1. Allow teams to replace a player who is sent off, but award a penalty to the other side, regardless of where the offence took place. (Craig Brown)
No.
2. Devote much more effort to persuading ex-players to take up refereeing and use video evidence to impose heavy suspensions for serial cheats. (James Lawton, Independent)
Yes and yes.
3. Reward teams that keep on attacking and score goals - award an extra point for every side that scores three goals or more in a game. (Ian Holloway)
No.
4. Allow communication between the referee and fourth or even fifth official, situated by a TV monitor (Phil Shaw, Independent)
No.
5. Eliminate feigning injury and time-wasting by allowing physios to treat players while play continues (Neil [Warnock)
No.
6. Give referees an imaginary radius around them preventing anyone getting near them, like a force-field (Gordon Taylor, PFA)
No. We could build a wall around the referee to create the illusion that it's a new stadium.
7. Two referees, one in each half of the field. (Andy Hinchcliffe)
No.
8. Ban rewards for failure, i.e. parachute payments to teams relegated from the Premiership, and the Uefa Cup place on offer to those who fall at the first Champions League group stage. (Andy Hunter, Independent)
Yes.
9. Show a pink card to divers - it counts the same as a yellow but, for a professional footballer, is much more embarrassing. (Jason Cundy)
What the fuck?
10. Dock points instead of imposing fines for a range of offences, including brawls & diving. (Brian Viner, Independent)
No.
11. Mike up referees, which would reduce dissent and enable referees to explain their decisions, educating the public and media. (Glenn Moore, Independent)
No.
12. Five points for an away win, four for a home win, two points for a score-draw and just one for a goalless draw. (Jason Burt, Independent)
Shit.
13. Scrap penalties as a way of deciding matches - instead, at the end of normal time and extra time in any knockout event, the team who won the most corners should win. (Nick Harris, Independent)
No.
14. If the result is a no-score draw neither team should be awarded any points. This would encourage attacking play. (Mark Rozycki, Independent reader)
No.
15. To discourage dangerous play, a yellow card should mean a five to 10 minute absence from the field. (Jeff Knight, Independent reader)
No.
16. Play extra time with reduced numbers. Remove three players from each team and the offside rule. Remove another three after 15 minutes. At the end of extra time, if the teams are still level reduce the teams to two players, with a golden goal and no offsides. (Chris Phillips, Independent reader)
No.
And here are some of my ideas (some not completely serious):
17. Ban goalkeepers from wearing gloves - they have enough advantages already
18. But force outfield players to wear special gloves, to eliminate shirt-pulling
19. Magnify the effect of a red card for an outfield player by allowing the captain of the opposing team to choose which outfield player has to leave the field (e.g. a defender gets a red card, but stays on the pitch because the opposing skipper chooses to send off the star striker instead)
20. The fourth official sounds a hooter for the end of the game - referees rarely apply the correct added time, and often add on further time until neither side is attacking.
Your ideas are even more shit.
