David Dein on time-wasting: ‘It takes 10 seconds to score a goal – we need accuracy’ | Football News

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports, former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein spoke about his 10-year campaign to try to tackle football’s time-wasting problem…

“A goal can be scored in 10 seconds.”

It was the starting point for former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein’s 10-year campaign to tackle the waste of time in football.

“You think how long it takes to score a goal?,” Dein told Sky Sports. “On average, people will talk for anywhere between 30 seconds and two minutes.

“I have not one, but dozens of examples where a move of three or four people that ends with a goal can only take 10 seconds.

“I have campaigned all my life in football for justice, for accuracy and integrity in the game. Time-wasting is one area of ​​the game that really has not received the attention it deserves.”

Dein is not wrong.

The amount of football played in the Premier League has dropped dramatically.

In the average Premier League game this season, the ball has been in play less than 56 percent of the time. These figures have continued to decline over the past 10 years and with 2022/23 the lowest on record.

England’s top flight saw more time lost to slow restarts, VAR reviews, delaying tactics, substitutions, time-consuming injuries and feigned injuries, and officials struggling to keep track of time.

However, Dein, who is the FA’s vice-chairman, believes that time-keeping is an area of ​​the game where pressure can be taken off referees by bringing in independent timekeepers, and he insists that the officials will not argue.

He said: “I did a survey with referees where I asked them three questions. The first question is can you be accurate until the last 10 seconds? Answer, no.

“Second question, do you agree that the fourth official set the place for additional time based on guesswork? Answer, our description will be a trend based on estimates, but we accept inaccuracy and it is very difficult to be consistent.

Third question, do you have any objection that keeping time is not your responsibility? Answer, no. It will allow the referee to concentrate more on the game.

“For me, it’s game, set and match. What more proof do you want from that?”

As mentioned earlier, this is a topic that Dein has dealt with before, referring to a quote from Sir Alex Ferguson in 2012, saying after Man Utd’s 3-2 defeat to Tottenham: “It’s a flaw in the game that the referee is still responsible for keeping time.” .”

However, time-wasting is now in the spotlight again, especially after the World Cup where we see the initiative of the FIFA referee leader Pierluigi Collina to detail the added time more accurately.

This brought the average match during last month’s tournament to over 101 minutes and was well received, especially by fans.

“It’s really exciting to see that there are eight, nine, 10, 11 and even 12 minutes added at the end of the game,” Dein said.

“I asked the officials, why? They were honest that they believed that not enough time was added before. This is a breakthrough.

He added: “FIFA is happy with how things turned out at the World Cup. It’s a revelation. I don’t hear anyone complaining about it.

“What the World Cup has done has made this problem more obvious. It has attracted the public’s attention. People see nine, 10, 11 minutes on the board and they have not seen it before. People are starting to ask, why is that?

“FIFA will not do it if there is no problem beforehand. Clearly they should say to the officials, ‘let’s add a minute and 30 seconds to the celebration of goals, the right time for injuries, substitutions and VAR checks’, and you get at least 10 minutes in each game, while the average before the World Cup is five minutes. Two for the first half and three for the second.”

So, along with brining at the independent time-keeper, what is Dein’s idea to solve the problem of time-wasting football?

“It’s all about accuracy and fairness,” Dein enthused. “I don’t want every second to be added, but what I want is that if there is a clear waste of time, a reasonable amount of time is added.

“Every time the ball goes out of play due to long injuries, substitutions, VAR checks or goal celebrations, the clock stops.

“Will the game continue again? Yes, I see an additional five minutes of pure time per game, but I will not be granular to say that time stops for each throw-in or each corner kick. It will take too much technical and over-engineering it.

“I’m just saying that for the four or five areas of the game where the most time is wasted, let’s add them to the end of the game. It will take away all the nonsense wasting game time.”

“Or, you could literally have a clock that logs the time when time is wasted. Let the public know. It shouldn’t be a national secret!”

As with every new innovation announced for football, there will be skeptics.

Dein pointed to things like the 10-yard spray used by referees, goal-line technology and VAR as examples of why he is so keen to see the game continue to grow.

He said: “The game has moved on, and credit to FIFA because they are the governing body, we introduced the 10-yard spray, which was an innovation in its time. That was almost 10 years ago now and people say it will never happen. It is used in every game now and have eliminated the area where cheating occurs.

“Then we have goal-line technology and people say it will be used once or twice, but it is used at least 12 times a season. We saw it in action last week when Brentford’s Yoane Wissa scored against Liverpool. And when Kalidou Koulibaly scored for Chelsea at Fulham .

“Then we went to VAR, and it has revolutionized the game because it has brought accuracy. It has taken many controversial decisions in the game and it will get better and better. There is also more communication in the line.”

Dein went on to explain that in his experience, campaigns usually take three to five years before achieving results.

It’s been 10 years now, now it’s starting to build momentum. So, what’s next?

“The Premier League is aware of this,” he said.

“I want to see change and I want to see progress, but now I want to see this rocket have a safe landing. Getting it on the agenda is the first and the fact that people are now debating this shows that it is a matter of life.

“I don’t have an agenda,” he said. “I’m not looking for a job or a payment. I just want to see the game improve.

“The good news is that it is now on the agenda and the only thing I am campaigning for is a trial. Let’s see it in action in the FIFA junior tournament. Use it in the U17 or U20 tournament and let’s see how it works.

“I don’t know how long it will take, but I hope to see that trial somewhere, that would be a step forward.”