Matt Maher: Are we only penalising the time-wasters?
And we thought playing the World Cup in the winter would ensure last season was the longest ever.
Instead, at least in terms of minutes played, the current campaign will surely set new records thanks to new timekeeping rules which, it is fair to say, have divided opinion. A desire to keep the ball in play for longer has led to a crackdown on time-wasting through the Premier League and EFL and is resulting in stoppage time periods similar in length to those seen at Qatar 2022.
Unsurprisingly, players and those who manage them have been left unimpressed, with Manchester United defender Raphael Varane the most vocal critic so far. “As a player I feel very privileged to do the job I love every day but I feel these changes are damaging our game,” he said last week. He went on to claim the schedule has become so overcrowded it is now at a “dangerous” level for players’ mental and physical health.
Just as well then, Varane does not ply his trade in League One.
