On Friday, the Premier League announced that the ‘weakened teams’ rule was to be changed. It was a controversial and unpopular rule that punished clubs if they made a large number of changes to their team from one match to another. The ruling stated that clubs had to play their strongest team at all times.
Wolves were the first team to be punished for breaking this rule, when in 2009 Mick McCarthy made 10 changes to his team to face Manchester United at Old Trafford. United won the game 3-0 and Wolves received a suspended £25,000 fine.
But last season, Blackpool manager Ian Holloway made a similar decision and made 10 changes to the team that faced Aston Villa. After the match, Holloway said:
“Let them try and fine me, it’s an absolute disgrace. I’ll show the Premier League. We were a credit to football, and let the Premier League try to tell me otherwise.”
He also threatened to resign if the Premier League fined the club. And the Premier League did just that, fining Blackpool £25,000. Holloway was true to his word, and offered his resignation to Blackpool chairman Karl Oyston, who rejected it. Blackpool appealed the fine.
There were several problems with the rule in the first place. On the final day of the 2008/09 season, Sir Alex Ferguson made 11 changes to his team that faced Hull City, from the team that had played Arsenal the week before. United had already won the league and faced Barcelona in the Champions League final three days later. The Premier League took no action against United.
And Premier League clubs regularly make large numbers of changes for ties in the domestic cups, particularly the early rounds of the League Cup.
But last season, the Premier League introduced the 25 man squad rule. The idea behind this was to encourage clubs to include ‘home-grown’ players (defined as a player registered to any club affiliated to the FA for three or more years before his 21st birthday), with at least 8 players in the 25 having to meet this requirement.
It was this rule that particularly upset Ian Holloway. If the Premier League was going to make him select 25 men to play Premier League games, how could they tell him which 11 were his best? He was also defended by Alex Ferguson when he said:
“You are allowed to have 25 players. They ask you to name them. They don’t ask you to name your 11 and 14 substitutes. The rules are there.”
So ultimately, the Premier League was left with no choice but to change the ruling about ‘weakened teams’. From the start of this season, Premier League clubs will be allowed to pick any combination of their 25 man squad to start matches. The ruling has not been totally withdrawn however, and if a club were to pick an unusually large amount of young players not in the 25, they could still face sanctions.
It’s a sensible change. Managers should be allowed to pick any combination of players they like. The manager of a club in the Champions League might choose to rest a star player or two in the league game before a European tie, and the manager of a club at the bottom of the league might rest key players when his team plays an away match against the Premier League’s bigger clubs. But it should be up to the manager which team he fields. Resting players can be a help or a hindrance, and it should not be up to the Premier League to decide if a manager is making the right choice or not with his team selection.
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