Bristol City have written to Nottingham Forest and other Championship clubs to outline their plans for the new season when it comes to fair play.
Lee Johnson revealed that the Robins would not be putting the ball out of play this term, unless it was for a head injury, after an incident flared up during Sunday’s defeat to Leeds United at Ashton Gate which highlighted the issue.
Leeds midfielder Mateusz Klich went down with the Robins playing on, though they eventually put the ball out of play after a flare up on the touchline between both benches – Kasey Palmer also appeared to throw the ball at City’s bench in frustration.
“It's fine. We sent an email out to the clubs because this happens often,” Johnson told Bristol Live, having confirmed he addressed the issue with Marcelo Bielsa at the break.
“Somebody goes down and sometimes it's tactical, because people try and gain an advantage and sometimes it's genuine.
“So we just decided as a club that we're going to make a rule for the 46 games that we're going to let the referee manage the game.
“So therefore if that's our player injured or the opposition player injured, there's a consistency there.
"If the referee sees a head injury he will stop the game but if it's not a head injury he will play on.
"And our players are coached to play with 10 men in certain environments. And that's what I was trying to explain [to Bielsa].
“Obviously that's not easy with the language barrier but in the cold light of day we were able to sit and talk it through."
Forest travel to Bristol City in late November before the return at the City Ground towards the end of March.
