Penalty shootouts could change forever as ex-Arsenal chief contacts Fifa with plan for huge new rule
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DAVID DEIN is leading a drive for a penalty shootout revolution.
The former Arsenal and FA vice-chairman wants players to take spot-kicks at BOTH ends — in front of their own fans.
Dein said: “My plan is so simple I don’t understand why it’s never been done.
“I keep hearing the word ‘tradition’ and, ‘it’s always been done like this’.
“Well, 100 years ago buses were drawn by horses and that was ‘tradition’. This is progress.”
Dein says the idea sprung from Arsenal’s penalty shootout defeat to Galatasaray in the 2000 Uefa Cup final under Arsene Wenger.
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The end at which penalties are taken after tied matches is currently decided by a coin toss — but it means one side will always be disadvantaged.
Particularly if they are taking spot-kicks in front of noisy, opposing fans.
Writing in a new paperback chapter of his autobiography, he said: “We had to take our penalties at the Galatasaray end.
“So we had 20,000 Turkish fans gesticulating as our boys were taking the penalties, whistling and booing.
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“Davor Suker missed, Ray Parlour managed to hold his nerve but then Patrick Vieira missed and we lost 4-1 on penalties.
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“At that time, I was sitting on the Uefa Club Competitions Committee. At the next meeting, I asked: ‘Why was that end chosen?’
“Somebody replied: ‘The stadium manager decides with the police. They decided it would be safer at that end.’
“Okay so it’s nothing to do with the football. So I said: ‘Wouldn’t it be fairer if the end was chosen by a toss of the coin?’
“Then that morphed into two tosses, choosing ends and then the captain who wins the second toss gets to pick whether his team goes first or second. Most chose first to put pressure on the opponents.
“The more I watched shootouts, the more I felt it was unfair on the team who have to take their kicks in front of the opposing fans.
“I’m not asking the referee to go up and down. There’s the referee, the fourth official, and two assistants and in major finals, an assistant referee.
“It’s not rocket science having two officiating at either end and one in the centre circle.
“Invariably there are 32 cameras at a major final, so the coverage will be the same.”
Dein claims progressive “allies” within the Dutch FA want to champion the penalty shootout idea in their FA Cup competition.
The 80-year-old has passed on his proposals to PGMOL chairman Mike Foster and refs’ boss Howard Webb after watching Coventry City lose to Luton Town on pens in the EFL Championship Final at Wembley in May.
Influential power-broker Dein has also held talks with Fifa chief Gianni Infantino at the 2023 Champions League Final in Istanbul.
Dein, who used to sit on Fifa and Uefa committees, said: “I finished off with: I believe the next steps should be to have five surveys.
“A: Analysing the past few years on whether there is actually any bias regarding penalties taken in front of the team’s own supporters.
“B: What the fans think. C: What the players think. D: What the referees think. E: What the broadcasters think.
“Personally, I’ve no doubt that points B, C and E will be massively in favour and I’d hope that the referees would have no objection.
“I think the new format should still be implemented purely out of fairness to the fans and the players taking the penalties.
“Let’s have a survey with the fans, see what people think.
“Let’s ask thirty thousand Coventry fans: ‘Are you happy from your seat to look right down the other end of the pitch without being able to support your team properly?’
“And those Arsenal fans who were in Copenhagen.
“They couldn’t see what was going on all the way down the other end of the pitch.
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“Let’s ask the players, ‘Would you rather take your penalty in front of your own fans?’ Let’s ask the broadcasters. Let’s ask the officials.”
Calling the Shots: How to Win in Football and Life by David Dein is out now in paperback (£12.99, Constable).
