Premier League will see more rule changes next season – when will this ever end? I have NO idea what football rules are

The Sun

23-05-2025

CLAUDIO RANIERI earned the nickname 'Tinkerman' during his spell at Chelsea as he was forever changing his player line-ups but that meddling moniker should surely now be passed on to football's governing bodies.
Next season there will be more new rule changes. When will this ever end and are you, like me, ­baffled and bamboozled in equal measure as to what the actual rules of football are?
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From next season goalkeepers will be penalised for holding on to the ball for more than eight ­seconds, with the punishment a corner to the attacking team.
Referees are supposed to indicate when a keeper has held the ball for three seconds, giving him five more seconds to release it. Apparently, this new rule has been tried and tested and will be in place for next season.
So what was wrong with the old rule which gave keepers six seconds to release, with punishment in the form of an indirect free-kick? Beats me. It was hardly ever enforced anyway.
The body which has come up with this latest daft tinkering, I meant well-researched brainstorm, the International Football Association Board, must have spent ages on it. Probably in a well-stocked five-star hotel somewhere near Fifa's Swiss Alps headquarters.
The purpose of this newest change is to cut down on time-wasting but how can extending possession from six to eight seconds do that?
And also the fact that the 'old' rule was almost never imposed surely means it was a good rule.
A bit like competent refereeing, if you don't know they are there, chances are the official is doing a decent job.
Every year we are told greedy water companies will clean up their act and every season football makes changes which confuses the hell out of fans. Dirtying the waters, so to speak.
We have had 'golden' goals, ­'silver' goals, the advance ten-metre rule, you name it. If anyone can ­successfully tell me what the current rules around handball are, please let me know.
As for VAR, well let's just say the jury is still out on that one.
We have been told the introduction of Semi-Automated Offside Technology will solve the ridiculous amount of time it has taken Stockley Park assessors to actually reach a decision.
Well, that wasn't true last weekend at the West Ham v Forest game, as that quick check we were promised turned into an excruciating six-minute delay as the offside technology was not working.
And don't get me started on the financial fair play rules.
Professor Brian Cox might be able to name all the stars in the sky but even he would struggle with that.
I'm the first to admit that some changes have been of great benefit. In 1992, the introduction of the backpass rule where keepers cannot handle the ball when it has been deliberately kicked to them by a team-mate is one.
When will this ever end and are you, like me, ­baffled and bamboozled in equal measure as to what the actual rules of football are?
Karren Brady
Goal-line technology came in 2012 following the uproar over the Frank Lampard World Cup 'goal-that-never-was'. That was another. But in recent seasons the dribble of rule changes has become a downpour.
From allowing the kick-off to be taken in any direction, to teams now requiring a mandatory captain, complete with armband, to additional subs if a player has received a concussion injury.
Have any of these actually improved fans' enjoyment?
Just leave the game alone please. The International Football Association Board should adhere to the wise man, more likely wise woman, who said, if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Or to put it another way, stop bloody tinkering.
I'm just waiting for the first referee next season who awards a corner after a keeper has transgressed this newest rule change.
Cue hundreds of examples by irate fans where the 'offence' was not spotted.
Football. They say it used to be a simple game which involved two jumpers and a ball. Not any longer.