Celtic and Rangers give verdict on blue cards in football - 'they better make sure they have a green card'

What Brendan Rodgers and Philippe Clement had to say about IFAB’s new proposals

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers admits he is against the introduction of blue cards in Scottish football – but might prefer it if they were coloured green.

Football’s lawmakers IFAB are planning to trial blue cards that, when shown by referees, will require players to spend ten minutes in the sin bin before being reintroduced to the game. Dissent and tactical fouls will count as blue card offences. Details of the trials were due to be published on Friday but have now been delayed until next month with the International Football Association Board set to discuss the matter further at its annual general meeting at Loch Lomond on March 2. The introduction of a blue card, if it passed into the laws of the game, would mark the biggest single change in managing player discipline since red and yellow cards came into force at the 1970 World Cup.

Celtic boss Rodgers is against both the idea and the chosen colour of the card given the association with rivals Rangers. “As soon as I seen it, I thought, 'well I work in Scotland, I'm sure they better have a green card as well as a blue one or we might be in trouble,” the Northern Irishman said during his pre-match press conference ahead of facing St Mirren in the Scottish Cup. "Just don't complicate it. Just make a decision, whether it's a red, yellow or no card. We don't need a blue card up here that's for sure.”

Scottish referees already possess a yellow and red card - will a blue card come into play in the future?

Rangers manager Philippe Clement made no issue with the chosen shade of card but is also firmly against the introduction of ten-minute sin bins insisting that it will damage the product and lead to confusion and more time-wasting. “I understand the idea behind it,” the Belgian said in his pre-match press conference ahead of hosting Ayr United in the Scottish Cup. “I think also there needs to be something done in general towards contact with the referees.

"But the thing with taking players out for ten minutes will create much more nervousness, much more stress, much more uneven situations by doing that. How long does it take to get a player off the pitch? When does the ten minutes start? It is ten minutes playing time or real time? What is a team going to do when they have one player less? What is the result of that for the game of football? So I’m totally not a fan of that.

"We need to watch out to not change the game. I think the game of football is a good product and it’s really important for the game to be fluid. The more stops you have, and dead moments, the less good product you have. I don’t think it’s a good idea to take extra players off during the game because it will create a downfall for the game.”