I am someone who will watch every Premier League match, big or small. Lately, I feel like I am wasting my time watching. Remove VAR, fix the congested schedule, ban holding, and keep the ball in play. They are making English football look ridiculous.

Remove VAR

Objective calls, like goals and offsides, should be checked using automated goal-line and offside technology. That has unquestionably improved football.

Subjective calls, like red cards, penalties, handballs, and fouls, should not be checked. Those calls should be made in real time by the four officials on the field.

We are highlighting the most frustrating part of football: officiating. No one wants to think about the officials, but now we spend all of our time talking about them. Replay after replay. Constant stoppages in play.

IFAB’s own VAR protocol says there is “no time limit” for the review process. That means long VAR delays are not just bad implementation; they are built into the logic of the system.

We’ve researched why VAR can’t be fully automated yet and offered solutions for making offside calls fully automated, with no human in the loop.

We should go back to the way football has been played for centuries. Include technology when it is necessary. Keep the game as simple as it can be. Keep delays to an absolute minimum. Keep the ball in play.

There is no way to perfect subjectivity. This painting is beautiful. This book was worth reading. This is the best song I’ve ever listened to. That is an opinion.

We are ruining moments in matches trying to chase what? It’s not perfection we are chasing, because perfection will never be achieved.

You can’t do something as simple as celebrate a goal. You have to wait several minutes for the VAR check.

A 2026 Football Supporters’ Association survey of almost 8,000 Premier League fans found that 75.7% did not support VAR, while 91.7% said it had removed the spontaneous joy of goal celebrations. Only 3.3% said the match-going experience is better with VAR.

Who finds this entertaining? This is not what football is about to me.

If capitalism were the goal, I could rationalize the motivation. But Real Madrid players are fighting each other, smashing each other into tables, knocking each other out. Southampton are spying on their opponents, with staff hiding behind trees. There are way more interesting subjects not related to the actual football being played that could drive clicks and views.

What are we doing? Who actually wants this? It’s not the fans. I refuse to believe anyone enjoys this.

In 40 years, when you’re old and senile, do you want to remember the goals, the dribbling, and the passing, or do you want to remember, “Upon further review, the goal has been disallowed”?

Why do you watch football?

The Congested Schedule

As someone who is interested in the tactical side of the game, there hasn’t been a match this season where I haven’t said, “They can’t do anything else, because look at how exhausted they are.”

I have nothing to critique.

They are pushing the limits of the human body beyond what should be acceptable.

The PFA has warned that congested domestic schedules, expanded international club competitions, and demanding international windows risk physical fatigue, mental burnout, and increased injury risk. FIFPRO’s workload research also says the match calendar is putting players’ health, performance, and careers at risk.

It’s like critiquing a runner’s form during an Ironman. He’s just trying to make it to the end of the race.

Am I really supposed to believe that player ended up in that position because of a tactical decision? Sometimes that’s true, but it feels like, in most scenarios, it has become a game of preserving energy.

If a certain structure forms, it is born out of an unavoidable lack of fitness, and they can’t avoid it because they have a game in two days and then another game in three days.

I want to watch teams that are fully fit. Teams that don’t have any excuses.

A slugfest like the Bayern Munich versus PSG match in the first leg of their Champions League tie used to be commonplace in big games. A classic because both teams were rested.

When both teams have adequate rest, I will be able to critique them and offer solutions.

You had tired and injured players last season and the season prior, but this season is a whole other animal.

You can’t offer solutions if you don’t know the condition of the players. That’s what makes it less interesting. And everyone is running on empty.

The players are saying this themselves. Rodri said in September 2024 that players were “close” to striking over the number of games being added to the calendar, with FIFPRO also noting workload concerns from Alisson Becker, Manuel Akanji, and Carlo Ancelotti.

Please, strike. Do something.

Holding

I cannot stand the constant use of hands and arms by players to hold and tug opponents.

I’m fine with using your body like a player would in American football, hockey, or basketball. That’s fine. In no other sport are you allowed to use your hands like that.

We are playing a sport in which you can’t use your hands to touch the ball. Why are we allowing players to use their hands to handle the opponent?

Copy and paste the handball rules. You can’t use a part below the sleeve to interfere with an opponent.

IFAB Law 12 lists “holds an opponent” and “impedes an opponent with contact” as direct-free-kick offences. The same law defines the upper boundary of the arm for handball as being in line with the bottom of the armpit.

I don’t want to see a player, not even looking at the ball, wrapping their arms around the waist or chest of another player.

It makes English football look ridiculous. It is not football. They are trying to invent a new sport.

Keep the ball in play

Introduce a ‘ball in play clock’ — We should force all dead-ball situations to be taken quickly. The goal should be to keep the ball in play.

Opta found that after 70 Premier League matches in 2025/26, the ball was in play for an average of exactly 55 minutes per game, down from 56 minutes and 59 seconds the previous season and 58 minutes and 11 seconds in 2023/24.

New rule: 10 seconds for corners and throw-ins.

If a defender wants to join in on a corner, they have to sprint into the box. Make it exciting. But they’re going to have to sprint back the full length of the half to defend after the corner.

10 seconds isn’t enough time to sprint from the halfway line to the penalty box, and that’s by design. I don’t want them to.

Teams shouldn’t be able to slowly gather all of their tallest players in the box, take their time, and wait for everyone to get into position.

Force teams to play it quickly, and they won’t be able to run perfectly designed, repetitive plays. This isn’t what football is about. Football is built on spontaneity.

A corner should mimic a cross, not a mixed martial arts/WWE brawl.

After MLB introduced pace-of-play rules, including the pitch clock, average game time dropped to two hours and 36 minutes, attendance rose 11% from 2022, and viewership among fans aged 18-34 rose 10.5%. Baseball became watchable again.

If you worry about losing younger fans, you should be promoting or enforcing the rules that will make football exciting.

No towels to wipe off the ball to take a long throw-in. No waiting for everyone to get into position so you can run the play. No. The ball goes out of play, you get the ball, and you put it back into play as quickly as possible.

Conclusion

I watch the Premier League because I am emotionally attached to the league.

I could name almost every substitute for every team in the league.

I could name every referee, unfortunately.

I know every chant. They have arguably the best stadiums and atmosphere in Europe, or maybe the broadcast microphones just pick up the crowd better.

The only thing that has kept me hooked the past three seasons is the storylines. This has been building up for me since 2023.

I’m so fed up with the quality of the product they are producing that I’m considering not watching.

It is not up to the players to stop trying to circumvent the rules, to make the game entertaining. The league has control over the product. They decide the schedule. They make the rules. The teams are there to win matches and make money for their owners.

This is the first time in my life where I haven’t looked forward to watching on the weekend.

The hard part is that now I have to make up for all the time I spent with this league by becoming more familiar with other leagues: their culture, their players, their atmosphere.

If you aren’t emotionally attached to everything surrounding a football match, it’s just twenty-two players running around on grass with people yelling and drums.

Hopefully, they will make changes over the summer. I can’t bear another season of this.