Football

Premier League manager touchline bans: How many yellow cards earn bosses suspensions? New rule explained

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was not on the touchline for Manchester City as they suffered their first defeat of the Premier League season at Wolves on September 30.

City’s perfect six-game start to the campaign came to an end with a surprise 2-1 defeat at Molineux, where Guardiola watched from the stands.

Guardiola had been suspended because of accumulated yellow cards, but his ban came as a surprise, as he had only collected three bookings this season, which was widely thought not to have been sufficient to trigger a punishment.

The punishment was enforced because the Premier League have changed the rules. The Sporting News has all the details.

MORE: Guardiola says “nothing” will change in his managerial style after yellow card ban

How many yellow cards for manager suspension in Premier League?

In 2018, the global Laws of the Game introduced yellow cards for managers and coaching staff. Previously, managers could be “sent to the stands” but were not officially shown yellow or red cards.

Since the introduction of that rule, managers and coaches have been subject to similar — but not identical — rules as players regarding yellow cards. A second booking sees a staff member sent off, and they are also subjected to bans for yellow card accumulation.

However, the threshold for such an accumulation ban is lower than that of a player on the field in the Premier League.

Players trigger a suspension with five yellow cards in the first half of the season, or 10 bookings at any point in the campaign. Coaches, meanwhile, are suspended after three yellow cards at any point in the season. Eight bookings will trigger a two-match suspension, while 16 bookings will lead to an FA misconduct hearing.

This is a recent change. Previously, coaches would be suspended for four yellow cards during the first half of the Premier League season, but the league lowered that by one, seemingly without announcing it to the public. Guardiola spoke about his suspension before City’s match at Wolves.

ITV broadcaster Jacqui Oatley confirmed with the Premier League at that point that the threshold for managers had been lowered to three. Oatley noted that this had not previously been announced publicly, and Guardiola’s suspension had been a surprise.

Can managers sit in the stands after being sent off?

In the past, managers and coaches who had been sent off were able to sit in the stands and watch the remainder of the game.

Premier League fans will remember, for example, the infamous moment in which former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was sent off at Old Trafford for kicking a water bottle after a goal was disallowed. This resulted in a legendary photo of Wenger standing atop his dugout, arms crossed with jeering Manchester United fans waving in the background.

However, that rule was changed ahead of the 2023/24 season, directing that any manager sent off for actions during a match must not sit in the stands, and instead must be withdrawn from the crowd in some manner after being sent down the tunnel.

Guardiola was suspended for the match against Wolves for yellow card accumulation and forced to watch from the director’s box. This is not the same as being sent off mid-game, when a manager or coach would have to exit down the tunnel.

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