The Rational Ref | Rational Ref: Let's call time on those who run down the clock
Should we take retrospective action on time-wasters? Or do we just accept it's part of the game and let refs deal with it?
It doesn't take a genius to run down the clock. Even ball boys do it with aplomb.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho complained about the time-wasting tactics of ball boys during his team's first defeat of the season away to Newcastle United.
It is a certainty ball boys are told how to run down the clock depending on how their team are doing
In defeat, people always look for excuses and Mourinho is no special exception. "We wanted to play more football but it was not possible because a few things I thought didn't belong any more to top-level football but still belongs - the ball disappeared, the ball doesn't come, another ball comes, the ball boys run away - these kind of situations that unfortunately are still part of the game," moaned Mourinho.
Whether Mourinho likes it or not, ball boys and their ball-handling antics are part and parcel of top-level soccer. They are usually teenage youth players who have developed an allegiance to the home club or their national team by either volunteering or, if they are lucky enough, being paid by their club or association.
Therefore, they are told what to do. And since the first-team manager is of high rank, it is a certainty ball boys are told how to run down the clock depending on how their team are doing.
Former England manager Glenn Hoodle has even gone on record confessing: "As a manager, you will tell people instructing the ball boys that if you're winning the game, don't give the ball back quickly." But this is nothing new.
