Arsene Wenger’s offside reforms would be disaster, says ex-World Cup official

Cann, 56, said in an interview with The Times: “Regarding the so-called Wenger Law, it would change the offside law so drastically that there would be huge unforeseen consequences.

“I am sure his idea comes from a good place, but I am vehemently opposed to it.

“From an assistant referee’s point of view, if you are looking across the line it is much easier to see a bit of the attacker’s torso or leg sticking out beyond a defender rather than looking for a tiny sliver of daylight.

“I believe it would mean more VAR decisions, so more delays, and would make it much harder for an assistant referee to judge if a player is offside or not.

“We do have the best assistant referees in the world in England and we saw with the FA Cup matches last weekend where there was no VAR that the assistant referees got just about every single offside decision correct. That would be so much harder with a daylight rule.

“This is not just a kneejerk reaction — I have thought about it very carefully since it was first proposed and if I was still an assistant referee I would have resigned if it had come in.”

Cann, who now works for the BBC advising the broadcaster on the laws of the game, added that players who would be more than a metre offside under the existing law could still be onside under Wenger’s proposal if their back foot is in line with part of the defender’s body or foot.

“That would completely change the way the game is played and it would force defenders to drop much deeper,” he said.

“It would mean more goals, but does football really want more goals? Football is a low-scoring sport, and there is a danger that if it becomes more like basketball then goals will not be celebrated like they are now.”

Sources say the British associations that sit on Ifab are expected to suggest a compromise solution involving trialling a system whereby an attacker’s torso has to be ahead of the defender, but their feet, legs and head are not measured.

Cann said that any such change should be subject to detailed trials at various levels of football, including senior competitions, before becoming law.

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