The Americanisation of football

Or should that be the Americanization of soccer?

Apparently The Football League is to consider a proposal to scrap draws and decide drawn matches by a penalty shoot out. The team that wins the shoot out would then receive two points and the team that loses the shoot out would receive one point.

Frankly I think this is barking mad. A draw can be a perfectly fair result of a hard fought match between two teams – to award an extra point based on a shoot out seems to be pandering to the concept that there has to be a winner of every match. Obviously in a cup competition only one team can proceed to the next round but in a league competition a draw is fine – the winner will eventually become clear at the end of the season.

For once I agree with Arsene Wenger who was quoted as saying "The draw is part of the culture of the game and I would not like that to disappear."