ROY KEANE last night admitted he welcomes rule changes in football but feels the idea of having penalty shoot-outs at the end of Football League matches will never get off the ground, writes PAUL FRASER.

Clubs outside the Premiership have agreed to consider a revolutionary proposal for spot-kicks to decide all drawn matches as part of a review of making the game more entertaining and appealing.

A meeting of 72 league chairmen agreed to set up the proposal that was put forward by Football League chairman Lord Brian Mawhinney. But if the Football League introduced such a major change then Premiership chiefs would seriously consider knocking promotion to their top-flight on the head.

And the Sunderland boss, accepting minor alterations to the way the game is played can be to the benefit of the sport, feels Lord Mawhinney's idea is a non-starter.

"I've not really thought about it, people have got to try to justify their jobs and come up with ideas," said Keane. "I'm quite open minded, don't get me wrong. Look back a fair few years ago, the new back-pass rule had people up in arms but it's proved to be a great thing.

"You need to be open minded, but penalty shoot-outs? There's too many question marks for that to go ahead."

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate also feels the development is absurd. "It's great, we'd be in a Champions League place now if that was the case," he joked, before adding. "Honestly, it's absolute rubbish."