Description: Managing an amateur football team in Scotland
Personally I think the introduction of being able to use five substitutes in amateur football has been a great addition to the game. It’s given us, as managers, an opportunity to give minutes to players who would have previously been unused subs.
I have made great use of the rule and I regularly use all of my subs as I am a great believer that fitness has a huge say on who wins and loses an amateur game. Fresh legs being introduced at crucial periods have won me countless matches and I’ll continue to rotate my players to give my team a fitness injection.
There is only one addition I would like to the rule and that is that match day squads be extended to allow 18 players. This would mean that you would have seven substitutes but could only use five. I think it gives us a lot more scope to be proper managers and it also adds some more flexibility to being able to make tactical substitutions.