‘Not happy’…Michael Ball worried about Everton star Jordan Pickford amid blue card rule change news

Michael Ball has expressed his worry about Everton star Jordan Pickford if a blue card and sin-bin rule was introduced to football, as has been mooted in recent days.

As reported by the Telegraph [8 February], the International Football Association Board has signed off on a revolutionary move which would see players removed from play for ten minutes if they commit a cynical foul or show dissent towards an official.

This has led to concerns for Pickford, who is not shy on the pitch and will often scream and shout at officials. If that is deemed as dissent, Everton could find themselves in a tricky situation.

Writing in his column for the Liverpool Echo [13 February], Ball shared: “They tell us they’re looking to bring a blue card in for cynical fouls, where you clip a leg on purpose or dissent. We’ve got Jordan Pickford who likes to scream and shout at referees, imagine if he gets a blue card.

“We’re not happy with our referees right now but adding another card is just going to cause even more confusion, delays and unwanted debates. As a former defender, I’d say that not every tackle deserves a card.

“It’s just making it more complicated so let’s just focus on what we already need to fix because right now it’s not working. We don’t know what a yellow card is any more or what the handball law is, the consistency is not there, let’s figure out what the rules are now before we add in another one.”

While the current rules for dealing with dissent would see Pickford earn a yellow card as a warning, it’s not often he picks those up, so it could be suggested he may avoid a blue card unless it is particularly serious.

You’d like to think referees would have some common sense with the new rule, but given all the confusion and controversial decisions made with the rules we have at the moment, adding another could just make things worse.

A report in The Guardian [12 February] insisted that goalkeepers would not be exempt from the blue card, and teams would be forced into playing an outfield player in goal for the ten-minute sin-bin or making a permanent change.

FIFA, however, has since clarified that no such conversations are underway and that if they were to trial such a large-scale new rule change, it would be at a lower level rather than the FA Cup as has been suggested.

Referees have caused enough issues already through their decision-making this season, and if this blue card was introduced, Ball fears Everton could suffer as a result of Pickford’s temper, possibly losing a key player as a result.