‘It’s unfathomable’ – Dyche wants towels banned for throw-ins

Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche wants the Premier League to ban towels from the sidelines after complaining about the time taken for throw-ins during his side’s 2-0 win at Brentford.

Dyche believes it is taking too long for teams to get organised for what is essentially now a full-blown set-piece, particularly when throwers opt to dry the ball before hurling it into the box.

Brentford‘s Michael Kayode was regularly seen reaching for a towel before launching one of his throws towards the Forest area on Sunday.

“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 guidelines state that towels can only be used provided they are made available to both teams at all times.

Dyche’s complaint is that, in effect, the away team have no real say in the matter – if the hosts want to use towels they just have to do so equitably.

It is a different story in the EFL, which banned the use of towels or anything else to dry a 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.”

Dyche further criticised delays to the game caused by setting up for throw-ins.

“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.”

So what should we make of Dyche’s complaint?

The former Watford, Burnley and Everton boss is correct that throw-ins are taking longer than they ever have.

The average time taken in the Premier League was 15.6 seconds two seasons ago. In 2024-25 that rose to 16.1 seconds. This season it is up to 17.8 seconds.

Maybe it will improve next season as the International Football Association Board is set to approve a countdown on throw-ins and goal-kicks to combat lost time.

However, Dyche’s complaints about lost time are unlikely to have gone down well with Keith Andrews.

The Brentford boss was unhappy with Forest’s gamesmanship to run down the clock at 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.”