My fellow cheated Gooners, by Jon Fox
The long running farce of a game supposedly lasting ninety minutes has been talked about for seemingly ever. The recent generally welcomed changes are, IMO, no more than a short first step in the right direction, to halt the increasing shortening of play.
I have long held decidedly personal views on not only time wasting but on very many other things where I see room for great improvement in our global game.
However, I start with what I see as what humans will and will not accept. And bearing our all-important human nature in mind, is where I begin with so much of my thinking in general. I maintain that if proper deterrents are used, and used consistently, much of bad human behaviour can be retrained.
Human nature is about the only thing in life that does not change, although we can and do evolve, but I digress!
I will first lay out the basic problem, and then give a deliberately naive cure to that problem, simply to illustrate the DEPTH of the real problem we all have.
So, a game lasts ninety minutes and the ball is in active play for only approx. fifty-five to just over sixty minutes. No problem then! Simply add a good half hour or more to each game and make players stay there for two hours and more. Fine, in theory!
But if you don’t immediately see the consequences of doing that foolish thing, then please don’t bother reading on.
If we accept that players have to play each ordinary game, just as if they are playing a cup tie that goes through extra time and then on to penalties, we will soon see squads plagued with injuries and worn-out players.
Moreover, the deepest, largest squads – did someone say “CITY”? – would have a still greater and unfair advantage over all the less deep squads.
So, adding endless time is NOT a sensible suggestion. That being so, thinking logically, we have SOMEHOW to reduce the massive amount of deliberately wasted time in each ninety minutes. As things currently stand, we NOW play an extra ten or more minutes in almost every game, far more than even last season.
Though I am happy with this SMALL reduction in the ACTUAL wasted time, games that now last 102 minutes, as ours against United did last weekend, are already pushing the fatigue boat out further than almost all managers and such as MA and Pep would like.
No, my friends, saving time in the 90, and not endlessly adding time on is the only sensible answer. Some important aids I offer now.
ALL throw ins to become free kicks, with a strict time limit of ten seconds from the moment the ball goes out of play til the side taking the free kick, KICKS it into play. A failure to comply with ten seconds automatically gives the ball to the opponent. Repeated failures lead to bookings and then red cards. I suggest a ref’s whistle to end the ten seconds grace, and then, if not kicked in, the ball goes to opponents instead and the next ten seconds runs from that whistle for the other side too. No more Ben White style long lasting failures to throw the damned ball!
All free kicks anywhere, but especially within crossing or shooting distance of the goal, take WAY TOO LONG. Refs themselves are complicit in this charade and football law needs to be altered to FORCE a free kick, once blown for, to be taken in fifteen seconds at maximum.
No silly time-wasting shaving foam to be used, but refs to personally and quickly mark out the ten yards where a dangerous position warrants it.
ALL OPPONENTS, bar none, to be the required ten yards from the place taken, to be punished by a mandatory yellow card if not obeyed.
Consistent and enforced punishment of those who refuse to accept this, would in short time ensure complete near complete compliance. You cannot stop those tiny percent of brainless idiots who NEVER learn, so they much face the consequences of their brainlessness.
Wilful dissent and argument or harassment of refs, by any player – save only the captain, who would be allowed to enquire, not demand, but to enquire only, in polite and respectful manner about queried ref decisions – warrant a mandatory red card.
Wasting time at goal kicks should be pounced on immediately, consistently and at the refs fear for his own future in the game, if he fails to do so EACH AND EVERY TIME it occurs. Yellow, followed by red cards for repeat offenders. Refs who fail to apply the law to be suspended without pay for a period to be decided by the games lawmakers.
Immediate yellow card for time-wasting, and another, making a red, if repeated by the transgressor. When a player is deemed injured and lying on the pitch- UNLESS as now, it is a head injury, then the game can continue if the ref deems it wise.
He has the power to decide either to blow up for a halt in play and also not to, if he so decides. No dissent by any player should be tolerated with no exceptions. A red card for those who refuse.
When a player is forced by genuine injury to leave play for a while, then the player injuring him- IF the player is responsible (and sometimes no opponent is responsible as self-injuries occur now and again) is also to leave play until the injured player returns. The farce of a team forced to have only ten players against a transgressing teams eleven men, even for a while, is ludicrous, is the wrong principle and must end immediately.
Corners should be also taken within ten seconds of the whistle and all players, other than keepers, BE FORCED to stay outside the six-yard box til the kick is taken. This would stop the ridiculous and mostly ignored constant holding and wrestling and save a lot of time. And deliberate blocking of the keeper.
A change in the law would be needed and would help greatly, also saving masses of time in every game.
Importantly, all these proposed changes, IF accepted by the games lawmakers, must be trialled first in lesser competitions for a full season, to iron out what are bound to be problems and to see how well they work overall. After that one trial season the changes, if ratified, would then be written into EVERY player’s contract, widely advertised in all football contexts, on SKY and TNT sports and other broadcast networks and in national newspapers, and a signed acceptance of such contract be signed by every player and every manager and coach too. Refusal to sign would render that player or manager unemployable. That would not, in reality, happen.
No doubt some of you will have better suggestions and I long to read them.
But my fellow Gooners, unless we take this increasing waste of time problem far more seriously and unless we use REAL deterrents to those who refuse to co-operate, then we are in for far worse still.
I repeat that the small extra minutes added so far only slightly alleviates a massive problem. We cannot sensibly keep further adding to the ninety minutes, so we MUST find ways, either mine or some other suggestions to halt this runaway time-wasting con that make us all victims of the cheats.
Imagine paying the high prices some of us pay to watch our team but getting only less than two thirds of what you pay for. THAT IS NOT RIGHT, and it must be changed.
REFS NEED TO BE OBEYED AND HOPELESS REFS DEMOTED. But backchatting them hardly helps them, does it!!
Thank you for reading and I know many of you will have your own sensible and workable ideas to share with us all.
COYG
Jon Fox
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I thought time-wasting has been made obsolete in EPL, by implementing Wenger’s suggestion?
You seriously think time wasting HAS been made obsolete.?
I suggest your”thinking” goes a very litte way indeed then.
There was no time-wasting when we played against Man United
Very simple, football is always being is seems.
Stop the clock just like rugby, there can be no argument then.
That would probably work if the clock was stopped as soon as the ball goes dead and restarted when play restarts, but it doesn’t address the issues of time being taken at goal kicks, throw ins & some free kicks. I think as soon as the referee whistles to restart play following a stoppage for whatever reason, then the clock should also restart.
Jon, I wish you had labelled your points (123 or abc) but my very first comment is regarding the players.
Are we not mollycoddling these very well paid players to such an extent that playing the extra time that is now part of the game, might be too much for them?
They train every day and have the very best back up (physio, equipment etc etc) along with the new rules about substitutes allowed.
I have no sympathy for someone who earns, say, £150,000 a week, having to play an extra ten, fifteen or even twenty minutes.
Will return later regarding your suggestions about time wasting remedies – good thought provoking article.
For sure Ken, these super fit millionaire athletes should be quite capable of an extra ten minutes or so, and they always seem to find time to dash to the technical area for refreshment & coaching at most stoppages anyway.
Hi Ken, You rather surprised me with you take on players being pampered and needing to play still more extended time if need be .
To be quite clear, I TOTALLY agree with you, in one way.
But I allow that the game and the players have changed and attitudes have too. Whether or not we, esp we older fans like it, the game today IS faster, more demanding and players who are VERY FIT do get tired and are prone to fatigue injuries.
To ignore that reality is to use emotion above reasoned thought. Heres a generl thought to consider ; suppose I SUGGEST, as I do, that nowadays folk have less stickability and stamina than we did back in the olden days.
I made the point very clearly that IF we are serious about saving wasted time, the only VIABLE solution lies within the existing ninety mins itself and NOT IN PROLONGING IT TO TWO HOURS OR SO.
Your views on THAT point are what surprised me, as I had you down as a man keen to save wasted time, WITHIN, not without, the allotted ninety minutes.
I agree, and more than you do yourself, with your remark about “having no sympathy for some one who earns say £150000 having to play 10,15, or even20 mins” .
Put more simply, I have never been able to stomach and still cannot, that any player deserves that sort of ridiculous salary, even if he played all day long, four times a week.
Those salary levels are an obscenity – as you have seen me write on JA countless times.
And soon I will be using that salary obscenity for another article, offering a final solution to it.
But it will involve MASSIVE change all round; highly necessary change too.
But to ignore the fact that pitches, player fitness, advancement of medical procedures, have all improved.
I’m sure you’ll remember the ploughed fields that passed for pitches, with more sand than grass?
As you have said previously, footballers today are more like athletes and train likewise.
Their diets are now regulated, along with their drinking habits.
Injuries are cleared quicker today than yesteryear, due to the medical advances.
All of the above must, surely, make today’s players superior in every aspect?
One might even use the word “pampered” to describe them and that’s why extra time (no matter how long) should be of no problem whatsoever.
I wonder how many of the average workers with a day of 12 hours, find any sympathy with the modern day footballer?
KEN Again you labour th point you made before, “Should”, your own word, rarely equals DOES, (my own word) I pony out that manay things swork welin theory but fail completely when practised.
Just because someone OUGHT to be capable of doing something , does NOT mean they can! Theory or practical reality then Ken? I know WHICH I prefer. And to answer your final line question honestly , as ever, I say this:I doubt that hardly any will use reasoned thought to overcome indignant emotion and there for will, almost to aman/woman, agree with you.
But real thought trumps indignant emotion every time.
I can’t find the word “” should” in either of my posts, perhaps you could point it out to me?
Are you not agreeing that players are different today, along with pitches and medical advancements that all help today’s players?
If that’s your viewpoint, I disagree completely.
Ken ” …. thats why extra time ( no matter how long)SHOULD be of no problem whatsoever”. I do agree that players are more looked after well today but the game is far more demanding and much fasterandintense and players are still flesh and blood and not machines
But lets not waste time arguing again, as we are on opposite sides of this debate and JA experience of many years past tells me its pointless arguiing, as neither of us will change our mind nor persuade the other mind.
Just drop it therefore.
Who cares! Extra time gives more viewing time for the fans at no extra cost. Win Win for the fans. //Let the extra time be added and continue with the 5 subs. It would be a good idea to have a big notice board showing the additions of extra time added during the game by the 4th official. This might show the players what their actions are creating in time wasting, plus their would be no suprise added minutes at the end of the game, because everyone would already know by reading the giant electronic notice board during the game.
daveg, I suggest you would care if playing far more still added time and doing so regularly, meant our key players got injuries through fatigue.
I reckon you WOULD care then!
Time wasting is a tactic used by teams to slow a game down & frustrate the (usually superior) opposition not an attempt by players to give themselves a rest during the game. If they’re unable to actively play for much more than 60 minutes without increased risk of injury or burn out I don’t see it matters whether the extra minutes come from a change of rules & stricter officiating to get closer to a 90 minute game or by adding extra time on at the end or via a stop watch.
Something definitely needs to change but the FA & PGMOL have never appeared to have the will to see things through. Your suggestion regarding only captains being able to approach the referee, for instance, was supposedly instigated a few seasons back…only to be forgotten soon after.
There are already rules in place to make players & managers change their approach to time wasting if only officials were prepared to apply them. Keepers who repeatedly waste time on goal kicks rarely get a yellow card before the final 15 minutes of a game. I can’t ever remember a keeper getting two yellows for this, which would send out a real message.
Ukesox, your valid points about refs not enforcing the existing rules are sensible and MUST change to make reluctant refs be FORCED, THROUGH PERSONAL FEAR OF DEMOTION AND LOSS OF INCOME, into refereeing with fear or favour.
We never get meaningful change in society, UNLESS FIRST there is an iron unturnable will, to make vitally needed change happen.
Ukesox, I have no issue with clubs playing to their strengths and slowing down the game – it’s up to their opponents to break them down.
It’s the wanton way that teams set out to run the clock down at throw ins, goalkicks, free kicks, substitutions etc – that’s not in the rules of the game.
Your right about referees being frightened to use laws already in place, remember the rule about keepers holding the ball for more than (I believe) ten seconds? I don’t think that’s ever been revoked!!
In other news, Nicolas Pepe has been sold to Trabzonspor for £3m. Wish him all the best
Not bad, a £69,000,000 loss in nigh on four years, along with the wages received.
Why am I not surprised once again?
I noticed a tactic that England used a couple of times in The Women’s World Cup recently. Mary Earps (the keeper) goes down with an “injury”, the medical squad amble on to massage her calf in the knowledge that a goalie will never be required to leave the field unless being subbed off, while the rest of the team went straight to the technical area for drinks and instructions from the manager. All time used was added on at the end, so nothing was lost.
Having read your thoughts / recommendations I seem to agree with most of what you say… except for the above player exchange and shaving cream.
That allows referees to make a mark and then be able to ensure it’s not ignored, meanwhile allowing said referee the opportunity to position himself to follow the game and not the stealing of a metre or two.
As for tge5refs, they have every single rule to ensure that they are in charge of the game… the problem is, they don’t use them. In not following the rules, they are corrupting the game – simple as that!!
Enjoyed the article and the banter 👍
Then Ken are you now ,saying, if I understand this post correctly, our differing opinions above on extra minutes added(for you) versus time saved within the ninety(for me), that AFTER ALL, you do agree with me on that?
I assume you are answering me amd not someone else, in your post above.?
What changed your opinion then?
I can understand dropping the shaving foam as not pleasing everyone. I can alos understand that some dont want the player exchange( assuming you mean during injuries).
All I ever hoped for and on which I HAVE PLAINLY FAILED RATHER MISERABLY, after reading ALL the reply posts, was for at least SOME FANS to give detailed suggestions of their own, but very few are present.
It is very dispiriting to write a piece on such an important topic and fail to get much – hardly any actually- ideas from other GOONERS.
I PROBABLY WONT BOTHER AFTER THIS POOR RESPONSE.
YOU at least, have tried to debatePROPERLY and given some proper opinions of your own, though I STILL DON’T KNOW FOR SURE, IF YOU ARE WITH ME ON TRYING TO SAVE MINUTES DURING THE ACTUAL NINETY OR FOR ADDING YET MORE ADDED TIME.
One thing on which we definitely DO agree, Ken, is that refs dismally fail to apply even the existing rules and even when they do so, they get no proper backing from the PGMOL or games lawmakers. Player power aided by managers , to intimidate refs runs riot and we deperately nee rto turn that cheating tide and to do it and stick toit consistenly too RIGHT NOW.
But we only tinker around the edges, instead of ENFORCING REAL, LONG LASTING CHANGE.
Sorry Jon, if I didn’t maje myself clear.
If one could utilise your ideas, then it would eliminate a lot of the time wasting – but not all I’m afraid.
Therefore we should continue to add the time…. and that has given me another thought.
Take the “watch” away from the referee completely and give it to the 4th official. After all, I’m not sure if he earns his salary anyway.
Actually, I’m rather pleased with that suggestion, it makes complete sense don’t you think?
KEN , I believe it is widely desired by fans throughout top football that timekeeping is taken away from the pitch ref given to a timekeeper in stands. A fifth official who only looks after time and nothing else.
I WOULD CERTAINLY WANT THAT AND THINK IT IS BOUND TO COME IN BEFORE TOO LONG. DECADES OVERDUE TOO.
.
The biggest waste of time is the official’s having to hold up
That Ridiculous equipment with the substitute numbers
That hardly any bugger can see, why not just show it on the
Big screen in the stadium and stop all the stupid fussing
About and bloody wasting time.
David I could not agree more. So little true thought is ever given to the effectiveness ,OR OTHERWISE, when changes are introduced.
The subs number board is a farce and virtually useless for anyone other than those with exceptional eyesight to see clearly. Like wise when showing added time minutes.
Your wise suggestion of using the screen is, sadly, far too simple, obvious and effective an idea for the simpletons who enact change to have even considered.
I sometimes wonder WHERE these change makers get their brains.
From a butchers shop, using a dead pig, I presume!