January 5 According to The Times, the FA and Premier League ambassador David Dane called on
Remove the referee’s timing responsibility and try to set the countdown clock directly for the audience to see.
Referees faced fresh calls to hand over timekeeping responsibility after Arsenal’s draw with Newcastle saw a net game time of four minutes shy of the Premier League average this season.
Former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, an FA and Premier League ambassador, is pressuring football lawmakers to allow separate countdown clocks to be tested in some cup competitions.
Every time there is a significant delay in the game, the clock is stopped so that spectators can see how much time is left in the game.
Arsenal’s effective time against Newcastle was 51:23, compared to a league average of 55:18 this season.
Dane said there wasn’t enough stoppage time for the game, especially compared to the World Cup in Qatar, where the average effective time was 58 minutes.
Dein said that the Premier League referees should hand over the responsibility of timing and let them focus on the game.
He has presented FIFA’s chief referees with his proposal for independent timekeeping, called "pure time", and wants the FIFA Council to put the issue on its agenda at its annual meeting in March.
Dane told The Times: "Last night’s game between Arsenal and Newcastle was another event in favor of independent timekeeping. It’s time for transparency with countdown clocks so the public can really see how much time is left.
This should not be a state secret."
"I’m not saying the clock should be stopped every time a game is interrupted, but certainly those events that cause long delays: goal celebrations, substitutions, penalties, injuries and now VAR checks."
"What I’m asking is for FIFA to experiment with it at the Youth World Cup and then in the bigger tournaments."
"The long stoppage time at the World Cup in Qatar was refreshing, FIFA saw the light and it proved that something was wrong."