Football Food For Thought / Paul Moon / 27 March 2008 /

Paul Moon is not impressed by footballers at all. In the wake of the FA's new "Respect the Ref" imperative, our man hopes football's governing body have the conviction of their words.

I must learn to accept that footballers are not university graduates and I must not be surprised when they show gross stupidity! As long as bad behaviour is tolerated and excused it will continue to exist. Dissent is a cancer in football. It is now at its highest pitch and managers sit on their hands whilst pretending to dislike it (see Sir Alex Ferguson).

Lots of footballers come from council estates where ignorance and stupidity thrives and no amount of grooming will help some of these so when they are allowed to run unchecked we are bound to get a subculture of petulance and foolishness. To change it would take a gigantic ground swell of realisation and it is only within the power of the Football Association to change the parameters, and we all know what buffoons they are!

Giving one or two match bans does not address the problem. It is merely absorbed by teams into the rotation. When the FA is inconsistent with its decisions it merely clouds and muddies water, allowing excuses, counter allegations, confusion and ineptitude.

The Liverpool supporters must not just blame Mascherano for the defeat to Manchester United, they must blame Benitez. He is ultimately responsible because he signs and plays them. He also had about 20 minutes in which to get a message to the idiot who had already been booked and was harassing the referee on every decision since (the main reason why he was sent off). Benitez sat on his hands and failed to manage - end of story! The fact that he refused to leave the pitch is a separate issue and should carry a mandatory one-season ban. It would never happen again!

It is a shame to football that the consequence of his actions gifted Manchester United the title whilst scuppering Arsenal and Chelsea. He also ended Liverpool's interest while giving Everton a lift in the bid for a Champion's League place.

I am going to lay down some guidelines to help the FA. Every club should be summoned to Soho Square and be told that dissent to a referee is now banned. All clubs and players should sign a charter! There is no topping up procedure. When booked for dissent, automatic two-match ban, second booking four-match ban, third booking six-match ban and so on. If you are clear for two seasons your record can be cleared. Failure to leave the field - one season ban, second offence life-time ban. What do you think, am I too soft, am I not going far enough?

The clubs should assemble their players and remind them of the new ramifications. You would have to do this individually with some (see second paragraph). Clubs should combine new contracts with playing time as opposed to watching time. You could show them archive footage of how Brian Clough used to manage. You could likewise show them similar pictures of 'The First Dissenters' aka Leeds United under Don Revie (showing how not to do it).

The Football Association's campaign for greater respect to match officials can only be a success if backed up with teeth and I fear that will never happen. Most within the FA are mealy mouthed and only interested in self-importance and posturing.

Unfortunately Fabio Capello made his first mistake in English football this week. The Italian, who is trying to instil better discipline into his squad, should have dropped the greedy, selfish, petulant Ashley Cole. His behaviour against Tottenham last week when he was considered lucky to avoid a red card should have been punished by the England manager. What a statement that would have made! Standing defiantly with his back to referee Mike Riley, who was repeatedly asking him to turn around epitomised everything that is wrong with our game at the moment. Does anyone know why he was not sent off? Ashley Cole is emblematic of English football. He represents the challenge!

Bad tackling is very much a separate issue and I believe that despite some horror shows just lately things have got dramatically better. My heart goes out to Eduardo who was just beginning to show us all how good he really was. That said, it was a bad tackle by Martin Taylor and it is an insult that he only got a three-match ban: it deserved ten. I do not believe him to be callous, hence the leniency.

Serious fouling can only be judged on its merits. I do not want tackling outlawed from the English game. Of course I want us to be better mentally and technically but I love the physical side of it. It would be crime to lose that. The steady influx of foreign players has raised the skill factor in football, which automatically reduces the need to commit bad fouls. Giving free kicks away just outside your box is asking for trouble. It is the speed of football today that contributes to the many errors of timing made when challenging for the ball.

I would remind our readers that players like Lucas Neill would not be allowed in the same bar as Norman Hunter, Ron Harris, Peter Storey, Tommy Smith, Jack Charlton, Graeme Souness or even the nasty Dennis Wise and Roy Keane so we have eradicated the worst tackling from our game...

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