PFA's plans to respect referees won't get anywhere
PFA chairman Chris Powell's speech at the Player of the Year Awards, addressing the conduct of his members and their attitudes towards referees, was all very noble and proper.
However, even he must know that there is no chance whatsoever that his proposal to have points deducted from clubs whose players offend will never be adopted by the game's ruling bodies.
For a start, the worst offenders are the teams at the top and they carry the most clout. There's no way the likes of Manchester United or Chelsea would willingly sign up to a rule that could put something like the present, evenly poised title race into the hands of the FA.
And given that organisation's poor track record dealing with comparatively simple matters such as red cards and bans, you'd have to agree with them to a certain extent.
Ultimately, the only people who can realistically change the way players behave towards officials are the managers who, more often than not, pay lip service to the idea of showing more respect but whose actions set an awful example. Already this season Roy Keane has raised an eyebrow at Sir Alex Ferguson's suggestions that players need to behave themselves.
The truth of the matter is, if on Saturday at Stamford Bridge the Manchester United players had known that kicking walls or stewards or whatever would end up with them receiving the 'hairdryer treatment' from their manager then they would have been far less likely to have done it. The man at the top sets the tone, and if a man like Ferguson is willing to accept the plaudits for that when his side show the character that they did against Barcelona then he should also be ashamed and take responsibility when they act like petulant children as they did at Stamford Bridge.
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