Patrick Barclay: Let the fourth official do the challenging, not Jose Mourinho and Co

It was a tiny but useful help to referees. But its main consequence was to stimulate the very reasonable appetite of fans (and many referees) for more comprehensive assistance and it is this to which Blatter has now applied his mind.

With disturbing results. In declaring that he wants to give managers the right to challenge decisions during stops in play — “once or twice in each half” — the FIFA president could hardly have chosen a worse option.

A child of five could tell him what will happen. Crafty managers such as Jose Mourinho will use their challenges to interrupt the opposition’s flow of play. Others will respond and suddenly, after all four challenges have been used, there will be a raging controversy that no one can do anything about.

The number of challenges per half will be increased to three, and then four, and we shall end up in a mess, having lost the free-flowing beauty of the game.

It would be such a shame because cricket’s difficulties with technology show all too clearly the folly of complicating matters, as Blatter threatens to do.

Anyone who has thought it through knows the answer is simple. First, rule out any challenges by managers. Let them manage and referees do the refereeing.

And then let the fourth official — a referee of equal standing to the man in the middle — watch on television and alert his colleague to anything significant through an earpiece, just as linesmen do with their flags.

It’s as easy as that.