It has surely come to the point when the Offside Rule should be scrapped outside of the the six-yard box. The recent changes have left players, referees and fans bemused, not to mention Alan Hansen and Andy Gray, and it is now farcical.
If it were to be scrapped, it would lead to more open football, with defenders unable to push up and thus leaving a larger area in midfield for the more skillful players to express themselves.
Before we start to think back to jumpers for goalposts and 'goal-hanging' with a packet of crisps in one hand and arm raised in the other for a through ball waiting to be played... just think to the way it is right now. The pitch is consistently compressed into a 15 metre area either side of the half-way line.
The current situation does not favour the attacker and assistant referrees struggle to know if a forward has managed to time his run to perfection as they have their eye on the ball as it is played.
Marginal decisions, I am sure, are not the reason the rule was introduced but more for stopping obvious 'goal hanging' by attackers who were not that quick. The game has moved on now and is much quicker with players a lot more athletic making this rule antiquated.
On the subject of rule changes, the push for the introduction of technology to assist officials, as in other sports, is a move too far.
Stopping play to go to another official to review an incident would not, in my opinion, solve all injustices. One only has to watch Rugby League games on television to understand that, even when this process has taken place, commentators and co-commentators are still arguing at times whether the decision was correct.
You cannot incorporate psuedo-legalistic arguments into the game that thrives on being so simple. American Football has been trampled with such arguments. Questioning the way a ball is brought to the ground by a catch versus how the ground is aiding the catch being completed is expected to be deciphered through a TV screen in a the space of a minute by one referee.
We have the facility at present, through the 4th official, to review a controversial incident immediately on screen and if an obvious mistake has been made to communicate that to the referee without a stoppage in play. Let the great unknown be exactly that. A quiet word from the fourth official in the ref's ear like in the 'Zidane' moment in the 2006 World Cup final is more than enough. If Frank Lampard's goal against Germany in 2010 had very quickly been cleared up no matter how, would the same fuss have been made than a blatant mistake?
What we want to retain is the ability for fans to question the accuracy of decisions in post match conversations, sometimes to cover up the inadequacies of their team's performance and put the blame squarely on the officials.
Let's not sterilise the game, that is all part of the experience of watching 'live' performances and not being told after several 'slow motion' replays that the correct decision was made.
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