10 months ago
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JOSE MOURINHO has broken his silence on the debate over the introduction of blue cards into football.
The Portuguese manager is currently without a job having been sacked by Roma in January.
APSince Mourinho has left football plans for a blue card have been announced to be trialled.
The card will see players sin-binned for 10 minutes for cynical fouls and dissent towards officials.
It would be the first card to be added to the referee’s pocket since the 1970 World Cup when red and yellow cards were introduced.
Its introduction is being considered by Ifab (the International Football Association Board) but there has been backlash in the football community.
Many have claimed that it would not be good for modern football, however, Mourinho has suggested that there could be positives to the card.
One perk that he outlined was that it could reduce the amount of players getting suspended and therefore benefitting clubs and fans who pay to see them.
Mourinho told FIVE: “I think there is always a feeling of changing things, I’m not always sure you change for better.
“I think if the sinbin means you’re out for certain number of minutes but then not an accumulation of it and can play next match without suspension or five yellows I would say so.
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“Something I never understand very well is from the accumulation of yellow cards a payer cannot play one match, clubs pay players to play, players want to play, fans want players to play, you cannot play for accumulation of yellow cards.
“If there is something that takes it out I say yes and probably more fair than if you make a mistake or infraction in the match then you pay it in that match.
“It maybe makes sense and gives team a difficulty to deal with in that specific match.
“You are out and have to play with one man less than 10 minutes ok let’s go, I wouldn’t dislike I would say.”
There is some overlap between blue and yellow cards as a player will be sent off if they receive two in a match.
So the days of tactical fouling and players stopping promising attacks or counters with shirt pulls – such as Italy star Giorgio Chiellini’s brutal tug on England star Bukayo Saka in the Euro 2020 final – could soon come to an end.
Six trials in minor leagues in Wales began this season with blue cards in operation, although that had to be stopped as permission was not granted.
It is not yet known if the blue cards will have any effect on managers, especially as Mourinho was sent off multiple times this season in Italy.
Blue Murder
By Martin Lipton
IT’S a sin for football to allow cynical cheats to get away with it.
So introducing ten-minute sin-bins would be a big step forward for the game.
In truth, it does not matter what card the referee shows – blue, green or pink.
What matters is that, if the trial – which will not include the Prem or EFL at this stage – is a success, then it could become part of top tier professional football by the end of the decade.
The argument is simple: Nobody likes what Fifa refs’ chief Pierluigi Collina describes as “anti-football action”.
That is a deliberate, cynical act to stop a potential break by fouling a rival with absolutely no attempt to play the ball.
If teams who do that have to spend the last 10 minutes of a game a man short, they could pay a real price, rather than just picking up a yellow card and “taking one for the team”.
Sin bins for dissent might be a tougher argument to progress, although it might just give refs some respect back.
But having players sat by the side of the pitch, powerless as their man-short side concedes a last-gasp winner, might actually change the way players behave. And it will be a statement of intent.
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