Howard Webb is setting off on a Premier League roadshow to double down on officialdom’s efforts to weed out time-wasters and cheats.
The former policeman is set to visit each top-flight club in turn as the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) - the body which oversees referees - seeks to build on the improvements made since the start of the season.
Referees went into the current campaign aiming to hammer home a zero tolerance policy towards time-wasting and trying to improve the amount of time the ball is in play. And their efforts have produced results with statistics showing an uptick in cautions handed out for killing the clock - with the ball now being kept in play for around one minute longer than last term.
But Martin Atkinson and Jon Moss - who have both hung up their whistles after lengthy careers - have asked Webb to visit each club to spread their message. Webb, who was the man-in-the-middle of the controversial 2010 World Cup final in South Africa between Spain and Holland, is starting his round-robin tour this month.
And he will be seeking meetings with players and managers to highlight the officials’ concerns over their current bug-bears. So far, 41 yellow cards have been handed out for time-wasting - compared to 31 last term.
That is seen as a result after it was made a priority during the summer - although it appears there is no rush to follow the lead set down by FIFA’s officials in Qatar. Ex-ref Pierluigi Collina outlined at the start of the tournament that officials would be adding plenty of stoppage time if players went down feigning injury or attempted to delay re-starts.
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That happened with the fourth officials holding up boards showing up to ten minutes’ additional time on occasion. It is also understood that officials will be looking more closely at players blocking each other from set-pieces from now on.
That practice has been growing during the past few years and now officials are seeking to weed out those intent on gaining an unfair advantage. Webb’s influence has already had an effect since he rejoined the PGMOL after a stint in America.
He wants to modify the approach to VAR decisions with more emphasis placed on those which are clear and obvious errors by the officials.
