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