The World Cup was often mired in the debate over the rights and wrongs of Video Assistant Referee, and it features again at Sunday's Community Shield season’s curtain-raiser at Wembley. But when the Premier League kicks off next week it will do so without access to VAR – and I believe that is a huge mistake.

That doesn’t mean I think VAR is perfect, but when used correctly it can be a huge help to officials, and I wonder if the Premier League is already regretting its decision not to use VAR this season. The clubs voted on the issue back in April, when numerous FA Cup matches had been blighted – rather than improved – by the technology, and at the time there was little dissent when they opted to continue live trials for another season.

If they were making the same decision today I think they would come to a very different conclusion. The figures I have been shown by Fifa state that there were a total of 455 incidents checked by the VAR during the World Cup, an average of 7.1 per game. Only 20 of those actually led to a review by the on-field official, with 17 decisions changed as a result. What that means is that without VAR the on-field officials got 95.6 per cent of their decisions correct, but with VAR that went up to 99.35 per cent. That is a huge difference, and I can assure you that the referees themselves cannot wait for VAR to be introduced, because without it they are being hung out to dry. Mistakes are inevitable, but we have access to technology that can help them make the right call nearly every time, particularly on black-and-white issues such as offside. Not allowing them access to that technology is perverse.