Watched the Everton Cup game last night which had the introduction of 5th and 6th officials standing on the byeline around where the 6 yard box line joins it, on the opposite side of the goals from the linesman. This allowed the referee to have a face on view of the goal action with the linesman and 5/6 official having a sighting of the goal action from both left and right.

This should help with goals that never were or goals that should have been decisions.

However it should also cut out/cut down diving. This official is on the spot to see the event, is in immediate radio contact with the ref and the players know that, so any hint of cheating could have a big come back on the player without the need for TV evidence.

The other BIG change this brought about was the situation in the box waiting for a corner kick to be taken. No holding onto shirts, no blocking etc leaving players freer in the box and I would suggest, as per last night, corners will now be a bigger source of goals due to this.

I would not be surprised to see this being rolled out, at the top level anyway, where the additional cost could be absorbed and refereeing mistakes have mega-millions riding on them.

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It has bee4n introduced to the Europa cup competition as a trial. If successful it may well be expanded. I think its a good idea but wonder do they have the same power as linesmen.

Whilst this may be a move in the right direction I feel the game should follow Tennis and make more use of technology. could work out expensive for clubs as well.

complete waste of time in my (bitter old time football fan) opinion :)

put a computer chip in the ball to see if it crosses the line by all means but otherwise just live with the odd bad decision

and as one who's played a bit in my time....one #### on the pitch + 2 linesmen was bad enough, now we've got a 4th offical and 2 more useless officials prowling the goal line

Dont agree with this at all. It is just going to confuse the ref even more as if he thinks it is a penalty but the new linesmane disagree you will be left in an akward situation

I wish they would get technology. It would take less than a minute for a man in the stands to say if it was a pen or not and that time would probably be spent arguing if they were not to introduce it. Maybe not even have this at all. Would football really be the same if we had it. What would we have to talk about

Also I reckon it would be a lot more sensible to put a chip in the ball and some sensors in the goalposts to see if the ball crossed the line

Where will it all end? Technology for deciding whether someone is off side or if it is a foul or who the ball came off for a throw in? Just keep it simple, keep the game flowing and keep all the contoversial decisions. It gives us something to talk about and an excuse for when we lose.

Decisions, be they good, bad or indifferent, are part and parcel of the matchday experience. There's too much happening to strip the atmosphere from the stands as it is, and all the extra officials and/or technology would do is dull it even more.

It's a decision against you that unites the fans in giving the ref or opposition plater a bit of stick, a decision for us that unites the fans in cheers or applause. These things inspire us to get up and clap/cheer/jeer "in the moment" and if you start referring them to 5th/6th officials or upstairs for video evidence analysis then you take that moment away.

Spend the money training better referees, pay them a bit more and make them more accountable. Have performance reviews which directly impact on grade and pay....that's the only improvement that's needed IMO.

Simple way to police the offside rule would be to scrap it altogether. What purpose does it serve? It only annoys the hell out of the fans.

Many moons ago, when buffalo roamed free, Hearts and Killie played a trial match where there was no offsides. Hearts won something like 7-1, but the plans were scrapped to introduce it.

Simple way to police the offside rule would be to scrap it altogether. What purpose does it serve? It only annoys the hell out of the fans.

Many moons ago, when buffalo roamed free, Hearts and Killie played a trial match where there was no offsides. Hearts won something like 7-1, but the plans were scrapped to introduce it.

If there was no offside rule you'd have your Kris Boyds and Michael Owens never leaving the opposition's 6 yard box!

the one place i think technology could be useful would be in the case of goal-line debates, it is one that is frequently debated and often IMO because linesmen are intent on checking player positions for offsides that line of sight cannot sufficiently determine when a ball is over the line.

the only thing is if something like that were to be introduced then where would it stop, video replays for fouls, transmitters in football boots to gauge offsides, video cameras on the referee to see his view of the game....... i think it would be hard to limit technology once it started.

i do believe that more emphasis should be placed on referee coaching/training which should ensure that a consistent standard is maintained in all games. Coaching may tackle this or why not simplify the rules. All too often decisions are questioned because the rules are not black and white. in any situation there are so many rules and sub-rules that the referee has countless options on how to assess a piece of action, simplification of the rules would aid consistency IMO.

I think it was the League Cup, away back in time, they introduced a line, across the park, midway between the half way line and the 18 yard box, for a season.

No offside up to that line.

As you can imagine the defence just lobbed the ball in front of the forwards who were massed on the line when their own team was under attack, leaving the attacking defenders to play catch-up.

No well thought out formations just a young school team formation, hit and chase.

Surprise, surprise, it went down like a lead duck.

I belive they should start using tecnology but like tennis should have challanges to overrule refs bad calls such as with penaltys.

I think that they should just introduce video cameras at each goal line. Where the 4th officall can just look at the tv and tell the ref if it a goal or not. I would only take a couple of minutes, which the ref could add on as stopage time at the end of the 90 minutes.