It’s 50 years since Clive Wilkes qualified to be a referee.

The now 69-year-old is one of the finest referees to come out of Gloucestershire, having taken charge of games in both the Premier League and the Championship.

The game has changed hugely over the last half-century, of course – Wilkes hung up his whistle in 2003 after a top-level career spanning almost 20 years – and the way referees control a game today has changed significantly too.

The introduction of VAR has brought about the greatest change and Wilkes, who lives in Corse, isn’t a fan of the new technology.

“It’s something the clubs wanted so it’s not going to go away,” he said. “But it’s not been managed correctly; it’s too inconsistent, match-to-match, week-to-week.

“Football is a simple game – there are only 17 laws – but they’ve fiddled around with the interpretations too much.

“What is a handball today? In my day all you had to decide was if somebody had intentionally handled a ball, that was a simple decision. Now it’s too complicated.”

And while many football fans believe VAR has at least been a success when it comes to ruling on offsides, Wilkes does not agree.

“What difference does a millimetre or a kneecap make?” he said. “It’s all too forensic.

“When I was a referee, we based our decisions on what we called the ‘air gap’. If there was a gap between the forward and the defender then that was offside, but if not, the forward had the benefit of doubt.

“VAR is disallowing too many goals and that wasn’t what it was brought in for. It was brought in to change clear and obvious errors.”

Wilkes accepts that offside would still come down to millimetres under VAR even if football turned back the clock to the days of the air gap, but he added: “There would be more goals because forwards would have that slight advantage, Gary Lineker made a career out of it!”

Wilkes believes that VAR will improve over time but he says he wouldn’t like to be a referee today.

“I don’t think I’d have enjoyed it,” he admitted. “When I was a referee I wanted to be in charge of the game, I didn’t want someone 200 miles away in a studio being in charge.

“Referees should stand or fall by their decisions, now those decisions are being taken away from them, they look hesitant to make a decision.”

Wilkes says that the lack of respect shown to referees by players at all levels is an ongoing concern and makes the job of the referee that much more difficult.

“When I started it was a much more physical game,” he said. “You didn’t get the verbals that you get today but there were some hard players.

“Now there’s no acceptance of any decisions that are made, the Respect campaign hasn’t worked.”

Wilkes, who is president of the North Gloucestershire League, remains a big fan of the game however.

“It’s still a great game but I’d like to see a bit more back to basics,” he said.