Football managers to be shown red and yellow cards this season

Football managers will be shown red and yellow cards for bad behaviour in technical areas this season, in the same manner as the players.

Rather than the traditional action of sending a manager to the stands, formal bookings will now be dished out for offences on the sidelines.

If a manager is handed four yellow cards over the course of a season, they will face an automatic touchline ban.

Eight yellow cards will lead to a two-match ban, while 16 will lead to an FA misconduct hearing. Yellow and red cards will be brandished in all Football League competitions and the FA Cup, but the Premier League will not be using cards – though it will adopt the same system.

EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey said: ‘There has always been a disciplinary procedure in place to deal with behaviour on benches but unless you are the manager who has been spoken to by the referee or the referee, it has never been clear what was going on.

‘So what we have agreed is that if the behaviour of any person on the bench – usually led by the manager – reaches a level which we believe to be not appropriate, like a caution on the pitch to a player, the referee will issue a yellow card to the bench.

‘If the inappropriate behaviour continues, there is an opportunity for a second yellow card to be issued, which at that stage the manager will be asked to leave the technical area.

Ultimately, if there is a serious incident, then the manager will be show a red card and asked to leave for the stands.

‘That used to be obvious because the manager would pack his bags and head to the stands.

‘But by doing things this way, fans will have a better idea of what is going on.’

Interestingly, managers will also be responsible for the behaviour of their backroom staff and can be yellow-carded even if they’re not directly to blame.

Cautions will be handed out for ‘stage one warnings’, which includes bad language, dissent and waving imaginary cards. Red cards will be shown for ‘stage two offences’.