anything, VAR has robbed football of the unbridled joy of its singular purpose: scoring a goal.

No goal is definite anymore, no scoreline is certain and there is no guarantee the officials will make the right decision anyway.