Managers touchline and stadium bans: From sitting in the stands to hiding in the laundry

“It’s not nice but I’m sure we’ll prepare for Everton and my coaching staff will take over,” Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said about his touchline ban for this weekend. “They are very competent to do the job.”

But what job will the coaching staff be doing in Ten Hag’s absence — i.e. what is a manager allowed to do (or not do) when they are serving a touchline suspension?

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Rules vary from country to country but in England (in both the men’s and women’s games) a manager suspended from the touchline has to sit in the directors’ box during the match. If there is no seat available or no official directors’ box, they must take up a spot in the stand which is not near the technical area or near opposition supporters.

FA guidance on touchline suspensions states: “The individual cannot position themselves in or behind the area of the dugout, or any barrier adjacent to the touchline or goal line.”

The punishment centres around not being able to communicate directly with players during a match. The manager can give a pre-match team talk as usual, they can be in the dressing room at half-time, and they can discretely pass on information for their assistants to relay during the game. But direct communication is forbidden.

In other words, managers should be seen and not heard. They can speak, but heaven forbid they should shout.

That is made very clear in the FA rules, which say: “It is not permissible for the participant to shout instructions to the occupants of the technical area or players on the field of play.

“The participant may use a communication device to give instructions to the occupants of the technical area.”

Managers can, if they wish, partake in their usual pre- and post-match media duties, although they will not be able to do a touchline interview as the suspension includes not being allowed to be pitchside or on the pitch before and after matches too (including for two hours afterwards).

It almost goes without saying, but if managers are not allowed to speak to their players during a match, then they also cannot attempt to make contact with referees.

That also includes the fourth official or any referee assessors, who may be sitting near them in the director’s box.

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Again, this may be stating the obvious, but the match must be completed for it to count as a suspension — for example, if the game is postponed or abandoned, it does not count towards the touchline suspension.

There are a fair few rules in place but, in reality, how much difference does a manager not being on the touchline actually make? Everything else is pretty normal: the team talks beforehand and at half-time, media duties, they can pick the team, they make the subs. It’s just their physical absence on the touchline. Do players really get that much from a manager shouting things they probably can’t even hear that well?

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Greece manager Gus Poyet wrote about the subject when he was managing in Chile a couple of years ago.

“When I get a touchline ban as a manager, the players and staff become very tense (players generally like and prefer the manager to tell them things and not the assistants),” he said. “The assistants move into the limelight, which many of them are not accustomed to and, as human beings, they all react in different ways but it often creates nerves.

“For example, the assistants who normally watch the match sitting down, suddenly find themselves standing up and shouting for the whole match. The tension takes over and, depending on the person, will often affect what happens in the match.”

When he was suspended for a match in Chile, Poyet detailed how he wasn’t allowed in the changing rooms. Upon arrival at the stadium, he had to sit in a radio commentary box for an hour and a half before kick-off, watching TV and speaking to his wife on the phone.

That is more akin to an extended touchline suspension in England, in which managers are not allowed to enter the dressing rooms at any time from 30 minutes prior to kick-off to 30 minutes after full-time, including half-time.

The most severe punishment is a stadium ban, which is pretty rare. Jose Mourinho’s stadium ban in 2015 is probably the most famous example of this; he was banned from the Britannia for Chelsea’s game at Stoke having confronted referee Jon Moss during a Chelsea defeat at West Ham, refusing to leave the officials’ room after the match.

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In Moss’ report of the incident, he stated: “At this point, Mr Mourinho became very aggressive and animated. He shouted that you f****** referees are weak… (Arsene) Wenger is right about you… you are f****** weak.”

Mourinho missed the Stoke game and, as far as anyone is aware, he did not hide in a corner of the Britannia in a laundry basket — as he had done years earlier when he was banned for a big Champions League tie against Bayern Munich, arriving at the stadium seven hours before kick-off to avoid detection.

“Stewart Bannister the kit man put me in the basket. It was a little bit open so I could breathe,” he later said.

“But when he was taking it outside the dressing room, the UEFA guys were following and desperate to find me, so he closed the box and I couldn’t breathe! When he opened the box, I was dying! I am serious! I was claustrophobic, I promise! It’s true!”

Marc White of National League (fifth-tier) side Dorking Wanderers is no stranger to touchline or stadium bans.

He recently told Under The Cosh podcast: “You’re not allowed anywhere near the ground on a matchday, so you have to watch it from the hotel or the player’s bus. A lot of managers go in disguises, that’s a well-known thing.

“A lot of people I know have — it’s an easy thing to do. But I’ve behaved this time around. If you get caught, you’d just get f***** even more.

“The FA are transitioning from traffic wardens to a Gestapo or something. Everything’s about suspensions, bans and fines.

“I think if you’re going to do it, be a mascot. Because everyone’s scared of the f***ers, aren’t they?

“People told me for the last game: ‘Marc go and sit in the corner dressed as the Dorking cockerel, no one will go near you.”

Well yes, quite. As for the official FA rules on stadium bans, the governing body states the manager cannot enter the stadium for a period of three hours before or after the match.

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This also involves no direct or indirect communication with any player or staff member from the club from kick-off to full time. The manager can watch a live feed of the game but “cannot take up a position which enables them to view the match directly, such as in surrounding buildings which overlook the pitch”.

Stadium bans are rare but touchline bans — with Ten Hag enduring one this weekend, Pep Guardiola recently having one for earning three bookings this season and subsequently watching Manchester City lose to Wolves from the stands, and Mikel Arteta facing one for his recent outburst against officials — are becoming far more common.

(Top photo: Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images)

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