Stop the clock when the action stops

As we enter the group phase of the Champions League, it reminds me that we will see the standard "European one minute" added on at the end of the first half, and the "European two minutes" at the end of the second. Unless there is an outstandingly long stoppage, I guarantee that is what you will see in whatever matches you watch over the next two nights.

Is it something to do with TV schedules? I don't know, but I have certainly noted this standardisation over the past few seasons.

It is, of course, ridiculous as six second-half substitutions (by no means unusual) should mean an extra three minutes, let alone the odd injury, and - even more so - the thinly disguised time wasting by whichever team thinks it's in the strongest position.

As spectators we rarely get our money's worth of real action. Proper time keeping is long overdue.

Let's put a stopwatch on the real action. As in many American sports, let's stop the clock when the ball is dead, and run it on when the ball's in play. Let's then say we'll have 30 minutes of action per half - which would take about 50 minutes to an hour.

We'd see about the same amount of action, but we'd know exactly what we were getting and would stop feeling cheated.

Start the clock now!