40 minute halves

Over a season - these excessive extra times at the end of each half is going to take its toll on the Football League / Premier players - plus the TV reporting of the games is totally out of sync due to the lateness of some results.
So, if the insistence by the Football authorities is to include all ‘stoppages’ in adding on extra time, then reduce the time period for the half.
Discuss !!

PS - who decided that each half of a football match should be 45 minutes? And has that been correct over all of the past 100 plus years?

Quoted from Teestogreen

Over a season - these excessive extra times at the end of each half is going to take its toll on the Football League / Premier players

I was thinking the same….therefore I’m about to start a GoFund me page to raise money for professional players particularly players in the top 6 clubs of the premiership to compensate for having to work an extra 10 minutes in their already hectic week.

Please give generously

This is worth a listen if you can stand Neville’s incessant whining -




Think the additional time is being forced on leagues from the top level, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. It’s clear that teams and players have been systemically slowing play down for tactical reasons - to kill momentum, for an informal tactics break or just to frustrate - and I’ve no trouble with that being weeded out.

The rules seem more about consistency (standardised time for subs and goals) and to act as a deterrent to the cheating that goes on. Very little worse than (as is often the case with us) chasing a 1-goal deficit for the last half hour and watching the opposition slow it down and weak refs doing nothing about it.

Is slowing the game down cheating or is it any different to teams just knocking it about the back four to waste time or getting in the corner?

Quoted from aldi_01

Is slowing the game down cheating or is it any different to teams just knocking it about the back four to waste time or getting in the corner?

Knocking it about the back four and getting it in the corner is in open play absolutely not cheating, that is gameplay,

Feigning injury, taking an age to walk off after being substituted, goalkeepers taking an eternity to take a goal kick and apparently some. Keepers  have the audacity to fake cramp at a drop of a hat…. that is all cheating. Cheating the paying public

I saw Webb quoted as saying that the extra time experienced in the first week of EFL fixtures should settle down and shouldn't be much more than 3mins on average......so whats the point of making it a new thing and advising all clubs if you are going to bottle it.....clearly he was running scared from PL onlookers who saw 10mins coming up as some sort of threat to their lives ..or more importantly TV schedules.
The near 10 minute added we got first half yesterday and then 7 min second half added makes for a long game.
Poor old Danny Rose looked fcked with about 15 mins to go which then turned in 20 plus. Wouldn't be suprised if he has a reaction to that today.

Quoted from Sussexmariner

Knocking it about the back four and getting it in the corner is in open play absolutely not cheating, that is gameplay,

Feigning injury, taking an age to walk off after being substituted, goalkeepers taking an eternity to take a goal kick and apparently some. Keepers  have the audacity to fake cramp at a drop of a hat…. that is all cheating. Cheating the paying public

Only if it’s against your team though.

This whole time allowed thing is still guess work and isn’t gonna stop anything. Take the yellow card their lad got for time wasting yesterday, it didn’t stop it. Two more got a yellow after that and it took longer to administer the caution than it did to just let him take it…

If the extra time is added for injuries and substitutions, then how can it be more tiring for the players? They aren't running around during an injury or substitution. In fact they are resting so it shouldn't make any difference to the amount of energy used by a player. The Premiersh*t has only itself to blame for this situation with it's " coached" time wasting and disruptions. In fact I think it's laughable that Premiersh*t managers are complaining about how tiring it is for their players when in fact they are not playing any longer, just being on the pitch longer.

Quoted from aldi_01

Only if it’s against your team though.

This whole time allowed thing is still guess work and isn’t gonna stop anything. Take the yellow card their lad got for time wasting yesterday, it didn’t stop it. Two more got a yellow after that and it took longer to administer the caution than it did to just let him take it…

If these new rules stop this blatant time wasting including Town players I’m all for it and if this continues, sooner or later you’re going to get players sent off for stupid time wasting and hope they will learn not to do it, that’s the whole point of the new rules  coming in

Excellent feedback already - thanks.
As Moosey alludes to - the players still on the pitch at the end of the game, generally, are likely to be the best ones, and they are the ones most at risk of injuries. Not a good look for the game imo - as the customers will ultimately lose out on seeing the ‘clubs’ best players.
No doubt this scenario will play out.

Having listened to first few minutes of that interview...
Average ball in play time at league 2 was 48 mins last season ?
Jeez...I want a 42% reduction in match prices ....

Neville stating that "nobody in the game feels cheated on time" based on him asking a fans rep of each of the 20 PL teams and only 4 or 5 them felt they were.....well that's some that do then Gary 😁

I also think I have the solution to this....link the refs watch to the scoreboard or the fourth official has a large stopwatch display and just stop the watch when the game is genuinely stopped. That way you get 45 mins of a game and no need to add extra at the end.

Poor footie players who have access to the state of the art nutritional needs and physical care.  They get paid to keep fit as it is so important these days.  Imagine running round a ploughed field kicking a rock-like ball (especially when sodden) the morning after a night on the town and a bag of chips.  You didnt even get much time for a ciggie so you had to squeeze your twenty in after the game on Saturdays.  Think of the poor buggers of yesteryear.

Really? What difference would 5 minutes make really

Tees and Green only had 1 sub to get them off the pitch - with a couple of minutes injury time - thems weretd days
UTM

Fcuck the players - it means I'll miss my bus and my place in the fish shop queue

I'm I reading this right??  They are allowing more injury time because of time wasting, so they now suggest nocking 5 minutes off each half because it tires the players!
Why not just leave it as it is if that is the case???
Total madness!!

Can see you’re a good bunch 🤙
I saw Howard Webb as well - and it looks like these early season extended halves will be reduced after a couple of weeks / or before they have destroyed the game - I hope.
UTM

I like the new rule to be honest.

I think it'll favour us (first half yesterday) as much as it will punish us.

But it's a shock tactic to stop the time wasting, as is the tough stance on players gobbing off at the ref.

As a side note, I thought the ref yesterday was excellent. Took no excrement and was consistent with his decisions.

Dont get why it will ruin the game, didn't ruin it yesterday just meant I got more bang for my buck. If players get injured as a result its the same for all teams and fans. Lets face it ball in play for 42% of the game but we still get injuries and Prem Clubs have 11 internationals sitting on their bench so most players can be replaced

Quoted from moosey_club

I saw Webb quoted as saying that the extra time experienced in the first week of EFL fixtures should settle down and shouldn't be much more than 3mins on average......so whats the point of making it a new thing and advising all clubs if you are going to bottle it.....clearly he was running scared from PL onlookers who saw 10mins coming up as some sort of threat to their lives ..or more importantly TV schedules.
The near 10 minute added we got first half yesterday and then 7 min second half added makes for a long game.
Poor old Danny Rose looked fcked with about 15 mins to go which then turned in 20 plus. Wouldn't be suprised if he has a reaction to that today.

They're not bottling it though, they're anticipating players stopping acting like great big wet farnays when faced with direct consequences of attempted time wasting. Brilliant idea to be fair and it may have been my imagination but I did see a couple players getting up quickly yesterday after initial death rolls

Quoted from golfer

Fcuck the players - it means I'll miss my bus and my place in the fish shop queue

I couldn't care about the players' legs or your supper but I
do wonder about my eighty-plus years old bladder coping.

Quoted from golfer

Fcuck the players - it means I'll miss my bus and my place in the fish shop queue

Well leave early then and let those that want to watch the game, watch it 😁

Quoted from Sussexmariner

I was thinking the same….therefore I’m about to start a GoFund me page to raise money for professional players particularly players in the top 6 clubs of the premiership to compensate for having to work an extra 10 minutes in their already hectic week.

Please give generously

They will be wanting to work from home next

Quoted from aldi_01

Is slowing the game down cheating or is it any different to teams just knocking it about the back four to waste time or getting in the corner?

... yes?

Because if a team is knocking it about the back four, the opposing team has a chance to close them down, with the ball still being in play and all. It's a fair and open game, and if a team is able to do that, the onus is on the opposing team to do something about it - it's their perogative.

But if someone if feigning injury, taking ridiculous amounts of time to leave the pitch for a sub, or feigning cramp (good old Crocombe), then there is nothing in the 'legal rules' the opposition can do

FWIW I am a massive fan of the new rule of adding proper time on. It'll take a while for it to influence playing culture (which timewasting in other leagues is much worse than in England), but it will change stuff. If 40 minute halves have to be the compromise (I don't think this is necessary btw) then fine, it's still a higher % of minutes played as opposed to minutes timewasted.

They have opened a can of worms really. 5 subs inevitably lead to longer playing time. It's only a matter of time before more changes are made. I suspect stopping the clock and having 60 mins playing time must be tempting especially if they can squeeze 4 quarters in as it allows more advertising breaks and would be good for bladders and allow more money selling refreshments. That won't come in overnight but you may see a series of incremental changes leading to it. Cricket is slowly reinventing itself to suit the armchair punter, football may go down that road. I do wonder if we'll also see free-kick specialists who just come on for short periods, more like other sports. I can see the number of subs only going up and players being allowed to come on and off. With so much more being televised next season at our level change is in the offing.

If the time is being added for the subs coming on, then it really isn't adding to the time the players are running around. The extra time added shouldn't be an issue.

As much as I don't like the gamesmanship of timewasting against us , none of us were complaining when Max was doing it .

I am pretty old school in my thinking on the game , it seems many variables that can give the weaker teams some sort of chance is being taken away - Var , more subs and now 100 minute + games which is going to give teams with the better subs/squads an advantage .

I just liked it as it was .

I 100% get it. I like the fact they'll add time on for time wasting. I cant remember which game it was i was watching (its early, im tired) But to add 10 minutes on in the first half when there was no evidence of this just an injury that took about 5 minutes is bizarre.

I honestly don’t get what anyone’s problem is with this. It’s just formalising the process which already existed but was difficult to properly enforce?

You can probably go back through every match thread for the past 5 years and there’s someone moaning saying there wasn’t enough/was too much injury time. Premier League managers are the worst culprits, as always, as their cushy jobs depend on it.

Quoted from ska face

I honestly don’t get what anyone’s problem is with this. It’s just formalising the process which already existed but was difficult to properly enforce?

You can probably go back through every match thread for the past 5 years and there’s someone moaning saying there wasn’t enough/was too much injury time. Premier League managers are the worst culprits, as always, as their cushy jobs depend on it.

I agree but the TV companies won't like it and therefore it WILL change as they as the real masters of the sport. Longer halves mean less opportunity to show adverts and, even worse, they don't know when the adverts are going to be as the injury time is a total unknown.

Booked tickets for swindon away. With this new system I've booked the 6.53pm train out of Swindon, you can never be too sure!!

Quoted from GrimRob

I agree but the TV companies won't like it and therefore it WILL change as they as the real masters of the sport. Longer halves mean less opportunity to show adverts and, even worse, they don't know when the adverts are going to be as the injury time is a total unknown.

Injury time is a total unknown now, you can't factor it in beforehand.  All that's happening is there is more of it.  As a comparison it's no different to when games have previously had 10 minutes injury time in a half owing to a serious injury.  TV companies just adjust and will do less time analysing and interviewing to make space for the adverts.

During and after the Columbia game, the pundits said a few words then said back after a short break. Rinse and repeat.  Totally disrupted any match analysis and continuity.

Quoted from GrimRob

They have opened a can of worms really. 5 subs inevitably lead to longer playing time. It's only a matter of time before more changes are made. I suspect stopping the clock and having 60 mins playing time must be tempting especially if they can squeeze 4 quarters in as it allows more advertising breaks and would be good for bladders and allow more money selling refreshments. That won't come in overnight but you may see a series of incremental changes leading to it. Cricket is slowly reinventing itself to suit the armchair punter, football may go down that road. I do wonder if we'll also see free-kick specialists who just come on for short periods, more like other sports. I can see the number of subs only going up and players being allowed to come on and off. With so much more being televised

next season at our level change is in the offing.

Excellent summation 🤙