Club Managers will receive red and yellow cards this season in a bid to clean up touchline behaviour. Although Premier League managers will only receive verbal cautions for “irresponsible behaviour” in the coming campaign, in the FA Cup, Football League, Carabao Cup, EFL Trophy and National League, they will be shown cards.
The EFL has said that the change of rules, piloting an International Football Association Board (Ifab) scheme will help “protect the reputation” of its competitions. Meanwhile, the Premier League will adopt the same rules of “accumulated stage 1 warnings” – any activity by the manager or his staff in the technical area considered irresponsible by the match official – but verbally and without the use of cards.
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Managers will receive yellow cards for incidents such as kicking a water bottle, sarcastic clapping or any other gesture that could be considered as attempting to undermine the match official. A red card would be handed out for actions such as violent conduct, spitting and stopping the opponent restarting play. The manager would also be culpable for punishment should any member of his or her staff in the technical area or dugout be deemed to have behaved irresponsibly. Only the match official – not assistants or the fourth official – will have the power to issue cards to a manager, although there is a hope that this may change over time.