Mads Frokjaer launches explosive VAR rant as Preston North End spell referenced
The midfielder left PNE in early February after two-and-a-half seasons
Former Preston North End man Mads Frokjaer has launched a scatching and explosive rant about VAR.
The Dane made the permanent move to hometown Danish club, Brondby, in early February. That brought to an end his 2.5 year spell with the Lilywhites, whom signed him from Odense BK back in 2023.
Since returning to Denmark, Frokjaer has featured regularly with 11 of his 14 appearances coming from the start. He scored his first goal for Brondby on Thursday, but Steve Cooper’s side fell to a 1-3 defeat in extra-time against Copenhagen.
In the Danish Superliga Conference League play-off final, Frokjaer equalised for 10-man Brondby with 80 minutes gone. However, Youssoufa Moukoko scored twice for the visitors in extra-time to reach the UEFA Conference League qualifiers.
There was controversy in extra time, with Brondby thinking they had made it 2-2 only for the goal to be ruled offside. TV replays made the decision look debatable but Sho Fukuda was said to be eight centimeters offside.
Frokjaer did not hold back post-match, telling Viaplay: “Can anyone really trust the lines being drawn out there - by someone sitting there like they’re playing Minecraft - are actually 100% accurate?
“Especially when we all make mistakes. I make bad passes, I forget to track back, so I make mistakes too - and people sitting in some f------ TV booth make mistakes as well. So, where’s the fairness in that?
“I don’t understand why we as a society, and football as a sport, are so obsessed with everything having to be so f------ fair. Life isn’t fair. If they win 3–1, then fair enough. That’s football. We have to be better; it’s not the referees’ fault.
“But why do we have to keep having these conversations after every game? Honestly, after spending two and a half years in England where there wasn’t this kind of thing - mistakes happened all the time but you moved on, because everyone makes mistakes.
“Then people could put their hand up and say, ‘My bad, I made a mistake,’ instead of hiding behind, ‘It’s clear and obvious.’ But what the f--- is ‘clear and obvious’? There’s nothing in life that’s clear and obvious.”
‘Don’t see what we’re getting out of it’
To the written media, he added: “For me, it's not so much about the offside but more about the whole VAR setup we have. I can't really see what it translates into. It hasn't made the game prettier; it's taken the joy and euphoria away from scoring.
“I don't see what we're getting out of it. There haven't been fewer mistakes and yet they do a report after the season and say they made five mistakes. But in reality, you could probably find 15. They don't bother to go into depth with it and they can hide behind it.
“But f--- VAR, try to stand up and say what you think! Everyone makes mistakes. It would’ve been easier if we could shake hands after a game and say, ‘I may have been wrong about that’. Then you are angry as a player in the moment, but you move on from there.
“Sports are emotions and the worst thing you can do is remove the emotions. That's half what we're doing by chasing some perfectionist sense of justice that doesn't exist in life, or in sports. But, we don't lose because of that.”