Time to Spice Things Up?

Coming up with a topic this week was tricky. The international break is upon us and there isn’t anything major going on in the world of football right now. But then I came across Todd Boehly’s recent press conference where he talked about some new ideas that the Premier League could implement. Some in the media have accused him of trying to “Americanize” English football after being an owner for less than a minute. His presser made me think what the league could add to spice things up a bit. It’s already the greatest league in the world, but let’s talk about what more could be introduced.

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All-Star Game

One of the new suggestions that Mr Boehly made was having an all-star game, pitting the best of the North against the best of the South. People forget that he wasn’t the first guy to float the idea. Rio Ferdinand tweeted about a potential all-star game way back in 2011, but because an American brought the topic back up, people think it’s stupid. It would be cool to see a North XI vs South XI in a one-off match. Imagine the line-ups, they’d be ridiculous! The game itself could be a spectacle that could create a lot of buzz. However, a match like this wouldn’t work for a few reasons.

The English top-flight is non-stop from August to May. The only time such a game could be played is maybe at the end of the season, when everything has already been decided. There would also need to be an incentive. One of the criticisms of the NBA All-Star Game before it changed its format was it wasn't competitiveness enough. I don’t know what a good prize for the victor would be, but there would need to be something to motivate the players. The last reason comes from that old saying: if it ain’t broke, don't fix it. The Premier League already generates more money, eyes, and fanfare than any other league. Why would you feel the need to change an already winning formula?

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Running Match Clock

For the most part, I would be all for league using a running clock. For those that don’t know, the way it works is when the ball goes out of play or there's a stoppage, the clock stops. The clock then resumes when the ball is back in play. Having this would completely get rid of time-wasting. Players could no longer stay on the floor feigning injury to waste time. Goalkeepers would stop taking an entirety to take a goal kick to run down the clock. Time-wasting would become completely redundant and a thing of the past.

I'm sure there have been plenty of managers who have been irate that the final whistle didn’t below when it should have. There’s only one scenario where I don't see this working. Picture this. A team is a goal down or level and they’re desperately trying to score a late goal. They get into a great goalscoring opportunity and then, boom. The final whistle blows just before a potential strike on goal. Now if this was the NBA, it wouldn’t be a problem. As long as a shot is taken before the final whistle, if it goes in it counts. However, in football, this just couldn't happen.

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No More Draws

Some of the ideas I’ve already mentioned are heavily influenced by American team sports (I’m a big fan of the NBA and NFL if you didn’t know), and this is another one of them. It would be interesting to see if the Premier League (even just for one season) eliminated draws and games could only be won or lost. If a game is tied after 90 mins, the match would be settled in a penalty shootout.

You’re probably thinking, “how would the points system work then”? Well, the answer is simple. Three points for a win, zero for a loss just like normal. The only twist would be that a team would get two points for winning on penalties and one point for losing a shootout. Getting rid of draws would make each match that little more meaningful. There are certain matches during a season where teams are content playing for a draw, just going through the motions, with no ambition to try and win the game. It’s not fair on the fans that travel to watch their team be overly cautious. I think this would be great for football in general really.

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Rolling Subs

In the last year or so, we’ve already seen a change to subs. Teams are now permitted to make five subs instead of three. Five subs were allowed from when the 2019/20 season was restarted to the end of the 2020/21 season but the league chose to go back to three subs for the 2021/22 campaign. Another addition that could be implemented is having rolling subs, where players can be substituted on and off at any point in a match. Managers would still only be permitted to use a maximum of five subs, but they would be rolling ones.

The question is, would managers/players be in favour of having them? There’s a reason why a manager would take off a player, whether it’s tactical, or they have an injury, or they just had a shocker. It’s not like in the NBA, where if a player is going through a poor stretch of play the coach can take them out of the firing line and then bring them back on. It doesn’t work like that in football. The likelihood of this ever being seen is probably slim to none.

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This Week’s Hot Take

Out of all the changes I’ve talked about, I think the All-Star Game is the one least likely to happen, but it would be the one that would eventually become the most popular addition to the English top-flight. People are very quick to knock something before they’ve had a chance to experience it. If the Premier League can get it right, it has the potential to become the most anticipated game in the British footballing calendar.