Changes

So did you hear the big news this week? I'm sure you know by now, unless you live in a cave that Barak Obama has become the first black, first non-white, born in Hawaii, 44th man to be President of America. With that I've been reading a lot about how this is going to bring change or how the world will never be the same again and that got me thinking. What would I change to make FOOTBALL a better place for future generations? I'd like to think of myself as the white Cro-English Barak Obama and with that I'm going to outline for you all my 10 step program for change in Football, YES WE CAN!

But before we get on to that I would like to take a couple of moments to discuss the horrible scenes we saw Tuesday night at Anfield. Steven Gerrard diving to win a penalty! Shock horror! Englishmen don't dive I hear you cry. Well let's take a look shall we at Mr Gerrard's dive. Now, why are we all shocked? One of the most vocal anti-divers dived and we are shocked? Well I'm sure even those of such moral high ground like Stevie G are allowed to make a mistake once right? It's not like he does it all the time? It's not the act that annoys me, it's the fact that Stevie has condemned others in the past for something he seems to do quite often. Maybe he should take a leaf out of one of his fellow scousers books, that being Robbie Fowler. Unfortunately I can seem to find a video of it but it was back in the 96/97 season and Robbie Fowler burst into the box at Highbury, knocks it past Seamen and jumps over him drawing no contact. The ref immediately points to the spots but Robbie Folwer is protesting, for the penalty NOT TO BE GIVEN! Only time I have ever seen that and fiar play to Robbie who knew there was no contact and tried to stop the penalty being given. Anyway he lets Seaman know which way he is going to take it, Seaman saves it and...... Jason McAteer scores on the rebound. So please Stevie G, don't be a prick!

Right so back to the point at hand. Here is my 10 point plan to make Football a better place.

1. No limit on number of subs named.

By that I mean you can still only use three subs during the game but can choose from anyone in your squad. So for example, instead of naming seven subs(which I'm glad they increased this year) on the bench, you have the choice of anyone you wish to bring who is registered to play. I think it would be great as teams then could give youngster a game much more often. Even with seven subs teams are reluctant to put to many youth players on the bench as they feel more confident with their more experienced players. This way if lets say Chelsea are 5-0 up after 50 odd mins against Sunderland like they were at the weekend, they could bring on players they would normally not play and give them a chance in a real first team game. More freedom is always a good thing.

2. Video Replays.

Look, we are in the 21st century. Technology is everywhere. It's used in pretty much most sports. Why not Football? I'm not saying use it for every decision, but come on, there are way too many controversial decisions that could be solve instantly without slowing the game down. How quickly do Sky Sports have a replay up of a offside or goal line clearance or a handball? Thing would be  a lot more fair. Please don't say "but controversy is part of the game" or "what would we talk about?"I would much rathertalk about how good the game was or how good a goal was or how poorly a team played then wherever or not a team was robbed. Wouldn't you?

3. Wage Cap.

People are constantly moaning about how money is ruining the game and how people like Abramovich and these new guys at Manchester City with there super deep pockets are only winning because of money. Well there is a simple answer to that. Wage Cap. How it would work is that a team can only spend a certain percentage of its profits on wages. Benefits of that.

a) Teams are less likely to get into financial trouble as they are not speanding money they don't have.

b) It stops people like Abramovich who have bottomless pockets bank rolling teams as his money has nothing to do with how much money the "TEAM" make (not him)

c) Hopefully make the game a little bit more competitive. Yes there are always going to be teams that have a bigger turnover and therefore more money to spend on wages. But atleast then then no matter how much you could pay to buy a player, if you could not fit him in to your wage cap it would not matter.

My point is even the bigger teams could not get a "Galacticos" situation because their would not be able to pay their wages with in the margin of their net profit and thus making the game less top heavy and predictable.

4. If teams finish the season level on points then they must have a play off.

I would only use this for places that matter I.E. Title, relegation and European spots. Not for who come 10th or 11th. Why does goal difference decide? Because Chelsea beat Sunderland 5-0 and let's say Liverpool beat them 4-0 does that make them better? If after 38 games you finish on the same points then in my book you were equal. Just think how great it would be if this season Liverpool and Chelsea finished on the same amount of points and then had to play another game to decide who wins the league. Even if you hated both teams you would still be interested. Which bring me to why dosent Sky push for this? Imagine how much extra money they could make from a 1 game play-off to decide who wins the Premiership? I'd love it.

5. Offside is Offside.

I'm fed up with the debate "is he interfering with play". Brian Clough once said "If he is not interfering with play, what is he doing on the pitch" and they are my thought exactly. The thing is, the people who moan about this the most (The pundits - Alan Hansen) are the very ones who wanted it in the first place. I remember Hansen moaning on about it years ago and now that they have created this monster they want to blame someone else. Offside is offside. If it was looked at like that it would be much easier to enforce.

6. Handball is Handball.

Why is it if the ball hits you hand in the middle of the field it's handball and no one blinks an eye. Then when it's in the box all of a sudden there is this big debate over whether or not the player meant it? Keep you hands by your sides and you will be ok. If you run around with your ares flying about you are asking for trouble.

7. Referees should have to give interviews

Why do referees get so much protection from the FA when they make a wrong decision? As a manager you can't say jack against them, why? I hate it when the FA says "It's a tough job" tough job? really? I could name you a 1000 other jobs which are much tougher. Let the ref come out after the game and explain his decisions. Make them accountable!

8. Scrap the transfer window.

Imagine in real life you as a business were only allowed to hire people for 3 1/2 moths a year, stupid right? well why is it like that in Football? Scrap it I say. It hurts the teams at the bottom more than the top and I think if you asked managers what they would like 98% would probably say get rid of it.

Side note - If you have a window for players, why not for manager? Why should a manager be able to be sacked or leave ( Harry Redknapp) when players can't?

9. Like the players, the national team manager should be from the same country.

Why is this not a rule? Why for all these year England didn't have a great left winger couldn't they go and get a Brazilian or an Italian to play there? Just because you don't have a good English manager does not mean you should be able to get a foreign one. Otherwise as I just said, why can't you do that with players?

10. Make teams once a season play in a retro kit.

OK, this one is not very important. But how cool would it be to watch Liverpool v Arsenal when both are wearing their kits from the 1971 cup final? I for one think fans would love it and I think it would be a great way of celebrating the past. Lets face it, most kits today pale in comparison to kits of yesteryear. If this was the only change made on this list I'd be a happy man.

Well their you have it. In this time of change hopefully some of these might come to pass and make the game we all love that little bit better. I know they are not all perfect but I feel they are a step in the right direction... YES WE CAN

Football Guy