10. Coachs Challenge Flags
The first idea on this list comes from the NFL and the rule is pretty simple if a teams head coach believes the officials have made the wrong call on the field then he can throw a red flag onto the pitch to challenge the decision. Now I admit this does sound a little odd but hear me out because several good points make this a half decent idea. Firstly it would stop most Premier League managers charging up and down the touchline ranting and screaming like a 5 year old suffering a temper tantrum. Watching managers scream at referees and 4th officials is starting to look unprofessional now and giving managers a chance to challenge what they feel are wrong calls might help remove such unsavoury scenes. The flags are limited so only real match altering calls would be the ones challenged by managers and getting a controversial call referred might help cut down on angry manager interviews and big talking points after a game. One day I see football using video referees so to cut down on referees always having to use them slowing the game down to a crawl making every call via video it would be fair less time wasting to give managers the power to send a decision upstairs for a video referee to check out. A less well thought out argument is that the flags would act as a calming tool for mangers because I assure you there is nothing on earth less macho than trying to throw a dainty bit of cloth in anger. It seems very English too throwing a flag to express your anger like something ripped out of a Jane Austin novel. It would cut down on managers screaming for every decision too as they would only have two flags so they would have to be smart about when to use them. The other thing so good about the NFL flag system is if a coach is wrong in his challenge and the call made by the officials stands the coachs team is charged a time out a punishment for not getting a call changed. That might be a tough thing to work out in football and in my mind the only real way a wrong flag call could be punished in football is for a manager maybe to lose a substitution for making an incorrect challenge. I concede it would be a tough idea for football, you can hardly see Wenger or Ferguson showing their anger at a referee by tossing a flag onto the pitch. The system has great success in America with less and less controversial calls being missed every year though flag challenges. Maybe that is due to their being less controversy in NFL games than in Premier League games as NFL games have less penalty shouts and no red card decisions to make at all. The flag system does sound silly and maybe it is but a trial of it should do no harm and might just improve the game and stop managers endlessly blaming and shouting at referees