Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray calls for clampdown on 'frustrating' time-wasting

Tony Mowbray has called for football to be smarter about injury-time after growing frustrated with persistent time-wasting against Sunderland this season.

Time wasting has been a notable theme in Sunderland games in recent years. During the four seasons in League One, opposition clubs did it as they were the underdogs.

It has followed them into the Championship too, with clubs apparently feeling it is a good tactic to interrupt the rhythm of Sunderland’s football as well as prevent the supporters from getting too involved in the game.

At the 2022 World Cup, a conscious effort was made to remove the incentive to waste time by making injury-time considerably longer, but that has not followed into English football.

Mowbray, though, says it’s time something was done, and he has a suggestion.

"I've said repeatedly that it should be taken out of the hands of the fourth official and given to an independent adjudicator," Mowbray said.

"Every time there's a stoppage where that person thinks someone is wasting time, or if there's a stoppage because of an injury or a substitution, they just pause their watch. I don't understand with all the millions in football, you leave people who have other jobs to do to make that decision and I think the upshot is that they guess.

"Some substitutions take two minutes, some take 30 seconds, but they are all 30 seconds in terms of the time that gets added on.

"It's really frustrating - it's not their [the officials] fault, someone should take a lead in timekeeping in English football."

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