Video referees in football?

I have always been a traditionalist football fan who believes that video refs will slow the game down, slow the tempo and generally just kill footballing debate. But, my thoughts have now changed after the debacle at Wembley on Sunday.

It was the Johnstone Paint Trophy Final between Grimsby Town (my team) and the MK Dons (the franchise) and it was a tale of two penalties. The first, given correctly to Grimsby and missed...the second, wrongly given to MK Dons, scored and killed the game as a contest.

Putting aside the fact that the Dons were the better side, if there was a video referee he would've seen that three players were offside and the linesman had given offside before the penalty was given. With the MK Dons peppering Grimsby with crosses and shots they looked almost out of ideas when the penalty was given and until that point Grimsby still had a chance.

But, then again how did the officials not realise the offside was given before the penalty?

However, this is not an isolated incident in the call for video referees. Two big games have seen ridiculous decisions in recent years. The Pedro Mendes v Roy Carroll incident at Old Trafford and where Carlos Tevez was stood literally on the line and offside when he scored the winner at Ewood Park which hugely contributed to the Hammers staying up.

There are many arguments for and against video technology and the FA has considered it on many occassions but it is yet to be tested. Big name managers such as Arsene Wenger and Mark Hughes have backed plans but Fifa is still against such measures and in October of 2005 condemned the French leagues for their plans to test the technology.

Grimsby lost a trophy, Spurs lost 2 points and Sheffield United lost their Premier League status on poor decision making from officials. Surely video technology should be tested to see what effect (positive or negative) it can have on the game.