NOW that the soccer season has reached its final few matches (I say "soccer" so it is not confused with the real football played with an oval ball by men who obey the ref's instructions to the letter), the FA should consider changing the rule regarding managers being confined to a specific area.

Would it not be much better to fix a halter-post and running chain, as is done with a dog, to give safety to the assistant referees who have to run past these howling banshees?

This seems to be a relatively-recent practice that seems to have come over from the continent.

I cannot honestly remember the great managers like Sir Alf Ramsey or Bill Shankly poncing up and down the touchline. They had no need - they knew their players were good enough.

So let's see this new breed of managers being told by the ref to get back in the kennel, if they can't behave.

FRANCIS CROSS, Royds Street, Accrington.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.