Adding time and cleaning up petulant abuse 

The new initiatives for the Premier and Football Leagues

NEW INITIATIVES: There have been a number of new initiatives for the Premier and Football Leagues. Pic: Michael Regan/Getty Images)

1. Four becomes five: It could be goodbye Top Four and hello Fabulous Five ahead of next season's Champions League revamp. UEFA's new format will include 36 teams for the 2024/25 season, meaning an additional four clubs can enter. The two countries with the highest UEFA coefficient by the end of this season will get one extra entry each, and as things stand that will be England and Spain.

This season's results across all UEFA competitions will still come into the equation, though, which should be good news for England. Manchester City are hot favourites to retain the Champions League, Liverpool are favourites to lift the Europa League trophy, and Aston Villa are front-runners for the Conference League. England has eight teams in Europe this season, and if they reach the latter stages of the cups, fifth place in the Premier League will qualify automatically for next season's CL. Just one snag – at time of writing, no-one seems to know when it will be decided. It is possible that the team finishing their campaign in fifth (which last season was Liverpool) will not know their fate until after the UEFA club finals are over, some weeks later!

2. You may know by now of the additional added time at the end of each half – the erroneously called 'injury time' now factors in time-wasting, substitutions and other stoppages in play. FIFA trialled it during last winter's World Cup, leading to a record-breaking 27 minutes of added time during England's 6-2 win over Iran. Now the same principles are being applied across English leagues. 

The EFL used it for the first time last weekend and there were long delays that caused chaos to local TV local radio schedules. The Community Shield, which lasted 103 rather than 90 minutes, was already contentious with City fans needing to get back to Manchester on a Sunday night. 

3. A major disciplinary change will be stricter enforcement against dissent. Referees are empowered to take more robust action, and at least one player will receive a card if match officials are confronted, surrounded or their personal space is invaded by multiple players. The FA will investigate incidents with two or more players approaching a match official in a ‘confrontational manner’. The offending club would be charged and sanctioned instead of its players, and similar offences within the previous 12 months can also lead to increased penalties. The FA are also taking a hardline on so-called 'tragedy abuse' from spectators which will see people who are found to have committed offences face stadium bans and potential criminal prosecution.

4) Technically speaking: Referees will crack down on the behaviour of managers and coaches in the technical area, to cut down instances such as the infamous Conte-Tuchel handshake spat early last season at Stamford Bridge. Even minor infringements will be punished – Mikel Arteta waved an imaginary card in the hope of getting a City player booked at Wembley last week, only to receive a yellow card of his own for unsporting conduct. Only one member of staff will be allowed to issue instructions from the front of technical area, and if a second coach joins in, he will be booked.

5. If the crackdowns on time-wasting, referee intimidation and managerial misbehaviour doesn't work, and fans get sick of the poor sportsmanship and play-acting, they can enjoy another mid-season break for the first time in four years. It will not mean a complete shutdown of the Premier League programme for two weeks, but the ten games scheduled for Saturday January 13 will be split across that weekend and that of January 20-21. The FA Cup's 5th rd will be moved to midweek, and will go straight to extra time and penalties in order to accommodate the break.