You might be familiar with the idea of SIX football officials coming to a game near you.

But for those who missed it, Michel Platini gave a third and final trial to his brainchild in the U19 international between Cyprus and The Czech Republic last week.

The idea from Uefa's president is to have two 'human cameras' behind each goal as extras to the three on the pitch. The fourth's job, you'll remember, is to fiddle with the electronic board while soaking up verbal stick from Arsene Wenger.

Nothing amiss in having extra help, I say.

But I prefer the idea of a real camera to say when a goal's been scored and when it hasn't. The West London Referees Society, of all people, were very cool to the idea of a talk I gave on goalline technology a while back.

But I doubt a 'human' camera is half as efficient in telling when the bouncing ball on the line has gone in or stayed out. If line technology works in tennis, I'll be damned why it can't work in football.

Freeze-framing offsides on TV is downright unfair.

Can a human eye react that quickly? No it can't - and that's a scientific fact.

But a camera can - and a goal is a goal is a goal.

The notion of two more officials will be interesting. Will they flag for shirt tugging at corners and free-kicks? Probably not. Refs see that already and mostly ignore it, unless there's a piece of torn shirt like a smoking gun in the offender's hand.

And pity the poor chap in black BEHIND the goals at Chelsea, Fulham and QPR. The expression a thick skin as he ignores insult after insult from less than 10 feet away, springs to mind - not to mention a thick shirt to absorb the equivalent of rotten tomatoes or worse.