IT will not come as a surprise to regular readers of this column there is one addition to the Laws of the Game I am pleased to see.

This does not involve players, but instead managers and other club officials.

It was not until 1997 that club officials were mentioned in the Laws of the Game and then it just said: "The referee takes action against team officials who fail to conduct themselves in a responsible manner and may at his discretion expel them from the field of play and its immediate surrounds."

The technical area had been mentioned in previous seasons, but now it spelt out what it should look like, who can be in it and listing the restrictions imposed on club officials.

These include remaining within its confines (physios excepted to treat injuries), and only one person at a time could convey tactical instructions to players on the field of play.

My concern was that it was a law without teeth.

As an example, last season I saw a former England manager, then managing a Football League club, not only regularly leaving the technical area, but parading up and down on the pitch itself hurling advice at his players.

When the fourth official rightly spoke to him, he merely waved a dismissive hand.

Today that would warrant a yellow card.

Something else has been introduced to this Law, a warning.

Although referees have issued warnings as part of what’s called the ‘stepped approach’, the word warning has never appeared in the Laws of the Game before.

An example would be occasionally leaving the technical area without committing another offence.

If this became persistently failing to respect the confines of the technical area, it would then be a yellow card.

Leaving the technical area to show dissent or to remonstrate with a match official; would evoke a red card.

To show all the offences under these three headings would fill this column and more, but the Law says the referee's action is not limited to just those listed.

Club officials take note.