AFTER years of waiting, goal-line technology will finally be used this season in the Premier League.

It is long overdue and will finally call time on the endless debates of whether the ball crossed the line or not.

No more will we have to endure the infuriating stupidity of an instant television replay quite clearly indicating a goal and the referee being powerless to use it to help him.

Everyone seems to be in agreement that the introduction of such technology is a good thing. But is it?

On the face of it, of course it is, because teams won’t be denied the goals they are entitled to, which is the point of the game, isn’t it?

But I’m not so sure it will stop the bickering over decisions. All it will do is change the focus of the argument. No longer will managers blame the referee for not awarding a goal.

Instead, when the goal has been scored by the opposition, they will simply blame him for not awarding a free-kick or spotting an offside in the build-up.

In other words, ‘yes, it was a goal but it shouldn’t have been allowed to stand.’ I don’t think we’ll have to wait long for that to happen.