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English sides to consider penalty shootout suggestion

The 72 soccer clubs in the Football League, the three English divisions below the Premier League, have agreed to consider a proposal to end draws with penalty shootouts.

The proposal, made by Football League chairman Brian Mawhinney, would award one point to each team and a bonus point to the team that wins the shootout.

"Some people were strongly against it, some people were in favor of it but on both sides people said, `Let's be constructive and have a broad examination of what we have on offer,'" Mawhinney said on Thursday, adding that the proposal is intended to add entertainment and "refresh out product."

"Managers may hate shootouts but fans love them," Mawhinney said.

Proposal

The 72 club chairmen have agreed to consider the proposal, but Bristol City manager Gary Johnson is against the idea.

"It doesn't make sense. It's a ridiculous idea and it will get laughed out of court -- if it even gets there," Johnson said.

Sheffield United are in the Premier League, but manager Neil Warnock still criticized the idea.

"Personally I detest penalty shootouts," Warnock told the Times newspaper. "I don't see anything wrong with the [second division] Championship."

"If they want to titivate and mess about they should try to get to FIFA and get the divers and the people who are injured treated while the game is in progress to get the game moving quicker," he said.

Cardiff City chairman Peter Ridsdale told BBC Sport that it is "a nonsense idea and won't make the game more exciting."

Exciting

"If you look at the top of the Championship at the moment -- it's never been so exciting so why change something that's not broken?" Ridsdale said.

Other leagues have experimented with penalty shootouts for regular-season draws, but the concept has failed to catch on.

In the US, Major League Soccer had a version of the shootout from its inception in 1996 -- players started 35m from goal and had five seconds to score. It was discontinued after the 1999 season.

Mawhinney is now seeking ideas from clubs and fans that are within the limits of the game.

"We cannot afford to be complacent," Mawhinney said. "People are always talking to me about how we can get more goals and more excitement in football."
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