Coaches plead for more time

European national coaches, concerned that the leading clubs are growing in strength by importing overseas players, have called for more time with their players so that they can maintain their teams' standards.

Glenn Hoddle said on Tuesday that he wanted a nine-day build-up to England's next World Cup qualifier, against Poland, but club managers were not enthusiastic.

The coaches, holding their second convention in Copenhagen, see Europe's major clubs becoming more powerful since the Bosman ruling removed restrictions on foreign players. They say international football is now even more important, because clubs are losing their national identity. With fewer domestic players in club squads, the national coaches say they need more time to work with their internationals.

"They fear international football could become watered down," said the former Scotland manager, Andy Roxburgh, now a Uefa technical director, at the end of the three-day convention.

Roxburgh revealed that Berti Vogts, the coach of the European champions, Germany, had been at the forefront of the demands. "Berti led the way with an impassioned plea for the protection of national teams," he said. "The coaches are a bit concerned that in the post-Bosman era we're in the past. In 1967, when Glasgow Celtic won the European Cup, all the players were local."

Roxburgh added that Uefa's technical committee, of which Vogts is a new member, would meet in Amsterdam in November to discuss proposals put forward at the convention and then submit them to the executive.

The most important proposal was that rather than hold international matches in midweek, a few weekends should be put aside each season, allowing national teams to play twice in the space of 10 days.

In five 10-day periods countries could play 10 internationals, and clubs in the domestic top divisions, who take a weekend break before a midweek international, would be asked to release players from a Monday to the Wednesday of the following week but less often each season.

The coaches also discussed the sudden-death rule, with most of them expressing their dislike of the "golden goal", the need to clarify the offside law in terms of whether or not a player on the fringe of the action was influencing play, and yellow cards.

A grading system was proposed to differentiate between violent play and dissent. "Should a player be suspended for talking too much," Roxburgh said. They agreed there should be more co-operation with referees to try to resolve the sort of mistakes that were made during Euro 96.