‘The England coach wants referees to call a one-minute time-out in the middle of each half, a revolutionary move that would in effect split a match into four quarters rather than two halves.
Eriksson said the break would have two major benefits: players could have a refreshing drink, and managers could have a brief, but potentially crucial, chat with them about how they are performing. 'It should be good to have a one-minute time-out, yes. Maybe after 22-and-a-half minutes, the referee blows and gives them one minute to drink, and gives the coach the opportunity to speak to the team,' said the Swede.
Often criticised for being too conservative and tactically rigid on the field, Eriksson clearly harbours radical ideas that he believes would improve the quality of the game. He also wants video technological assistance to be introduced so that referees can have instant replays of controversial incidents at the side of the pitch. That would reduce the mistakes they make with incidents inside the box, especially penalties, and disputes over whether the ball has crossed the line.
'It's time to put technology into football and give the referee the opportunity to see what we can see at home in the living room. So if the referee is not sure whether it's a penalty, he will have a chance to go to the touchline and see,' explained Eriksson. 'And was the ball in or not? It's crazy that in 2003 sometimes we don't know if the ball was in or not,' he said.
Again, instant replays on a small screen would help the official in charge settle the issue, Eriksson suggested. The changes would help ensure better, more accurate decisions at key moments. 'The referee can't be sure every time, this was a penalty or not. So give him that opportunity,' urged the England coach. Television companies would probably welcome the opportunity to show more commercials during a match while the referee was reviewing the incident, so such a change 'would not be very difficult' to introduce, he added.
However, TV replays should be used only for incidents inside the penalty area and not for events elsewhere on the pitch, and referees could choose not to use the available technology to give them a second look, he said. Officials would probably only need to watch a replay once a match, if at all, added Eriksson.’
Time outs = plenty of time for more adverts.