Exiled in Texas

I bet it was John Terry looking to earn a few extra quid. [/just kidding]

I'd certainly take Goal Line Beeper technology over replay. To me it's no different to Assistant Referees using beeper flags and head-set microphones over standard flags. All the upside and no downside. Sure, it is cost prohibitive to move the technology down to lower leagues but at £400 or so for the flag/communicator set you won't see them at Sunday Morning Pub Leagues either. Strange decision - seemly based on head-in-sand thinking

I also think that the Premier League will change over the next 2-3 seasons with the financial landscape changing for several clubs. When that happens some clubs will be better positioned than others to take advantage of it.

Exactly - steady progress. Get some good foundations and then build from strength. Much better idea than a Galactico house built on sand.

I love fish, but I tried one last Friday as it's Lent (No meat for Catholics on Fridays in Lent) and next week will just go hungry instead of eating that piece of over cooked crap.

The thought is that the punishment for a DOGSO of Penalty kick, Red Card and Subsequent suspension is too severe, and that if the Penalty is scored then the Goal Scoring Opportunity was not denied. Interesting point [PierLuigi] Referee following LOTG punishes foul and misconduct with appropriate DFK/PK and Yellow/Red, but playing league handles suspensions. It's not the referee who determines if player should be suspended, and that could easily be adjusted at the league level without changing LOTG. [/PierLuigi] My view - don't do the crime if you can't do the time. Perhaps the rash challenge that results in DOGSO PK and Red Card would be better being tempered and they stay on the field to play the rest of the game.

My referee process says: Did ball leave the penalty area - YES - OK ball is in play (if no, retake kick) Did the ball go Directly into the Goal - NO (If yes, would be a corner kick) Was the ball touched a second time by the kicker - No (if yes, IFK) So ball left the Penalty area, did not go directly into the goal, and was not touched twice by the kicker - GOAL

Not a Direct Free Kick - it's a Goal Kick Law 16 - A goal may be scored directly from a goal kick, but only against the opposing team. [/PierLuigi] This would (should) be restarted with a Corner, unless the ball never left the Penalty Area in which case it would be a Goal Kick

So Viduka did nothing wrong being where he was. So standing in an offside position is not an offense and the player in an offside position must make some other action (beyond his mere presence) to be deemed offside. Take away Viduka and what would the player have done had he been there all on his own. That's the answer on what he should have done. Then if Viduka moves and seeks to become involved in play (gaining an advantage as he would not be able to close him down had he not been in offside position) then he completes the two parts of the Offside Law - Was in an Offside position and Involved in Active Play become true.

If the Birmingham defender doesn't know that it's not an offense to be in an offside position, then he deserves being penalised.I suppose he should be able to catch a ball that was going out for a throw-in before it crosses the touchline. Seriously, the current offside rule not a hard thing to comprehend. Now there are some maddening decisions - notable examples such as the Newcastle goal against West Ham (I think) where the Newcastle forward who was in an offside position let the ball roll untouched between his legs to the far post where an on-side player slotted home.

More incompetance from Ashley - how are we supposed to compete in the Premier League if he is only bringing in Championship revenues? He has no idea how to run a football club. Out Out OUT!!! [/piss take]

Goal or no goal? You're the ref - what do you decide?

I siding with Brummie here.... Way out of control or slightly out of control? The only difference is when the end comes.

I'll say it again - the old offside was really crap.

One hindrance is that the clock isn't stopped in Football, which could make it difficult to make sure the correct time is spent there and so on. I'm all for it if they find a way to execute it in a good way without making too many changes to the existing game. (i.e. starting to stop the clock to use this rule etc.) Well there is nothing stopping a 'sin-bin clock' being started/stopped when the ball went out of play. Referees have a wrist watch to manage time - usually with stop watch that has an additional "stopwatch Add time feature". So that way they are tracking the game time, plus stoppage/injury time. Without a 4th official managing the Sin Bin times, the referees would need to start carrying something beyond a wrist watch to manage game time and sin bin time. Workable for pro-Leagues but tough to bring down to lower level leagues. All they'd need is a simple stopwatch like they handed out in PE, and a bit of practice using it (if you actually wanted to properly watch the clock, in which case games would last 120+ minute). The long and short of it is that the relationship of clock to ball-in-play time is so out of whack as it is, accurate timekeeping is not a priority, and noting player number and time is no more than refs do during bookings, anyway. You can be sure as hell the players won't let the ref forget to let their teammates back on. I think it's a great idea. It would add a new tactical dimension to the game (powerplays, isn't it?). The challenge is how do you manage multiple sin bin infractions at the same time. One guy is sent to sin bin for 2 mins, but 30 secs later guy from other team is sent in, then 45 secs later another player is sent in. That's a lot of stop watches to carry around. Even in Ice Hockey with an official scorer and a scoreboard with 2 sin-bin timers (Player # and Time remaining) there are times when additional infractions need to be noted and added manually. The scorer (and the score board) also manages the release of the players back into the game, so the referees don't need to signal the players back in. Seeing as Rugby already has this concept, I wonder how far down the leagues the Sin Bin concept is used and who manages the time.

It's all about alignment of the AR to the last defender (and therefore the relative position of the attacker). And of course the ever changing movement of the defender, AR and attacker. It's tougher than it looks and everyones an expert even from upfield/downfield of the "line"

One hindrance is that the clock isn't stopped in Football, which could make it difficult to make sure the correct time is spent there and so on. I'm all for it if they find a way to execute it in a good way without making too many changes to the existing game. (i.e. starting to stop the clock to use this rule etc.) Well there is nothing stopping a 'sin-bin clock' being started/stopped when the ball went out of play. Referees have a wrist watch to manage time - usually with stop watch that has an additional "stopwatch Add time feature". So that way they are tracking the game time, plus stoppage/injury time. Without a 4th official managing the Sin Bin times, the referees would need to start carrying something beyond a wrist watch to manage game time and sin bin time. Workable for pro-Leagues but tough to bring down to lower level leagues.

The old version of offside was terrible. Right winger was a shade offside on the right touchline, but the ball is played up the left side with the left winger onside....PEEEP!!!! Offside!! The new version is must better - it just needs the commentators to understand the LOTG and the difference between interfering with play, interferring with a player and being in an offside position but not interfering

As a referee - the Sin Bin concept would be another tool to let the referee manage the game. Not as severe as a Red or Yellow (which is half way to a dismissal), the sin bin could be used to add discipline and minor penalties. It would all depend on the referee and his ability to use this new tool - and any referee who fails to manage a game with the current cards will probably still fail with the Sin Bin option. But for most referees it would be a very usefull tool for game management - although perhaps difficult to manage without an official scorer when multiple infractions are occuring.

My first thought was Ice Hockey - and that it does indeed have offside on players entering the offensive zone prior to the puck So it must mean Field Hockey - and I have no idea on the rules of field hockey - offside or not.

I read "Loan Star" and thought......is he from Texas

Bellamy knows he is a t**t but doesn't care. JT tries to put on a super-dooper public image, but is really a c**t. Fair play to Bellers - and JT....shut the **** up. You got dissed publicly....TWICE!!! Love it.

So Pompey don't think it's fair to have points deducted, but they want the parachute payment. That sounds like having cake and eat it. They need to figure out if they are trying to stay up or say alive.

Sounds like Pompey are challenging the 9pt deduction. From BBC.co.uk Can't see how they can challenge that without the other clubs protesting.

I'll take Citeh for 4th place and have fun watching Liverpool's finances tumble quicker than Gerard in the Penalty Area when loosing 0-1. Knees bent, Arms out, dive, dive, dive.