On the day Newcastle crashed out of the UEFA Cup and Mike Newell tumultuous tenure at Lutown Town came to an end, a Football League proposition to break fulltime deadlocks with an MLS-esque penalty shootout has come in for mass ridicule. From the BBC :
League chairman Lord Mawhinney (above) wants to introduce shoot-outs to allocate a bonus point at the end of a drawn game. Bristol City chairman Steve Lansdown has described the plans as “a crackpot idea” and his Cardiff counterpart Peter Risdale thinks it is a “nonsense idea”.
Sheffield United boss Neil Warnock said he “detests penalty shoot-outs”.
The Blades boss added: “They have probably got little else to discuss on the agenda if that is the main directive. “I don’t see anything wrong with the Championship.
“If they want to titivate and mess about they should try to get to Fifa and get the divers and the people who are injured treated while the game is in progress to get the game moving quicker.
“They should try to do constructive things.”
Bluebirds chairman Ridsdale is adamant that introducing a penalty shoot-out would not improve football as a spectacle.
“It won’t make the game more exciting,” he added.
“People will come to Cardiff, stick 11 men behind the ball hoping for a draw and the try to beat us on penalties.”