Sean Dyche calls for Premier League to throw in the towel

• Sean Dyche wants towels removed from Premier League touchlines after throwing delays in Forest’s 2-0 win at Brentford
• Dyche says long throws have turned into set plays, with time lost while teams dry the ball and organise
• Brentford boss Keith Andrews hit back, pointing to Forest’s time management and questioning the added time call

Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche has urged the Premier League to ban towels on the sideline, arguing they slow the game down by stretching out the time taken over throw-ins.

Dyche raised the issue after Forest’s 2-0 win at Brentford, where Brentford’s Michael Kayode was regularly seen grabbing a towel before taking long throws into the Forest penalty area.

“They have towels on the sidelines. I can’t work that out,” Dyche said in his post-match news conference.

“Nothing against Brentford. It’s the rules. How can a home team be allowed to decide if they have towels on the sidelines or not?”

Premier League guidance allows towels, provided both teams can use them at all times. Dyche’s point is that the away side has no practical choice in the matter if the hosts decide to place towels around the pitch.

The EFL took a different route, banning towels or any other item used to dry the ball before the 2023-24 season.

Dyche said: “Why not in the Premier League, just go, no towels, just get on with the game? It just adds in another layer of things for us to talk about and for us to worry about.

“Just say no towels. Dead easy, isn’t it? It’s not rocket science. Why make it more complicated? It’s unfathomable to me.”

He also pointed to the wider delay that comes with long throws, with teams setting up like they are defending or attacking a dead ball.

“That’s what a long throw brings. It brings a set up,” he said. “It brings time. It brings delay. There’s lots of different things.”

Data suggests throw-ins in the Premier League are taking longer than in recent seasons. The average was 15.6 seconds two seasons ago, rising to 16.1 seconds in 2024-25, then up again to 17.8 seconds this season.

A change may be coming. The International Football Association Board is set to approve a countdown on throw-ins and goal kicks in an attempt to cut time wasting.

Dyche’s comments landed on a day when Brentford manager Keith Andrews was unhappy with Forest’s approach late on at the Gtech Stadium.

“I don’t think we were helped by the fact that every goal kick took an eternity, every free kick took an eternity,” Andrews said.

“This isn’t the reason we’ve lost a game, but it’s just an observation around momentum in a game and being able to sustain attacks.

“Where they came up with [only] three minutes’ injury time is beyond me.”