As usual, the international break has left a vacuum in the lives of many football supporters. I believe most (myself included) would place club before country and so the major hope is simply that none of our players get injured.

To pass the time, I’d like to offer a few ideas up for discussion.

Here are some suggestions for common sense changes in the game:

1. The FA should be able to review and punish all challenges where injury has occurred whether there has been a red, yellow or no card shown at the time.

2. When a player has to leave the pitch due to a tackle that has led to a free kick, the perpetrator of the tackle must also leave the pitch and should only return at the same time as the injured player or when a substitute comes on. At the moment, the side that is disadvantaged by having a player injured is further penalised by being a player short.

3. The end of extra time should be signalled by a siren/bell through the PA system and not the referees whistle. The 4^th official could be empowered to add more extra time if a goal is scored or the game is delayed for any reason.

4. Tactical substitutions should not be allowed in extra time, only for injury.

5. The offside rule relating to players ‘not interfering with play’ is too subjective. If a player is offside and draws a defender out of position allowing a pass to reach another player who scores – he is interfering with play in my opinion. It should be returned to the old system where if any player is offside the whistle is blown.

6. Technology should be introduced, certainly for goal-line decisions and possibly for an on-the-spot review of match changing incidents. The system works in rugby, tennis and cricket. The argument that it disrupts the game doesn’t stand up when you consider the time lost when players surround the referee when they feel an unjust decision has been given.

7. A player who has played for his club but has subsequently been withdrawn from an international squad should not be allowed to play the next game for his club side.

The groundswell of opinion calling for changes in the rules particularly relating to technology and the punishment handed out to offenders is growing. I’d expect that many supporters of Fulham and Newcastle have been recruited to the cause and would like to see more being done to try to prevent potentially career ending challenges.

Arsenal Arsenal has leant its support to the ‘Kick Kicking out of Football’ campaign. I’m not asking for a radical rethink to the way the game is played, but just some common sense measures to deter players from making reckless challenges and for the punishment to fit the crime