The EFL will introduce a multi-ball system next season in an attempt to cut down on timewasting - a move that will be welcomed by Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray. Mowbray spoke out numerous times last season about opposition teams setting out to slow the game down and waste time, particularly at the Stadium of Light, and the failure of referees to consistently add on additional time on to compensate.
"I've found it [to be an opposition tactic] since I've been here, to try and slow it down, disengage the crowd, take time over goal kicks and free kicks," Mowbray said in February. "In our dressing room, we talk about playing fast, pressing, winning tackles and getting the crowd involved.
"So why wouldn't they do the opposite? There's nothing in the rules that says you can't.
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"But I genuinely feel that the timing [added time] aspect of it needs taking out of the officials hands. I don't know how you'd do it because it would be a pretty strange job [to have].
"At some stage it needs to be better than a fourth official guessing how long the substitutes took and how many injuries there were. I said it the other night after Fulham [in the FA Cup], when they put four minutes up when there had been ten subs and four goals in the second half, the physio was on twice.
"How? It's guessing and there needs to be someone else who decides."
The general trend across football towards the ball being 'in play' for a decreasing amount of time has led to a debate over whether matches should be shortened to 60 minutes but with the clock stopped every time the ball is dead. So far, there has been little enthusiasm for that proposal amongst the game's lawmakers but the introduction of the multi-ball system - which was adopted by the Premier League 12 months ago - by the EFL is an attempt to speed up the game.
It will see a number of balls stationed around the perimeter of the pitch, and the nearest can be used to restart play following a stoppage rather than waiting for the original matchball to be retrieved. As part of the switch, teams will no longer be allowed to use towels or other articles - either their own or offered by spectators - to dry footballs during games, which was a tactic often used before taking throw-ins.
The move to the multi-ball system is one of a number of regulation changes approved by EFL clubs at yesterday's AGM and which will come into effect immediately. The other changes include alterations to the EFL's ownership and directors' test which add further grounds for disqualification, and which keeps the test aligned with that used by the Premier League.
Clubs will also have to notify the EFL promptly if it is in danger of insolvency. And clubs in Leagues One and Two have been given an extra month in which to submit their Future Finanical Information.
