Clubs and FA have a great chance to crack down
10:52am Thursday 27th March 2008
IT turned out not to be a very good Easter for us with just one point from our two holiday matches.
It could and should have been so different and we only have ourselves to blame, especially for the loss at Lincoln City. There, our touch in front of goal deserted us and, although we had more chances in one match than we have had in the last half-dozen games, we failed when it mattered most.
The last thing we required is to now go without a match for 13 days. We miss that opportunity to put right the wrongs of last weekend.
It has been an interesting period over the past week with player discipline the big talking point.
Following two cases of total disrespect for officials with top players Ashley Cole and Javier Mascherano behaving liked spoiled brats in high-profile matches, it has been high on the agenda of both the media and the FA. It was also on the agenda at our managers' get-together yesterday.
At a time when the FA is finding recruiting of young referees difficult because of abuse, their campaign to respect the officials' could not have been brought to the fore more forcibly.
Maybe the incidents with the two players was just what the game needed to bring it to its senses. Perhaps now referees at the top level will begin to take a harder line against players getting into their faces, clearly abusing them, and they will be backed by stronger action from the FA.
We have been very satisfied with our disciplinary record over recent seasons apart from one incident at Walsall at the end of last season.
Despite our impressive disciplinary record, we were fined £1,500 by the FA after a number of our players confronted the referee following his decision to send off Dean Beckwith.
We decided then that we could not afford that happening again so we introduced a club rule that only the player involved in any incident, presuming that he would be close to the referee, and the team captain should approach the official.
Should other players get involved, any club fine would be paid by those players.
Bearing in mind that the fine could be as high as £10,000, it is a rule that players will adhere to.
I am sure that any watcher of football on TV gets sick of the sight of the petulant and occasionally abusive behaviour of the Premiership players; I know I do.
Firstly, the clubs have the responsibility to clean up this part of the game. Secondly, the FA have to punish the likes of Cole and Mascherano or their clubs so that respect for officials at Grass Roots levels can become a reality.