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Premier League referees’ chief Howard Webb says the change in approach on added time is here to stay, despite early criticism from top-flight players and managers. Referees in competitions worldwide have been instructed by the game’s lawmakers to measure time lost to stoppages more accurately, an approach first adopted at the World Cup in Qatar last year where an additional 11 minutes and six seconds were played on average in the group stage. Webb said the change was necessary as football gets to grips with the “dark arts” of time-wasting, with a a more robust approach set to be taken to dealing with players who delay restarts in play. Sunday’s Community Shield lasted over 105 minutes, with Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola saying the International Football Association Board (IFAB), which sets the game’s laws, had not consulted with managers and players over the change in approach. Manchester United defender Raphael Varane echoed those criticisms on Monday, saying the change, allied to a congested calendar, was “damaging” to the game. Whereas ‘rule of thumb’ approaches had been used in the Premier League for certain stoppages last season – 30 seconds per goal celebration and substitution for example – referees and their wider team will now be asked to be more exact. The Premier League anticipates the change in approach will increase the length of the average match in the coming season by three minutes and 23 seconds compared to last season – going up to 101 minutes and 49 seconds. Webb, the chief refereeing officer at Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), said: “As far as I’m aware and concerned (the change in approach on added time) is here to stay. “I appreciate we’re hearing two sides of a coin here, but there was also a lot of noise around the need to do something around increasing effective playing time and getting more game for people who are paying good money to go and watch football. “IFAB have acted undoubtedly with good intentions to try to deal with this. Last season a quarter of the games in the Premier League went above 100 minutes. I am expecting it to settle down. “For sure there’s more dark arts in the game than previously. Everybody tells me that, and I see that myself as well. One of the things that will hurt us here is if we’re not consistent with this in the way that we play it. We have to be. It can’t be a flash in the pan. It can’t be a short-term campaign.” In response to Guardiola’s assertion around a lack of consultation, Webb said: “Certain things change each year in terms of the laws of the game. IFAB is the organisation that ratifies changes. “There is a consultation process that goes into that. There is a way people can feed into the process. For sure there's more dark arts to use in the game than previously. Everybody tells me that, and I see that myself as well. One of the things that will hurt us here is if we’re not consistent with this in the way that we play it. Howard Webb “Obviously, when something is ratified at (IFAB’s) AGM, it comes our way to deliver. By the end of this week I will have done at least 17 pre-season briefings, so people are aware what is coming. I am really keen to keep engaging, consulting and getting feedback and embracing the feedback and comparing it against other feedback we get. “We have to find where the benefit is with any changes we want to apply. Is it frustrating? No. I know consultation does exist from our side, that is what we can control and we will keep engaging.” The other major initiative from a refereeing perspective is a clampdown on poor behaviour from players and managers as part of a wider move to improve conduct, including among fans. Webb said: “For too long our officials have not necessarily been able to make that differentiation (between passion and unacceptable behaviour) or have chosen for whatever reason to turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to certain things. “But the power of example is so strong and we are seeing a lot of examples (of bad behaviour) and all the numbers are tracking in the wrong direction around what’s happening in the game in this area. “We’re seeing grassroots officials have a bad experience too often and this has got to change in our sport and we’re determined collectively within the game to do this.” Webb also confirmed audio from VAR decisions – including some clips where errors were made – would be aired on a monthly basis. It follows on from Webb appearing on Monday Night Football towards the end of last season to talk through some incidents from earlier in the season in a bid to provide greater transparency around VAR. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Zak Hardaker admits repaying Leigh coach for his faith would be ‘pretty special’ Billy Vunipola recalled in strong England XV for Wales clash Scotland boss ‘confident’ Ben White will make World Cup despite injury setback

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A young woman whose health “deteriorated rapidly” after being diagnosed with long Covid and suffering a liver bleed is now in a wheelchair, feeds herself through a tube in her chest and has been unable to urinate in three years. Abigail Snowball, 29, was told she suffered from a rare condition known as Fowler’s Syndrome a few months after she was diagnosed with long Covid in July 2020 and her bladder stopped working. The social worker, from Northumberland, says she was “never sick” and enjoyed long runs before testing positive for coronavirus in early 2020 and feeling a sharp pain under her ribs which scans showed was a bleed on her liver. Abigail had not fully recovered from the virus and since the diagnosis, her health has gone from bad to worse, to the point where she has not been able to urinate in three years. She now depends on her husband Mark, 34, to carry her to the bathroom so she can empty her bladder, which can take up to four hours, and has not been able to enjoy a mouthful of food for nearly a year. “I had never really been ill before,” Abigail told PA Real Life. “As a child, I was always really lucky and never poorly. I look back at pictures from before Covid and I don’t even recognise myself.” Abigail had completed a 20-mile race, the Run Northumberland BIG 20, just a week before testing positive for Covid and having to quarantine away from Mark, who works in maintenance for Nissan. “It was very much at the start of the pandemic, back at the time when there weren’t any vaccines or much testing,” she said. “It was just tiredness like I’ve never felt before in my entire life. I remember having a cup of tea and struggling to lift the mug up.” Like many other people’s experience of catching Covid, Abigail’s health improved over the next 10 days. “I did get better, but I never fully recovered,” she said. But a couple of months later, while visiting her parents, Jane and Ray Cresswell, in Cornwall on holiday, she suddenly began feeling a sharp pain under her ribs. “It was a really strange location to have pain,” she added. She visited the GP a week later and was admitted to Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (NSECH) in July 2020, where scans revealed Abigail had suffered a bleed on her liver. “That’s when they diagnosed me with long Covid,” she said. “There was no other explanation, because they tested for blood disorders and carried out a scan. “They asked me if I had a fall or accident, but there was literally nothing.” Abigail was recovering from her liver bleed in hospital late one evening when a nurse asked when the last time she urinated was. “I actually thought, ‘god, it wasn’t since this morning’,” she said. “From that point, my bladder never regained any function. That was really the start of my health declining quickly.” Doctors hoped her bladder block was simply a result of the liver “trauma” and that she would be on the mend soon. But, sadly, this was not the case. A few months later, Abigail was diagnosed with a rare condition called Fowler’s Syndrome, which causes women to have problems passing urine. Abigail’s condition has deteriorated over the past few weeks and she is now losing weight rapidly. “I am now sleeping on the sofa downstairs and my husband Mark is having to carry me to the toilet and back again,” she said. “We can spend up to four hours at a time trying to drain my bladder, and the pain is just unbearable. “I went from running 20 miles to using a wheelchair. You don’t realise how inaccessible the world is until you are in that position.” Since the diagnosis, Abigail has spent more than 350 days in hospital and undergone 12 surgeries, including one in October 2021 to try and reconstruct her bladder. To make matters worse, she developed intestinal failure last year, which means she can no longer eat food. “I haven’t eaten anything in a year now,” she said. Instead, she is fed through TPN (total parenteral nutrition), a tube in her chest which delivers nutrients directly into the blood stream. Abigail and Mark, who married earlier this year in May, both received close to six months of training on how to perform the feeding procedure given there is a high risk of infection. “We had never even heard of that – being fed through a line into your heart,” she said. Abigail has been told by doctors that her liver bleed was “extremely likely” to have been caused by Covid. While Covid is known to harm the lungs, it has also been found to affect other organs, including the heart, liver and kidneys, but wider research is needed to better understand its long-term effects. Liver problems are common among patients with Covid-19, according to a study carried out by researchers at Oxford University and published in the peer-reviewed journal Hepatology Communications. Abigail, whose condition is considered “severe”, is hoping to receive specialist treatment in London, known as bladder Botox, which involves injecting Botox into the bladder every three to nine months, but there is no guarantee this will work. “Because of how severe and complex my case is, we’ve exhausted all our options here and the doctors are saying that I need to see the specialists in London,” she said. “Removing my bladder completely remains on the cards, but it’s incredibly high risk because of my intestinal problems. “There is no cure for Fowler’s, so it’s about managing it in the best way possible.” The combination of health conditions has left Abigail unable to perform everyday tasks. “It’s funny because the things I want to be able to do are so normal,” she said. “Just being able to wake up, take the dog for a walk and go to work. “Things that in the past, I completely took for granted.” To help cover the costs, Abigail’s friend Emma Holt has set up a GoFundMe which has received thousands of pounds in donations. “We never imagined in our wildest dreams that we would raise the amount of money that we have already,” she said. “It’s the one thing that really keeps us going, when things are really difficult. “Knowing that we have so many people behind us and supporting us is amazing.” Fowler’s Syndrome is most often caused by infection or following surgery or trauma, but a link to long Covid has yet to be established and more research is needed. Dani Coombe, CEO, Fowler’s Syndrome UK said: “It’s too early to say if long Covid is a trigger for Fowler’s syndrome; we haven’t seen an increase in Fowler’s and retention post-Covid yet, and there is no indicator that urinary retention gets worse. “Our research into what patients believe triggered their urinary retention shows that infection is the most common trigger at 57 per cent, followed by surgery in 32 per cent of patients and trauma at 19 per cent. “It would be noteworthy to see in coming years if there is an increase in women with Fowler’s because of the trauma of Covid-19.” Read More Fake meat is dying, but that shouldn’t mean the end of veganism What I gained (and lost) from walking 10,000 steps a day for five months Woman behind ‘not real’ plane tirade identified as marketing executive with $2m home Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

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Bayern Munich have reached an agreement with Tottenham over a £95million deal to sign Harry Kane, according to reports. The clubs are reported to have settled in principle on terms for the England captain to move to Germany after a series of bids earlier in the summer were rejected, according to reports citing sources in Germany. Tottenham are not commenting on the latest reports emerging from Germany. An agreement between the clubs would leave it up to 30-year-old Kane to decide whether he wishes to stay at Spurs or accept the Bundesliga champions’ offer. Kane is about to enter the final year of his Tottenham contract meaning he would be free to leave for nothing in 12 months’ time, and could begin negotiating with other clubs as early as January. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live