Clearly the vexed issue relating to broken legs and bad tackles is not going to disappear that quickly, and nor should it.

As to how the issue should be resolved for the future safety of all I see no reason not to adopt the continental approach to any tackle where the foot is off the ground. I've heard it told that the Shawcross / Ramsey incident was a 50/50 tackle - indeed Lee Dixon was I believe one such individual who claimed this to be the case. However in my humble opinion as soon as one player raises his foot off the ground and aims it halfway up the leg of the other then no way can this then be considered a 50/50 challenge. A 50/50 tackle, to my mind, is where two individuals meet in a fair and square battle for a ball on equal terms. If one has studs showing it is not equal. If one is going over the top it is not equal. If one is coming in from behind it is not equal. If one comes in from the side it cannot be equal. If one comes in with elbows raised it cannot be equal. The only fair way to win a 50/50 is to get there first or challenge for the ball harder than your opponent.

So I'd prefer it if Lee Dixon and any other pundits didn't give me such crap. When Lee used to take out Ginola and leave him in a heap in row D of the East or West Stands at Highbury I loved it. But it has to be admitted that this sometimes wasn't exactly a 50/50 challenge on Lee's part.

When Shawcross raised his foot he did so intentionally, it wasn't just because Aaron Ramsey is a vastly superior player with far quicker feet. It wasn't an accident as the raised foot was intentional, I don't believe the intent was to cause a break but if you tackle that way often enough every now and again that will be the inevitable result. Had Shawcross's foot remained on the ground, which is how to execute a sliding tackle, he could not have broken a fibula and tibia because he couldn't have made contact with either. The very fact that every professional footballers is capable of making foot control judgments involving degrees of accuracy measured in milliseconds and millimeters tells me that if his foot was half way up another player’s leg then that's where he intended it to be. Either that or he is an incompetent hacker not worthy of playing even part-time in a semi-professional league. Anyone who pretends otherwise is talking out of his arse, including Lee Dixon for whom I normally have the very greatest respect.