After all the talk of time wasting by tranmere better get ready for more of the same.
Apparently the problems at the end of the Huddersfield - Stevenage game & the non hand shake was all based around the constant & blatant timewasting by stevenage, lets hope the officials stamp on this behaviour early on.
Comments
Scunny. I think he got an assist for them.
That Lee Clark is a mental. The tantrum that he had because someone didn't shake his hand was excessive. He seemed to be pretty excitable when he was at the Valley last year.
Agree that taking the ball into the corner is fine, if a risky strategy because at least the ball is in play.
What annoys me most is when goalies pick up the ball from one side of the goal to walk across goal to kick it. Blatent time wasting keeping th eball out of play. This is the time wasting that need to be stmaped out. It is easy to spot and should be easy to deal with.
Also I had a thought during the last game. Instead of just booing when we notice time wasting from the goalie the whole north stand should start counting.
Goalies are allowed to keep the ball for six seconds which is sometimes hard for the ref to keep an eye on if he is not watching from the moment the ball is picked up.
If the entire north stand (and others of course) started counting fromt he second the goalie has the ball in his hands in the area then it woul dbe crystal clear to the ref when he is taking too long. It would also put the goalie under a massive amout of pressure.
What say you north stand???
i think that 6 second rule disappeared a season or two ago
I think as fans we can do a lot about it. If the GK is taking forever to retrive the ball time after time and the north stand goes up and makes a big ol' noise/fuss about it then the referee HAS to respond. Should he ignore thousands of fans screaming at the oppo players to get a move on, then that is gross misconduct and we can report him to the FA. But it's more likely that he will give the oppo players yellow cards/warnings.
Bearing in mind that we are going to be in fine voice on saturday, we should make it clear to the ref that we aren't here to watch the stevenage players timewaste... It's about time our fans gave something back to this team anyway!
It still applies and should be punishable by a free kick, you just wouldn't know it from the way refs act. From this years FIFA Rulebook:
An indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a goalkeeper, inside his
own penalty area, commits any of the following four offences:
• controls the ball with his hands for more than six seconds before releasing
it from his possession
Love the idea of the NS doing a countdown.
Surely the only way to avoid timewasting is to have a game clock that runs while the ball is in play. It won't stop players running the ball into the corner but it will stop the delays returning balls out-of-play, drawn-out substitutions, etc., etc.
The game clock should stop and start with the ball in play, and should be controlled by an official timekeeper. This would also eliminate arguments about the amount of additional time the referee has decided to allow.
This is not a new idea and has been suggested by many for a long time. It will probably mean the game will run for 30 minutes per half, but this would reflect the actual game time rather than the numerous - and often unecessary - stoppages that seem to be forever increasing in the game.
@Greg - no, of course, it never has done. Whenever the game stops the ref has to use judgement as to whether the team restarting is doing so in a reasonably timely manner. The six second rule (and the steps rule previously) applies to where the ball is in play but in the keepers hands.
I think the count would help the ref realise if a keeper was taking the mick in either situation (although if they just go off like a rogue teleprinter it'll be ignored). Something like old school World of Sport wrestling would be great A-ONE-AH, A-TWO-AH.
I still think counting is better than just shouting even if it does end up hurried. Just shouting can get lost in general noise, counting makes it clear that the fans have noted the time-wasting and want it delt with.
@delroofer of course thats a great way of stamping it out, sadly not something the north stand can do!
Can I suggest the One-elephant-two-elephant-three...rule is adopted to ensure accurate timekeeping by the Cupboard End massive?
Stevenage and their antics go back.