IT is reasonable to assume that gatherings of IFAB representatives do not exactly set the heather alight among football fans generally. Being a bit of an anorak (is that still a word?) when it comes to laws of the game, I tend to be rather drawn to discussions about changes to previously accepted norms.

VAR has thankfully already been adopted in many of Europe‘s leading football leagues, although the Premier League remains the glaring exception. But video assistance doesn’t mean other laws don’t need refining.

IFAB through its advisory panels been kicking around new ideas and unusually there is a variety of topics on the agenda, ahead of the Annual Business Meeting in Glasgow to be held on Thursday week.

Handball remains the most controversial issue in any game. What exactly is handball? Was it deliberate? The debate rages from there. The authorities are keen to place less emphasis on the intentional part with clearer language, and more on whether the arm is in a natural position, or if an unnatural movement occurred.

We often as commentators remark that it can’t reasonably be a penalty for handball if the defender was only a yard or so away from his opponent. But perhaps it can and should be if the arm moves in a strange way, say above the shoulder. It needs clarity.

There is also a discussion around any handball by a goalscorer no matter the circumstances. One school of thought believes use of the hand or arm by the eventual scorer, no matter how it occurred, should see the goal annulled. It would be great to be a fly on the wall on that part.

There is definitely a move towards giving attacking players a few more roadblocks. How would you feel about banning opposition players from lining up in the wall? Why do they need to be there anyway? This is another debate that will be taken up by IFAB.

This next one, I can see merit in. How about when a team is awarded a penalty, giving them one chance only? In other words, if Paul Pogba misses from the spot, regardless of the circumstances, be it a save by the keeper or hitting the woodwork, Manchester United have squandered their penalty chance. This would have the added benefit of taking away the need to monitor encroachment. A miss is a miss.

Another no brainer is forcing a substituted player to leave the pitch at the closest point, rather than making the inexorably, slow walk to the halfway line on the side where the benches are located. We all know time wasting exists but flaunting it can be painful. This one is logical and should face no opposition.

Some of the other proposals are minor and appear cosmetic but still deserve a mention. One calls for a penalty to be awarded rather than a free-kick when a keeper handles a deliberate backpass. Another, designed to speed up the game would give a goalkeeper the right to pass to his own player in the penalty area when taking a goal kick.

Two that might generate a bit of heat are the penalty shootout system and applying yellow and red cards plus disciplinary tables to club officials as well as players.

There is a strong feeling for the ABBA method in a shootout. The problem is that under the current method, the team shooting first wins 60 per cent of the time. ABBA operates along the lines of the tennis-tie break. Team A goes first, followed by 2 kicks from team B, 2 more from A, and so on. This, it is argued, would be more equitable.

I go along with the idea of yellow and red cards for managers and other officials, too. An accompanying racking up of disciplinary points might act as a deterrent to those who choose to consistently behave badly on the touchline. It is worth a try.

To hit upon a sound suggestion, it is often necessary to sift through a number of bad ones. This year, IFAB seems to be keen to give itself a lot to contemplate.

I WAS presenting NBC Sports’ coverage of last Monday's Huddersfield v Fulham relegation scrap for American viewers. Now no one would claim that this game was a work of art. But there was so much riding on it and Huddersfield's victory could be hugely important in the grand scheme of the relegation story.

Just imagine a football world without battles of the basement.

If the richest clubs in Europe have their way, there will be no relegation as we know it. A private members' club with no suspense at the bottom of the table is their ultimate goal. Well, maybe for the five guest clubs in their proposed set-ups, but not for the elite.

Relegation and promotion are important parts of the life cycle of club football. When someone asks me about my favourite memories of commentating on Scottish football for BT Sport, I usually mention the gripping Premiership play-off battles. Hamilton overcoming the odds against Hibernian, Motherwell defeating Rangers.

A sanitised super league featuring only the invited few, repeating itself again and again, year after year, is no recipe for football progress.

Give me Huddersfield v Fulham any day of the week.

CHELSEA have surprised many with their early season form, yet the conventional view seems to be that they will eventually fall away from Manchester City and Liverpool.

The fact remains Maurizio Sarri's methods have taken root quickly and the west London club have yet to taste defeat under his stewardship. Thursday’s Europa League victory away to BATE Borisov extended the winning sequence to five.

Everton visit Stamford Bridge today and while they too have made great strides under a new manager in Marco Silva, I expect Chelsea to prosper again.

The football is slow by Premier League standards at times but it is precise and now Alvaro Morata has hit a bit of form, who is to say Chelsea can’t stay in the hunt?

I can’t wait for their home meeting with City on 8 December.