Mark Clattenburg: Inside Former Epl Referee's Elaborate Plan to Eliminate Gamesmanship in Football

• Mark Clattenburg says football needs to have radical changes in the time format
• The former Premier League referee says matches should be cut from 90 minutes to 60 minutes with a stop clock to eliminate gamesmanship
• In the Premier League, the ball has been in play an average of 55 minutes

Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has called on radical changes to the time format of football matches after Manchester City’s Champions League defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday.

Real Madrid came up with one of the most dramatic comebacks in the history of the competition when they came from behind to stun Pep Guardiola’s men to advance to the final 5-3 on aggregate.

After two quickfire goals from Rodrygo from the 90th minute, the match was forced to extra time when it initially looked like Riyad Mahrez had set up his side for victory with his goal, 15 minutes from time.

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In extra time, talisman Karim Benzema scored from the penalty spot to send his side through as City suffered a spectacular collapse.

Notably, the referee only added three minutes of injury time to what was an extra time filled with a lot of stoppages, something that left many fans stunned.

Furthermore, referee Daniele Orsato courted controversy when he blew the whistle before the three minutes were up.

Mark Clattenburg, who has had his fair share of controversy as a Premier League referee, wrote a column on Daily Mail with an elaborate suggestion on how football matches should be handled going forward.

According to the former referee, he wants Premier League games reduced from 90 to 60 minutes.

“Given how Real Madrid’s players were milking every second they could in the second half of extra time in the Champions League on Wednesday night, Manchester City were less than thrilled that only three minutes were added on,” he said in his column.

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“They were even less impressed when the full-time whistle was blown 10 seconds short of that time.”

The 60-minutes game with a stop clock

Clattenburg was of the opinion that the Premier League would be better off taking up the basketball format of time.

“I think there’s a solution to all of this and that’s 60-minute matches with a stop-clock – an idea which Pierluigi Collina, FIFA and IFAB are currently looking at. It works in basketball and it could work in football, too.”

Interestingly, in the Premier League this season, the average time the ball has stayed in play during matches is 55 minutes.