The sweeping changes have received strong backing from high-profile pundits who are weary of negative tactics disrupting the flow of domestic football. Speaking on The OverlapNeville said: “I think this is an unbelievable introduction – time-limited substitutions. I love that. It’s so annoying watching players walk off slowly. The players and teams are gaming the system. You can criticise FIFA for many things but I do think they get their referee stuff right. I think those are pretty good introductions and will make the game better for the fans.”
Neville added: “We’ve got some rule changes coming in for the World Cup. I’m massively up for the throw-in counter. The amount of time that is taken in the Premier League… I’ve lost count of how many times we mentioned that last season. So I like that one. What we’ve witnessed over the past 12 months is teams stopping the game for a minute to prepare for set-pieces. I’m talking about League Two games as well as the Premier League, the ball is out of play for so long. I think it’s a good introduction.”
