THE SCENARIO may make football writers break out in a cold sweat while those in charge of Sky Sports would have nightmares about the possibility. Imagine managers, coaches and players being banned from talking about match officials. It would change the face of football reporting dramatically and that’s putting it mildly.

True, we have fought for the right to have freedom of speech but with that there must be responsibility and managers who question the honesty, impartiality and integrity of referees do not so much cross the line as leap over it like Bob Beamon at the Mexico Olympics in 1968.

In the land of the free, the National Football League have a regulation than bans coaches and players from commenting about the ‘zebras’ as American football officials are nicknamed. They can talk about anything else…but not the men who officiate matches.

This observer believes that the constant criticism of referees and assistant referees by, usually, the losing manager has become boring and predictable. Match officials are the easiest way to pass the buck, a convenient excuse for a team’s inadequacies. Yes, referees and those previously known as linesmen make mistakes, human errors in the heat of the battle with split-second decisions from one angle in real time.

Not for them the luxury of slow-motion multi-angle playbacks but having said that, there have been too many mistakes by referees, particularly, at Premier League level, missing incidents they really ought to have spotted.

However, does this excuse the ‘blasting’ or ‘laying into’ of the ref by a manager after the game? What purpose does it serve other than to provide sensational headlines? And on too many occasions a manager will put the boot in to a referee because he does not have even a working knowledge of the laws and the ref has, in fact, been correct. As managers say about football writers, never let the facts…

Belatedly the FA are charging managers for inappropriate comments about referees, Sir Alex Ferguson is again in trouble for what he said in the build-up to Manchester United’s 2-1 Barclays Premier League victory over Chelsea last Sunday. While Ferguson spoke positively about Howard Webb, he broke FA rules which state that no manager should speak about a referee prior to a match.

Ferguson had said: “We are getting the best referee, there is no doubt about that. But [getting a bad decision] is definitely our big fear. We have the players to do it all right. We just hope it’s our turn for a little bit of luck.”

The Scot is just back in the technical area after completing a five-game ban plus a £30,000 fine for his criticism’s of Martin Atkinson following a 2-1 defeat at Chelsea in March. Some regarded the punishment as severe, others too lenient. To make a manager watch the game from a few rows behind the dug-out is football’s equivalent of the naughty step. Until the FA fall in line with UEFA and prohibit a manager from any contact with his players at the stadium managers will not regard the punishment as a deterrent.

Ferguson will be furious at the latest charge to the extent he may bring down the media shutters for the second time this season. It would not surprise me if he refused to speak to the media after tomorrow’s game against Blackburn even though United could clinch the title at Ewood Park.

At the moment the FA’s regulations seem too spurious and subjective. While it is extremely unlikely they will impose a blanket ban on managers and players talking about referees the idea is not without merit. It may be a case of bolting the stable door but the idea of not talking about match officials is surely worth at least an experiment for, say, two months. The initiative could come from the League Managers’ Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association.

One of the saddest developments in English football in recent years is the necessity for match officials in the Barclays Premier League to arrive at stadiums in “safe cars.” The officials meet at a hotel a few miles from the ground and are driven to and from the match because it had become unsafe for them to arrive at stadiums in their own cars.

Some referees had been threatened or even assaulted in the car park after games; one official’s car was damaged while he was waiting for the lights to change outside a London ground. The fans’ unacceptable behaviour can be fuelled by the negative comments and criticism by managers who can almost brainwash supporters into thinking that the referee was the reason their team lost. Not the striker who missed an open goal or the goalie letting the ball clip through his fingers but the ref who, slo-mo replays showed, allegedly got it wrong.

But as Ferguson prepares for yet another FA charge it is difficult to grasp the logic of the guardians of English punishing someone for what they say or making a V-sign yet claiming they are powerless to punish a player for a tackle missed by the referee that puts an opponent out of the game for three months “because it was an on-ball incident.”

The regulations should always ensure a natural sense of justice and when a V-sign or Twitter comments are punished but horrendous challenges are not it is surely time for the FA’s disciplinary rule-book to be updated.

Christopher Davies

So did Peter Walton REALLY have to show West Ham’s Frederic Piquionne a second yellow card for his goal-celebrations against Everton? No…and yes. Welcome to the subjective land of the laws of football.

FIFA guidelines state: ‘Leaving the field of play to celebrate a goal is not a cautionable offence in itself but it is essential that players return to the field of play as soon as possible. Referees are expected to act in a preventative manner and to exercise common sense in dealing with the celebration of a goal.’

So despite the common belief that running to celebrate a goal with supporters is a mandatory yellow card, that is not necessarily the case but the guidelines add: ’While it is permissible for a player to demonstrate his joy when a goal has been scored, the celebration must not be excessive.’

Let’s not get into the law that says leaving the field of play without the referee’s permission. That would open up not so much a can of worms as a barrel-load.

Journalists, players, managers and fans want consistency from referees but that is impossible because what one referee might see as a cautionable offence, another might not. Most of the laws are based on the opinion of the referee and as in life, people have different views on the same situation. What one referee regards as excessive another will consider acceptable. The laws are not always black and white.

Personally, I go along with Gerard Houllier who said that the best way to celebrate a goal is for the scorer to run to the team-mate who has laid on the chance. Too many celebrations these days are negative – the cupped ear or finger over the mouth – rather that what should be a moment of absolute joy.

I have sympathy for Walton because no matter what most of my FWA colleagues apparently believe, celebrating with fans does present a potential danger. Jubilant supporters can be injured climbing over seats in an effort to share a hug or a high-five with the goalscorer. I remember being at the Valley when Manchester United scored and in the mayhem to celebrate with the scorer there was such a rush of bodies that a Charlton steward sustained a broken leg. Had the player stayed on the field this would not have happened.

Thankfully such acts are rare but they can happen so Walton can justifiably claim he was acting in a ‘preventative manner.’ Emotions run high after a goal and by sprinting to the crowd a player can, albeit unwittingly, present a potential danger. Remember, the laws apply to football around the world at every level and many stadiums are not as securely built as those in England.

Sadly, as we saw at Stevenage the other week when a player was struck by a supporter during a so-called good natured pitch invasion…it takes only one bad guy to spoil things.

The penny should have dropped by now that excessive celebrations can bring a yellow card but players still remove their jerseys after scoring, thus earning the most brainless of cautions which goes towards a potential suspension.

Servette midfielder Paulo Diogo scored against Schaffhausen, then jumped into the crowd to celebrate. On the way, he managed to catch his wedding ring on a fence and tore off the top half of his finger. To add to his pain, he was also cautioned for excessive celebration.

Those who believe a Half Monty celebration is part and parcel of football…the International Football Association Board made the removal of a shirt after goalscoring a mandatory yellow card for three reasons. Firstly, football is a world-wide sport and in some countries a bare male chest is considered offensive for religious reasons. Secondly, the undergarment players wear often bear the logo of the manufacturer, giving them free ‘advertising’ on television which does not go down well with those sponsors who have paid for the privilege. Thirdly, messages such as ‘happy birthday mum’ have become boring.

The lawmakers are either protecting the safety of supporters and players or killjoys, depending on your view. But if you know running to the crowd or taking off your jersey will bring a yellow card, whether you agree with it or not, why do it?

Celebrate among yourselves chaps and keep your shirts on.

Christopher Davies

TO THE best of my knowledge no English club have – yet – employed a private detective agency to study the nocturnal wanderings of their errant stars.

Barcelona seem to be the pioneers of this unusual practice, according to Interviu magazine who claimed Deco left the Nou Camp for Chelsea after private eyes concluded the midfielder’s night life was excessive.

The Catalan club are alleged to have paid agents to spy on Deco, Gerard Pique, Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o in 2007/8.

Pique was in his first season back at Barcelona after his spell with Manchester United. It is claimed representatives from the agency Metodo 3 followed the Spain international 24 hours a day for a week while the others were watched sporadically over a longer period of time.

The magazine claims the investigations were initiated by the Barcelona president at the time Joan Laporta and had ‘very positive results’ for Pique with ‘nothing objectionable’ discovered so there was no need to continue following the defender any longer.

However, the findings against former Chelsea midfielder Deco, Ronaldinho and Eto’o were less favourable. The reports concluded that over a period of several months the trio committed ‘constant acts of indiscipline’ against the club. The following summer Deco and Ronaldinho left Barcelona while Eto’o joined Inter Milan last year.

From what we hear about Ronaldinho’s love of the good life anyone trying to keep up with the Brazilian would have needed the energy of the Duracell bunny.

It adds a new dimension to how far a club will go to ensure players are living what they would deem as a lifestyle in keeping with that of a professional footballer.

One of the best jobs I have heard of is held by an ex-policeman friend who is employed to go into pubs to see if they are showing live football on Sky Sports and whether they have paid the appropriate fee.

“Goodbye darling…just off to work…yes, another pub crawl…”

But being a private eye paid to follow Barclays Premier League headliners such as – no, I don’t really need to name names – the usual suspects…

“Goodbye darling…don’t wait up for me…I may be home late, very late…”

It is said Sir Alex Ferguson has a lookout system in Manchester hotspots that makes radar seem obsolete. And these days, it is not so much the paparazzi as the punterazzi that photographs well-known footballers doing things tabloid editors drool over.

The era of mobile phones with their digital cameras means it is virtually impossible for anyone in the public eye to do things they would rather the public didn’t find out about.

Employing a private eye over a period of several months may be seen as madness, certainly it is one step beyond (sorry).

“IT IS with regret that I have decided not to speak to the paper for the foreseeable future. Over the past 18 months on four occasions my words have been taken out of context. I have not taken this decision lightly.”

A familiar moan…a Premier League manager?

No, it was, er…Hayes and Yeading manager Garry Haylock on the Uxbridge Gazette. A scenario far too common at all levels of the game.

IF I HAD one wish – okay, if I had 100 wishes this would be one – it is that any team with striped, hooped or quartered shirts must have their numbers on a patch. Covering West Bromwich Albion or Queens Park Rangers – I use them as examples – can be a nightmare for reporters. It is virtually impossible – and you can probably take out the ‘virtually’ – to see the red number printed over the blue and white stripes/hoops. Football writers, especially those covering the away team, need to see the number on the back of players’ jerseys for immediate identification. A 6 looks very much like an 8 from 70 yards and a familiar cry at press boxes where Neil Warnock’s impressive side play is: ‘Who passed the ball?’ Or ‘Was it 3 [Clint Hill] or 13 [Kaspars Gorkss]?’

UEFA’s regulations stipulate numbers on non-plain shirts must be on a patch to help TV and radio commentators, those in the press box plus fans. The Premier League and Football League should follow the lead of European football’s governing body.

IT IS difficult to have sympathy for clubs that sign African players and then moan about losing them for up to a month for the African Cup of Nations.

But sympathy must go to Everton’s David Moyes (and other managers in the same situation) who faces losing the influential Tim Cahill for five games when the Australia international is on Asia Cup duty in Qatar in January.

When Everton signed Cahill from Millwall, Australia were in Oceania but they subsequently switched to the Asia confederation. Others who could be involved include Mark Schwarzer (Fulham), Brett Emerton and Vince Grella (Blackburn), Brad Jones (Liverpool) and David Cairney (Blackpool).

A NUMBER of FWA members believe it is wrong that it is a mandatory caution for any player who removes his shirt after scoring a goal. That is subjective but the law was brought in mainly for two reasons. Firstly, football is a global game and in many countries, for religious reasons the sight of a bare male chest is deemed offensive.

Secondly, some players have contracts with sports manufacturers who supply undergarments which bear their logo. Sponsors who have paid huge sums to advertise during matches became annoyed a company can get 30 seconds free advertising if a player whips off his shirt in ‘spontaneous’ celebration. The authorities also felt messages scrawled on T-shirts saying ‘happy birthday’ or whatever to someone was becoming boring.

But whether you agree with the law or not, it is the most brainless of yellow cards to collect. Surely players should know by now not to do a half-Monty after scoring a goal?

UPDATE on the three remaining unbeaten teams in Europe. Manchester United (P22 W14 D8 L0), Real Madrid (P19 W15 D4 L0) and FC Porto (P20 W18 D2 L0) go into the weekend hoping to extend their records.

Sam Allardyce would probably disagree but United, who host Blackburn Rovers in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday, appear to have the easiest task. FC Porto visit Sporting Lisbon on Sunday while on Monday it’s el clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Christopher Davies