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The first substitutes ever allowed in English football were back in the 1965/66 season. The one substitute was allowed on in case of injury only and the first Burnley substitute used was Ian Towers who replaced the injured Willie Irvine.
It was only in the late 1980s that it was increased to two, that was for the 1987/88 season, but since then it has gone up to three (wth one a goalkeeper), then any in our promotion season of 1999/2000 five were allowed for the first time with three able to be used.
The first introduction of substitutes was a major step forward and it did make sure that injured players would no longer be left on the field to aggravate those injuries rather than their sides be down to ten men.
Nowadays the changes are tactical and with three available it means a manager can change 30% of his outfield players in one move.
For some managers that is more than enough, for others such as Sven and Stan in friendlies then you can't have too many. And today Stan has called for the numbers to be increased.
He would like to see five outfield players plus a goalkeeper on the bench increasing the total to six but would like the option to make use of all five outfield players, allowing a 50% change within a game.
I'm sure part of Stan's thinking is due to the number of games we have coming up and the size of his squad that has not been increased with the promised signings of a few weeks ago. With two games a week for most of the rest of the season it would be ideal for a club with our limited numbers.
"There's no recovery time at all and when it comes to the important part of the season some clubs have to pay the penalty for doing well in the cups," Stan told the club's official web site. "So five subs, all outfield players and allowed to play as well as a goalkeeper. It's got to be right and that is what I've always thought," he added.
What do you think? Is Stan right or do you think the current number of substitutes is enough? Would you even like the numbers of substitutes to be lowered?
We would like to hear your views on this one and will publish them on the site at the end of the week - just click HERE to send us your views. Also check out the voting poll on the front page which will be there until the end of Thursday.