Should TV technology be used to help referees?
I think, personally, there are only two or three areas where I think technology would help football. The first is deciding when the ball has crossed the line for a goal. The game is all about fact not opinion: is it a goal or isn't it? So I think we need technology to decide when that ball has crossed the line as it's a major, major decision in a football game. Secondly, I think technology could help if the referee has decided to award a free kick, but he's not quite sure whether the offence took place inside or outside the penalty area. He could just ask, very quickly, whether it inside or outside. You must leave the judgment to the match official. You're not slowing the game down by using technology here, because you can get a quick response to say it's inside, therefore it's a penalty, or it's outside. You're not killing the game, you're not stopping the game, you're not slowing the game down. The other use of technology in football I would encourage is, when a ball is played through, if the assistant is not sure if the player who has received the ball was in an offside position at the time that the ball was played. If he was allowed to let it go, and if a goal occurred or a corner, which means something positive for the attacking side, as the ball is out of play then, he then could just check it - "I'm not sure, he might have been offside, I wasn't sure." Because by the time he's checked it, you've got to restart the game anyway. And if he says that the player was offside, you can go back and restart from the offside. If he says there's no problem, you can just restart from the centre if it's goal, or a corner kick. If the keeper saves it and collects the ball or if it goes out for a goal kick, you don't need to bother about it. And that way you're not stopping the football game. I think technology would encourage assistants to gamble if they're not sure, because when players cross over defence coming out of the attack, it's very difficult, but you're encouraging that assistant to take a risk knowing that they can always fallback and just make sure it was right at the time. Those three uses of technology in football in no way would stop the game. They wouldn't delay the game or interfere with the flow of the game. I think it would all be a benefit to the game.
