‘A no brainer’ – Hartlepool United manager Dave Challinor advocates the introduction of seven substitutes in the National League

The Hartlepool United manager has found himself in the enviable position of having to leave out quality players from his matchday squads due to a lack of available space.

Big players such as Luke Molyneux, Luke Williams, Nicky Featherstone and Henrich Ravas all missed out for Pools in the goalless draw at Wrexham on Tuesday night. And Challinor feels the National League should start following suit with the FA and Football League and introduce the option of naming seven substitutes.

“For me, I would always push for seven person benches,” he told The Mail. “I suppose where we are and the current state of the world, everywhere else is doing more substitutes and more available substitutions.

"We’re one league below the Football League who have seven subs, in FA competitions it’s the same. It’s a no brainer for me and I don’t see why it hasn’t been introduced.”

Some would argue Challinor's views show a ‘big club’ mentality in the National League as many sides have struggled to name sides this campaign.

"I know some teams would point to budgets and say it favours teams with bigger budgets and bigger squads,” he responded.

“I don’t think that’s the case because you’re not obliged to have seven subs. I’m not too sure having two more players on the bench will really benefit the bigger squads either because one of the spots would be taken up by a goalkeeper in our case.

"It gives you more scope for more players to be involved and gives us more options as a management team.”

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