CHRIS SUTTON: New heading limit is historic but football's vampires are still guarding the bloodbank... the move is something to celebrate - I just hope clubs follow the guidelines

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I'm torn. I’m 80 per cent delighted, 20 per cent dubious. Let me explain why. For the first time in English football history, there are adult heading restrictions and that is a relief.

When giving evidence to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee for their concussion in sport inquiry, I told them I estimated heading the ball 100 times a week, 40 weeks a year, for 18 years. That equated to 72,000 times in total that my brain was left wobbling like jelly on a plate.

A colleague would cross the ball and I’d head it home, in the hope that all that practice would make perfect come Saturday afternoon.

For the first time in English football, there are adult heading restrictions and that is a relief 

Had these guidelines been in place when I was playing, the number of times I headed the ball would have been severely reduced.

So that’s why I’m 80 per cent positive about Wednesday’s news which could, in theory, protect future generations of players. 

And yet, 20 per cent of me cannot help but scrutinise it.

The DCMS committee called out sport for being allowed to ‘mark its own homework’ only last week. 

Like vampires guarding the blood bank, you might say.

Heading in training will be restricted for professional players for the first time under new rules 

Now we’ve got the authorities telling clubs, coaches and players it’s their responsibility to implement these heading restrictions themselves and ensure they’re adhered to.

How is that not a case of ‘marking your own homework’?

What if a manager sees his side concede from a corner at the weekend and demands his players practise that in training? 

Is a defender going to say ‘Boss, I can’t head any more crosses, I’ve done my 10 for the week’? I doubt it.

Sometimes guidelines can be printed out in good faith but then forgotten about. I’d feel more comfortable knowing this is being policed by the authorities.

A coroner found former footballer Jeff Astle had died in 2002 from 'industrial disease' linked to years of heading a football during a career as a striker

Dawn Astle, Jeff's daughter, has campaigned for limits on heading in training for footballers

I recall ‘spies’ pouncing on training grounds during the pandemic to ensure the Premier League’s Covid-19 rules were followed. 

That could keep clubs on their toes if they feared there was a chance of them being monitored. But apparently that won’t happen, so we’re trusting the clubs, coaches and players to do the right thing.

Another reason I’m scrutinising the announcement is that I’m told Dr Willie Stewart was not consulted about the decision. He found out half an hour before the rest of us on Wednesday morning.

That is despite Dr Stewart being one of the representatives on the Football Association’s so-called ‘Research Taskforce’.

He is the leading expert in this field — the man whose findings confirmed footballers are three and- a-half times more likely to develop neurodegenerative problems. For him to not be included in the decision-making process amazes me.

Anyway, I’m not here to ‘twofoot’ the FA or the Premier League. This is an announcement to celebrate, on the whole.

This is historic. Never before have such guidelines existed in English football. Clubs now have guidance to follow and we hope they do.

It’s a significant victory for Sportsmail’s campaign which kickstarted in November 2020.

Next on the list should be to introduce temporary concussion substitutes and replace those pitiful extra permanent ones.

They don’t work. You only need to look at what happened at Euro 2020 with France’s Benjamin Pavard, Austria’s Christoph Baumgartner and Portugal’s Danilo, who all played on after sustaining head injuries but then needed substituting, to recognise that.

With temporary substitutes they’d have been properly assessed, in private, for 10 minutes.

To have heading restrictions in place is huge. I’m pleased with it. But let’s keep it going. There’s still work to do.