IT’S TIME TO GIVE BOSSES ‘REVIEW’ OPTION

I’VE not been paying close attention to the law change on kick-offs. I don’t really understand why it was needed. But that is by the by. It prompted me to think about other changes that would improve the game. But, as quickly as I moved to that matter, I moved away from it. What hit me was that it is the effective implementation of laws that is needed, not more changes.

Refereeing has definitely not kept pace with the growth of the game. The blame should not rest with the officials themselves. There should be an improved role for the fourth, or even a fifth, official with responsibility for viewing major incidents on a screen and supporting decision-making. We cannot keep watching incorrect decisions in big games.

Dermot Gallagher reviews key decisions from the weekend on Sky TV and there are always obvious errors to talk about that technology could have cured.

Managers should be allowed the right to call for a ‘review’ once per game (appeal retained if correct). You can avoid tactical reviews by making the appeal subject to a five-second time limit and a break in play. In other words, you could not go back 30 seconds to claim a free-kick if an opponent scored in a following passage of play.

Referees should be ego-free, prejudice-free, knowledgeable on the laws and good impartial judges of situations.

As they cannot always have the right line of sight to an incident, they also need the right support.

That can come with technology but also with a form of in-game punishment (sin bins) for yellow cards.

Players would have to show greater discipline and the ‘rip the shirt off’ celebration (my pet hate!) would be out of the window.

It is time for modernisation.