Respect the refs, use concussion subs... and scrap the League Cup! THE TRANSFER
Our writers on their wishes for 2020
JOE BERNSTEIN
English football should have one domestic cup competition only.
Ditch the league Cup and restore the FA Cup — a genuine national treasure — to its rightful glory: replays not penalties, vast majority of games at 3pm on a saturday, Monday draws when all ties have been played, neutral semi-finals.
For this to happen, the league Cup has to be ditched to free up space. it is becoming an embarrassment. The only benefit is that it provides funds to the EFl and their clubs. Just get the Premier league to hand over those funds anyway, they have enough.
ADRIAN KAJUMBA
i woulD like to see racism finally being taken seriously by football’s authorities.
not empty words, slogans and initiatives. Proper action. serious consequences for those responsible, whether that is for individuals, clubs or governing bodies.
it has become depressingly tiresome to see how far away some of the punishments handed out are from being a genuine deterrent.
Players need lengthy bans, fans need criminal punishments as well as education and stadium bans, and clubs or governing bodies need points deductions and expulsion from competitions. otherwise we will be in the same place heading into 2030 as we are going into 2020.
DOMINIC KING
i’D like to see European football become more readily available on free-to-air TV.
This is not to denigrate the brilliant job BT sport do with their coverage, but it would be fantastic if a deal could be done in the future that enables the Champions league and Europa league to be broadcast more widely into homes as it used to be 10 years ago.
on a different note — but it has something to do with TV cameras — i hope we are not still arguing about VAR in December 2029. it has ruined this Premier league campaign and we can but hope that it is working smoothly at the end of this next decade.
MATT BARLOW
FoR football’s stakeholders to put aside their petty differences and fears and unite to provide aftercare for the many former professional players suffering from dementia.
no one is asking them to fork out millions in compensation. This is not a blame game, rather a hope that they can combine to invest some of their riches to help the families of ex-footballers who are facing the very real prospect of selling their homes to finance their care.
Football can even seize the initiative and build regional facilities offering respite care and residential care while keeping ex-players connected to the sport they loved to play. Football has dragged its heels for too long on this issue. Make the next decade one in which attitudes towards this issue change.
TOM COLLOMOSSE
ThE only way to revive domestic cup competitions is to offer a Champions league place to the winner. instead of giving the Premier league’s fourthplaced team entry into Europe’s main club competition, why not give it to the FA Cup winners instead?
it wouldn’t stop Manchester City or liverpool using the competition to rest their stars, but other clubs not so sure of a place in the top four — Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester united, leicester, wolves — would surely take it a little more seriously in the early rounds.
it’s never going to happen but we can still dream.
MIKE KEEGAN
iT will never happen but i would like to see an end to segregation at matches. As we enter the 2020s it is ludicrous that fans of different clubs cannot sit together and enjoy the game without the threat of violence. we need to grow up.
And while i am ranting, the ban on consuming alcohol in view of the pitch is also an embarrassment.
IAN LADYMAN
i woulD like to see less dissent towards officials.
There is clear scope in the rules for players who, for example, use foul and abusive language to be cautioned or sent off but it never seems to happen.
Football likes to see itself as a sophisticated sport these days but this behaviour comes from the gutter. how can we expect young players to behave properly if the example set by players and managers at the top level is so appalling?
And where are the future referees going to come from? This issue is fundamental to the future health of our sport yet it continues to be ignored.
it should not be.
ROB DRAPER
iMMEDiATE concerns: in the next year, let’s hope we have concussion subs, a must right now. And let’s sort out VAR: no armpit offsides; refs to use the monitor; broadcast the discussions.
in the long term, a controversial view but one that would add to the tactical dimensions of the game: introduce the ability to call one second-half time-out and one in extra-time if necessary.
CLAIRE BLOOMFIELD
PAy disparity in the women’s game is an issue often talked about and less often tackled. i would hope that the next decade sees players in the FA women’s super league take home the salaries that they deserve as professional athletes.
some female players in the top-flight are earning minimum wages. This is not a rallying cry for equal pay with the Premier league, but when a youth team player in the men’s game receives a weekly salary equal to or more than some of their female counterparts earn in a year, it’s time to demand a change.
CRAIG HOPE
i’ll go for two things. The first is to have the referees’ microphones audible to all inside the stadium and at home — as if the case in rugby. This would increase transparency and understanding of decisions, and also discourage dissent.
secondly, can we please see the European Championship return to a 16-team tournament? The quality is so diluted at the finals now and it is harder not to qualify than it is to make it!
Qualifying is boring (especially as pretty much every country has the fallback of a play-off) and the opening fortnight of the finals is a procession before the knockout rounds begin. why did they have to spoil a perfectly good format?