This is an excerpt from this week's Claret and Amber Alert, a free Motherwell newsletter written by Graeme McGarry that goes out every Thursday at 6pm. To sign up, click here.

Regular readers will be shocked – nay, stunned – to learn that I am in full agreement with Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell’s assessment that football would be much more enjoyable if we consigned VAR to the dustbin of history.

The arguments against the technology are well worn, with the most fundamental of them being that the joy VAR sucks from the game is not worth the small percentage bump in ‘correct’ decisions that referees ultimately arrive at.

The quarterly review of such decisions has actually shown that far from the improvement in the implementation of VAR that was meant to occur as the seasons wore on, the rate of errors is actually increasing. Officials are tying themselves in knots with the technology, and it would be better even for them to take away this added layer of confusion and allow them just to get on with refereeing the game.

The one hope I had with VAR is that it would be a safeguard against what a generous interpretation might deem as mistakes from officials, and a fan would probably call their incompetence. But this has been shown to be a fallacy.

READ MORE: Kettlewell calls for VAR-free Scottish football & slams appeal panel

Take the red card for Motherwell’s Jack Vale at Aberdeen at the weekend. Am I sore because my son talked me into driving three hours there and back, spending a fortune on petrol, pies, tickets, takeaways and the rest, only for him to storm out on the final whistle telling me it wasn’t worth it? Absolutely.

But the incident pointed to a real issue we have with refereeing in Scotland, and the subsequent reaction and interviews from the Motherwell players were revealing.

Firstly, I will never understand why a referee sprints over to the location of an incident frantically pulling away at his top pocket in an attempt to get the red card out, as if he only has a three-second window to make the call.

Had Craig Napier taken a breath, he may well have still arrived at the same (flawed, in my opinion) conclusion, but at least it would have been a considered decision.

Ok, I thought. I may not like VAR, but if we have it, at least give the ref a second look. When you have a game-altering decision such as Vale’s challenge, and when it is contentious at the very least, then surely that is when VAR should be stepping in?

But no. It was telling that the Sportscene analysis of the incident from players who have operated at the top level concluded with both Lee Miller and Neil McCann surmising that a clear and obvious error had occurred, and that the red card should be overturned.

It was less than surprising mind you when a panel consisting solely of former officials decided that Motherwell’s appeal should be booted out. No doubt when the independent panel consisting of former pros reviews the incident at the end of the season, they will come to a different conclusion.

The game will still be lost, Vale will still have served a two-match suspension for winning the ball cleanly before an opposition player ploughed into him, and I will still be out a right good few quid only for Napier to have left the wee man with a torn coupon regardless.

I have sympathy with referees to a point. The abuse they receive is horrendous at times, both on the field from players and from the stands. It can even spill into their lives away from the match, which is abhorrent.

But sometimes, they really don’t help themselves. As far as I could see, the Motherwell players on the day – particularly captain Liam Kelly – were simply seeking an explanation from Napier as to why he was so certain that Vale should have been sent off.

What they got in return was the sort of dismissive arrogance you would more readily associate with a headmaster telling off an errant pupil, rather than two grown professionals discussing a major incident in a game.

Has it occurred to referees who behave in this manner that adopting such an attitude only rubs players, managers and fans up the wrong way, and in turn, makes their own lives more difficult? It makes no sense.

READ MORE: Does survival mean Motherwell's season be classed as a successful one?

Say what you will about the decision-making capabilities of the likes of a Willie Young or a Hugh Dallas, but they were respected by the players because they showed respect in return. They could communicate. They also realised the punters weren’t paying their hard-earned money to watch them perform, and tried to stay out of the action whenever they could.

Some of the current crop would do well to heed the lesson. Not every collision between players is a red card. Not every player who questions your decision is deserving of contempt in return. And, most importantly, it’s not about you.