5 Changes Soccer Needs to Make to Win My Respect Back

I am a lifelong soccer fan.

I grew up reading the back pages religiously, scouring football magazines for the latest transfer rumors or young stars, and compiling fantasy teams of my favorite players. I bought the video games and the jerseys and, once on holiday, a magical ticket to a Premier League game. 

I am a soccer fan, but in recent years have become increasingly disillusioned with the game.

The game itself is still beautiful.

There is nothing to my eyes more perfect in its execution than Lionel Messi dribbling or a Charlie Adam corner. Nothing more exhilarating than a Wayne Rooney volley or a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick, defying both physics and gravity as it dips and bends towards the back of the net.

However, I have lost patience with the parameters within which the game operates. The most romantic of games—the beautiful game—is being poisoned before my very eyes. There are too many flaws inherent in soccer. Obvious flaws which every fan can recognize; flaws which have obvious solutions. 

The game depends on fans like you and me to survive, and our respect should be earned.

Here are the five changes soccer needs to make before it wins my respect back. 

Introduce a Salary Cap

The English Premier League has been operating under its current title for nineteen years. In all that time, out of the twenty teams who allegedly compete for the trophy, only four different teams have won it.

All the big leagues in Europe share a similar story: La Liga is dominated by Barcelona and Real Madrid, whilst Serie A is competitive only if you play for Juventus, Inter or AC Milan. The imbalance is such that top teams in smaller leagues like Lyon and Sporting Lisbon have become little more than feeder clubs for the big teams in Italy, England, and Spain.

The only club from outside the "big three" leagues to win a Champions League in the last decade is Porto, which immediately lost their manager and all their best players. Having rebuilt a UEFA Cup winning squad, they have once again lost their manager and look set to lose their star striker, Falcao. Remember when Ajax could compete with the best in the world? No, me neither.

If a small club spends money to attain success, they run the risk of ruin. Leeds United did it, and reached the semi-final of the Champions League in 2001. However, one sub-par season meant they did not qualify for the Champions League. As a result they could not pay their loans, and by 2007 they had been relegated—twice.

The effect of a salary cap would be three-fold; 

1. It would restore true competitiveness to soccer by preventing financially powerful teams paying exorbitant wages to star players. Domestic and European success can be realistically attained through good financial and player management, solid investment, and team-building.

2. It would encourage loyalty to a club. Players who have come up through the youth system or who have played for a club for long enough could be exempt from the cap. Thus, the most loyal players can be paid the highest wages, as this money does not count towards the cap.

3. It would prevent over-spending by owners and teams, ensuring that clubs such as Leeds United cannot be ruined by the poor financial decisions of just a few ambitious people.

Soccer will always have its "big clubs" like Arsenal or Barcelona, who compete for honours more regularly than others. However, a salary cap would ensure other clubs would at least have a fighting chance at attaining silverware and keeping their best players.

Change the Way Timekeeping Is Officiated

I'm a Manchester United fan—and by virtue, a massive Alex Ferguson fan. If you've watched Manchester United for any length of time, you'll know two things about the man: 1) He likes his chewing gum, and 2) Coming to the end of a close game, he starts pointing at an invisible watch to make time go faster or slower, depending on which suits his side best.

It's not just Ferguson either—although he is the most famous exponent of the invisible watch.

Throughout the soccer world, the tendency is for an official to benefit a home team when they decide how much added time is to be played. It's not a conscious decision on behalf of referees, but rather the same human nature which sees them give free kicks and penalties more easily to the home team.

It's an unfair aspect of the game which can be solved with a very simple solution: simply adopt timekeeping laws similar to that of rugby. When there is a significant stoppage in play—normally for an injury—the referee announces time off. When play resumes, so does time.

Thus, the problem of playing games over and under what is fair is eliminated. Players and fans alike know exactly how much time is left—when the stadium's giant clock hits ninety minutes, they know that next time the ball goes dead, it's the end of the game.

No more favoring home teams, and no more post-game complaints about how much or little added time was played. It's fairer to players who know exactly how much time they have either to score or defend a goal, and adds that bit more excitement for the fans too.

A small but simple change with tremendous benefits.  

Embrace Technology

Perhaps the most glaring failure of the current FIFA administration is their opposition to introducing technology to help referees officiate. As well as being a Manchester United fan, I'm Irish, so I've got firsthand experience (no pun intended) of the pain and frustration caused when referees make bad calls at crucial times.

The most maddening thing about it all is how readily available a solution is. All the big clubs already have big screens up in their stadiums. It just takes one press of a rewind button and these decisions can be quickly and easily corrected.

Give each manager—or captain—three chances to contest contentious calls, like in tennis. If they contest a call and are right, then they keep their three chances. If it contested and they are wrong, they only have two challenges remaining. It's an elegant solution which ensures both that the flow of a game is not constantly interrupted, and that the major calls in a game will be the right calls.

Video technology isn't the only thing soccer needs. Goal line technology which will tell for certain whether the ball has crossed the line or not is also readily available. There's been some talk also of embedding chips in players' kits and footballs which would enable the offside rule to be officiated by technology.

Far from opposing such technologies, FIFA should be actively funding and investigating any technology which will create a fairer environment for the game to be played in. Nothing is as frustrating or disillusioning in soccer as having your favorite team lose as a result of a bad call by an official.

How many more teams and fans must suffer before soccer comes out of the Dark Ages?

Clamp Down on Diving. Hard.

Rugby players the size of a small house run into each other at high speeds for eighty minutes without needing a minute of treatment. Soccer players trip over their own feet and get carried off on a stretcher.

Diving is a blight on the integrity of the game, and a source of huge embarrassment for its fans.

Diving is something technology cannot fix. Instead, players and officials need to drastically readjust their attitudes to it.

First of all, referees need to implement the powers they already have to book a player who dives. All too often, referees turn a blind eye to attempts by players to win a free kick or penalty. This needs to change.  

Secondly, the power of referees needs to be extended. A rule needs to be introduced to penalize (for want of a better title) excessive wussiness. For example, if a player leaves the field on a stretcher, he should not be allowed to return to the fray seconds later. Ditto the player who rolls around on the pitch for five minutes when he grazes his knee. Referees should be able to use their good judgement to evaluate when a player is hurt and when he's play acting. Offenders need to be booked, and repeat offenders need to be suspended.   

Finally, a committee needs to be established in every league to go over video tapes of games and find incidents where players are obviously diving. Each of those players needs to be banned for the next game. If over the course of a season a player dives three times, he receives a three match ban.

Suspensions and bookings are the only things which will eliminate diving from the game. Sure, in the first week these rules are implemented, you'll probably see four or five players sent off in every game and four or five more suspended.

I don't care. Players will adapt to the rules sooner rather than later when they realize that they will be punished for cheating. The result will be a game with infinitely more enjoyment and integrity.

Restructure the FIFA Executive Committee

The title says restructure—I could just as easily have put destroy.

Sepp Blatter has been president of FIFA since 1998. In that time, he has shown himself to be completely out of touch with the modern game.

He has consistently opposed changes which would improve soccer—such as the implementation of video replays to help referees—and been downright offensive to the women's game, suggesting in essence that its players should sex it up to attract male viewers.

In fact, the bulk of Blatter's Wikipedia page is devoted to detailing the numerous controversies he has been involved in. He is a prime example of someone who has kept his position because of the political power he wields within FIFA, rather than his actual competence.

FIFA's Senior Vice President and second-in-command is Julio Grondona. He is probably best known for his anti-semitism, responding to a journalist's question about refereeing standards with "I do not believe a Jew can ever be a referee at this level. It's hard work and, you know, Jews don't like hard work."

His hatred is not isolated to the Jews, however.

This year in talking to the German Press, he detailed his thought process with regards to the vital question of where to stage the 2022 World Cup: "Yes, I voted for Qatar because a vote for the US would be like a vote for England, and that is not possible...but with the English bid I said, 'Let us be brief. If you give back the Falkland Islands, which belong to us, you will get my vote.'"

Aside from the terrible two of Blatter and Grondona, many of the remaining members of the FIFA Executive Committee have been accused of corruption. In fact, two have already been suspended.

Bribery and shady dealings seems to be part and parcel of FIFA's operations, which may go some way towards explaining why the 2022 World Cup is being held in—of all places—Qatar.

Most soccer fans see FIFA as a negative influence on the game. It needs a leader with integrity and political strength to give the organization a makeover.

It must become more transparent as a body, and most of all, its major players need to be seen to care about the sport, and prioritize this over personal wealth or political power.