Speaking on Sky Sports’ The Football Show, Rangers legend Graeme Souness has rubbished a suggested change in player behaviour upon the restart of the Premier League amid the global health crisis.
Shareholders recently reiterated their intention to complete the top-flight season as soon as it proves safe to do so, with the Telegraph suggesting 19 June as a possible return date.
One of the suggestions aimed at reducing the spread of infection is that players should turn away from their opponent after completing a tackle.
But the former Gers boss is having none of it.
“[The guidelines have] been written by someone who has never played the game and doesn’t understand the game,” he said on Sky Sports’ The Football Show.
“So you’re meant to make your tackle and turn away? What if you make the tackle and end up with the ball at your feet? That’s the daftest thing I’ve heard so far about us returning to football.”
“When you’re playing football at the highest level, you get yourself to a place where you’re only focused on the next five seconds, that’s how you get through 90 minutes. You haven’t got time to think about anything else.
“The only thing that may change is the celebration. But the rest of the game cannot change. You’re in the moment.”
Verdict
It’s little surprise that the uncompromising Souness has rejected this latest suggestion which is just one of a host of mooted alterations as the authorities look to make football as low risk as possible.
There has been talk of allowing more substitutions and of shortening the length of matches, too.
The majority of these suggestions have been ridiculous and as the former Gers boss points out, likely made by someone who is unfamiliar with the mechanisms of sport.
If football is to restart, surely season’s must be finished using the exact same rules they started with, while the competitiveness of individual fixtures cannot be diluted by conditions around what is and isn’t permitted when tackling.
If the game as we know it isn’t possible, then the season should be scrapped.
