CALUM Murray, the former SFA Category One and FIFA referee, has warned football could be adversely affected if the use of video replays is brought in to help match officials with their decision making.

The new season in Scotland has been riddled with refereeing controversies with Willie Collum, John McKendrick and Craig Thomson all being subjected to public criticism from players and managers for their handling of high-profile games.

An increasing number of prominent figures in the game would like to see football follow the lead of many other sports – including cricket, rugby union and tennis - and use modern technology more to assist referees.

However, Murray, who is now an SFA Referees Committee member and a referee observer after retiring at the end of last season, believes bringing in video replays could slow the game down to an alarming degree and spoil it as a spectacle.

“I wouldn’t like to see technology brought into football too much," he said. "When it’s a clear decision, is the ball over the line or isn’t it, is it a goal, or if there is a definite decision to make in a natural stoppage in play, I could see it coming in.

“But I wouldn’t like to see a situation where the game is stopped so a tackle can be looked at again because there was a shout for a penalty kick.

"Whilst it might benefit refereeing, it would stop the continuity of play. It would have to be done within certain parameters.

“You can go through 90 minutes of any referee’s performance and find a mistake. You could decide: ‘I’m going to drill down on that mistake’.

"If you wanted to, even if the referee has had a really good game, you could really drill down on the two or three things which he hasn’t done well.”

Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, has been an long-term opponent of video replays being used to aid referees due to his desire to protect the "universality" of the game.

However, the 79-year-old is the subject of criminal proceedings in his native Switzerland and has been suspended. There are hopes world football's governing body will soften their stance on the increased use of modern technology in the future.

But the use of the television match official has caused controversy during the Rugby World Cup in England in the last few weeks with many fans growing increasingly frustrated at the large number of interruptions to games.

The England game against Fiji which opened the tournament last month took 120 minutes – instead of 80 minutes – to complete due to the TMO.

Murray fears it could have a similar detrimental effect on football if it is brought in.

“I actually like it in other sports,” he said. “I like it in tennis, cricket and rugby. I am open minded on it when it comes to football. I wouldn’t say I’m hard and fast.

"But I’m not sure football would benefit from the technology that we have in other sports. Referees would benefit from it. But would the game benefit from it?

“In terms of television coverage, referees have to, like it or not, get used to the fact they are going to get scrutinised. Personally, I think the additional assistant referee route has grown the last couple of years and I think that might continue."