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SOMETIMES THERE ARE THINGS THAT HAPPEN IN FOOTBALL THAT MAKE YOU WONDER WHETHER YOU ARE THE ONLY SANE PERSON ON THE PLANET.

England coach Sven-Göran Eriksson was at the top of Chelsea’s wish list as they searched for a new manager, despite the fact that their present manager has been doing a more than competent job. The main reason for their search? The Chelsea hierarchy did not like Claudio ‘Tinkerman’ Ranieri’s tactics, his persistent chopping and changing of the team line-up and liberal use of substitutes. So why were they looking to replace him with a manager renowned for making 11 substitutions per game?

Eriksson has of course now signed an extension to his England contract, the Chelsea suits have apologised to Ranieri for their clumsy handling of the whole affair and it’s more or less back to normal. For now.

Mr Eriksson will soon find his style somewhat cramped. No matter how England get on at Euro 2004 in Portugal, a new ruling passed by the International Football Association Board will next season limit the number of substitutes allowed in friendly international matches to six, three more than is allowed in competitive matches but a lot less than the Swede likes to employ. The rule comes into force on July 1 and will affect England’s warm-up to the World Cup 2006 qualifying tournament.

After the ruling was announced there was one commentator who suggested that the number of substitutions allowed in competitive matches should be INCREASED from three to six as well, as it would lessen the number of injuries in the game. Players, he argued, would be more likely to leave the field if they felt a tweak or strain.

He was on the right lines, in that the original point of allowing substitutions was to provide cover for genuinely injured players. What he failed to grasp though is that allowing more substitutions would make the rich richer in footballing terms and the poor poorer. Football is meant to be an even contest between 11 players, not a game of tag wrestling where your opponent can introduce one of their latest £10m acquisitions while you are limited to bringing on a 17-year-old trainee.

Also, if there was a rule passed allowing for more subs, imagine this scenario. It’s Manchester United versus Chelsea at Old Trafford. Chelsea, who still have three subs to use, are leading 1-0 with three minutes to go. The board goes up, substitution for Chelsea. A minute later, the board goes up again, substitution for Chelsea. The 89th minute, guess what, the board goes up again . . . You see it every week, substitutions used as a time wasting device, so the final few minutes of an important, tight game would descend into farce.

It seems a long way from 1965, when Keith Peacock, then a player (and now assistant manager) at Charlton Athletic, became the first No 12 to be used in English football on August 21. For the record, Peter Bennett was West Ham’s first League substitute a week later during a 2-1 win over Leeds, but he was one of only three subs used by the Hammers in the entire 42-game season. In last term’s 38-game Premiership, West Ham used 72 substitutions.

Of course, it is perfectly acceptable these days to make tactical substitutions and that’s exactly what Ranieri did at half time in that European Cup tie at Highbury 11 days ago, bringing on Jesper Gronkjaer for Scott Parker to wrest control of the right flank from Arsenal. Not a change for the sake of it, not tinkering for the fun of it but a match-winning piece of strategy. And the raw emotion exhibited by the Chelsea manager after the fnal whistle spoke volumes.

Having considered taking over from Ranieri, Eriksson could perhaps learn a thing or two from the Italian instead.