Hatters boss has 'no idea' on the rules of football anymore after Birmingham's time-wasting goes unpunished by officials

Hatters boss Nathan Jones declared he has ‘no idea’ of the rules of the game anymore after opponents Birmingham City’s time-wasting tactics weren’t clamped down on during yesterday’s 0-0 draw at Kenilworth Road.

The Blues, who are under new management in John Eustace following Lee Bowyer’s departure over the summer, were clearly happy with a point from early on in the contest.

Keeper John Ruddy took his time over almost every goal kick, often calling his entire defence back before eventually clearing long upfield, while on the half hour mark, the Blues were even delaying taking their own corner, which saw referee Graham Scott speak to captain Troy Deeney.

As it showed no signs of stopping, the Town chief had to race down the touch-line at one point to retrieve the ball for the former Norwich stopper, while he spoke to the official at half time about the antics, and then even more animatedly at full time, after nothing had been done to prevent the spoiling tactics of the visitors.

Speaking afterwards, an exasperated Jones said: “I don’t know the rules of the game anymore, I’ve got to be honest with you, and they’re very educated refs now on answers and to be fair, it’s just baffling.

“If you kick a ball away now it’s not a booking, it used to be a booking, but as long as it doesn’t delay the restart, so that’s open to interpretation.

"As when you boot it up on the net, apparently, as long as someone can retrieve it in the next week or so, it doesn’t matter.

"But I don’t know the rules of the game, I honestly don’t know.

"The offside rule now, I don’t know, if it has a deflection from a defender that’s not intentional, but comes off and goes sideways, then it’s not.

"It’s crazy, and they’re just covering their backs, but it’s mental.

"We try and play as pure and as honest as we can, we try and get the ball back in play, we try to go from A to B and score goals and that’s what we do.

"But I’ve got be honest with you and you can quote me on this, I have no idea on the rules of the game.”

Although new rules have been laid out this season in an attempt to crack down on the amount of time-wasting during a game, Jones didn’t think there was any evidence of them coming into play during yesterday’s contest.

When asked if he had been made aware of such directives, he continued: “We have, but they can change them all they want, it’s crazy.

"When you go and speak to a referee, the interpretation and what they say, they’ve always got an answer, and for me, it’s plain and simple.

"You kick a ball away, you’re wasting time, you can clamp down on that.

"I spoke to the referee at half time, the same player did it twice extra.

"I think one, they’ve got a tough job, but two, nothing’s simple anymore and it’s ruining stuff.”

Midfielder Luke Freeman, who made his Luton debut, impressing during his 70 minutes on the field, was of the same opinion as his manager as well, saying: “You could see right from the start, they were time-wasting which was frustrating as we were trying to get that momentum going.

"But you could see they were time-wasting, almost from the first five, 10 minutes, so it shows how far we have come from.

“We’ve been told that (new rules) as well.

"As the gaffer has said it’s a tough job for them, but if they’re making a thing over that, I think they’ve got to start showing that they’re trying to make the effort.

"We’ve had meetings about this, it’s a tough job for them, but they don’t seem to be acting on it.

"For me personally, I know it’s tough, hats off to them for doing it, they’re making a big thing of it but it doesn’t really seem to be taking action as such.

"That's our opinion though, people might watch that and say differently.”

Following a terrific season in which the Hatters finished sixth in the table, it might be that time-wasting will be a regular occurrence at Kenilworth Road this term, with teams wary of opening up against Jones’ side.

When asked if that was a compliment and something they will need to get used to, the Town chief added: “I think we’ve always had to deal with it here, apart from one season in the Championship, we’ve always had to deal with something here.

"I don’t know what Birmingham’s tactics were, yes, it’s masked under the playing out from the back thing when you line everyone up and it takes 30 seconds.

"You do that in the final minute when you’re 1-0 up then it’s a booking, so it’s a different rule in the first 10 minutes.

"There’s so much open to interpretation, but whether we take it as a compliment or not, we’d like to create a tempo at home.

"If we can create that tempo we’re a decent side, if others don’t want to create that tempo then it’s on us and that’s how we are.”