Former referee Neil Swarbrick insists fans do not need to worry about lengthy delays to Premier League games when the video assistant referee is introduced for the forthcoming season.

The recent Women’s World Cup was marred by a plethora of controversial uses of VAR and the time taken to make decisions.

Both the Premier League and Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) will be under the spotlight when the new top-flight campaign begins on August 9, with the video technology being used in the division for the first time.

The Premier League is the last major European league to introduce VAR after suggestions it would be used last season were dispelled.

But Swarbrick feels delaying the decision, for whatever reason, proved beneficial in fully preparing officials for the changes VAR brings.

“Ultimately the decision (to wait for the 2019/20 season) has been made by the Premier League, clubs and stakeholders.

“Personally I feel that is for the benefit of the game, it has given us another year to certainly practice with the referees, gain experience from other countries and competitions that use VAR and I think it has put us in a really good standing point of where we are going to intervene in certain situations.”