Premier League set for refereeing revolution as fourth officials get extra powers - but still no TV review

Fourth officials will officially be able to ‘referee’ games this season - but can’t use TV monitors to help out - in a major football revolution.

The Premier League have agreed to let the touchline extra man be the man-in-the-middle’s extra eyes and spot things that the usual three officials miss.

Referee chiefs have briefed top-flight bosses on the changes that will come into effect and should help the flashpoint incidents that can cause controversy.

But - because of FIFA’s strict guidelines - the fourth officials will have to actually see with the naked eye and will be banned from reviewing incidents on their TV monitors.

There have been repeated calls for video assistance, heightened by Frank Lampard’s ‘goal’ for England in the World Cup. But fourth officials cannot go down that route.

Instead the standby officials, whose duties have been keeping the peace between the dug-outs and making substitutions, can now take part and tip off the senior men in charge if they see something that need to be pointed out.

It stops short of the major changes most football experts want - and ironically the process could take as ling as a TV review - but until FIFA adopt the principle it is the best addition possible.

One top Premier League boss said: “It’s a good idea as long as it helps and doesn’t hold up the game. But most of us can’t understand why they can’t just let them look at the monitors too.”