(Credit: Imago)

Exclusive: Sunderland would have broken Premier League rules with Coventry plan

Refereeing Consultant AUTHORITY Former FIFA Referee; Head of PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited). FOCUS Laws of the Game, VAR implementation, officiating performance, and PGMOL policy. THE AUDIT Keith utilises Statscore’s Officiating Telemetry, including Deep-Data Metrics like Incident Accuracy Rates, VAR Intervention Latency, and Official Positional Efficiency. He provides technical refereeing analysis to reveal the regulatory reality behind match-defining decisions.

Published on:

13 May 2025, 1:58 pm

Sunderland face Coventry City in a crucial playoff clash on Tuesday evening.

The Black Cats take a 2-1 lead into the second leg against Frank Lampard's side and will be looking to book their place in the Wembley showcase.

They need to secure a draw at the very least if they are to keep their hopes of reaching the Premier League alive and they have resorted to drastic measures.

Regis Le Bris is hoping to take his side back to the top. (Credit: Imago)

Sunderland cunning plan to stop Coventry revealed

Le Bris' side need to stop Milan van Ewick's devastating long throws and they have taken a step to do exactly that ahead of the contest.

A report from Sky Sports' Keith Downie (13 May) claims that the Mackems have moved their LED advertising boards forward two metres to help them stop the dangerous throw-ins.

Former FIFA referee Keith Hackett believes that this strategy would break the rules and could not be performed in the top-flight.

Speaking exclusively to Mackem News, he said: "At the start of each season, the clubs have to declare the size of their playing area in the Premier League.

"It is I believe a regulation that then does not allow them to change the size of their playing area playing surface in that season.

"I am unsure that this regulation applies at Football League level.

"I know that at several Premier League academies clubs use this information and then practice set pieces etc, on a playing area that represents the size of the pitch of the next opposition on an away game."

🚨 Sunderland have moved their pitchside LED boards in by two metres in a bid to stop Coventry’s long throws tonight.
⚽️ Defender Milan van Ewick launches his throws into the danger area so #SAFC ground staff spent yesterday applying some tactics of their own ahead of tonight’s… pic.twitter.com/SIy6zmLaIS
— Keith Downie (@SkySports_Keith) May 13, 2025

Sunderland need every advantage they can get against Coventry

The Black Cats need to be back in the top division of the English game, there is no two ways about that, they are far too big to be languishing in the Championship.

Lampard's side are a very dangerous team, the former Chelsea star has turned them into a brilliant outfit, winning 16 of his 30 matches in charge in the league.

The hosts need to do whatever is necessary to go through to face Sheffield United at Wembley, if that is to move the advertising boards, then so be it.

Keith Hackett

Frank Lampard