UEFA hold the key to ending the diving debate

He was absolutely spot-on when he said it wasn't a penalty, but Liverpool deserved to win anyway.

They annihilated Birmingham and as I have said in the past, in 99 per cent of matches the best team will win, regardless of refereeing displays.

Managers too often hide behind dubious decisions to cover up their team's short- comings - witness Sam Allardyce's assertion that Blackburn may or may not have had a penalty claim in a game in which Arsenal weren't just better, they could have given Blackburn a two-goal start and still won.

So, the hope is, that more managers will look at Rafa's comments before they complain about a refereeing decision, and given an honest assessment of their team's performance.

The papers have been full of ex-pros and referees and journalists proposing how diving could be stamped out.

But even though UEFA reversed their decision over Eduardo, that ban did serve a purpose. It raised the possibility of a player being banned.

A strongly worded directive to all clubs at the start of next season, reiterating that this is a possible sanction, would be a good start.

Referees should also be given more support.

Peter Walton has received a slap on the wrists from Keith Hackett for his Anfield performance.

In all honesty, how many people in the ground or watching on TV would not have given a penalty?

A handful of people, including Carsley and Ngog, were the only ones who could have argued against it being a penalty.

For all of this week's talk, no-one has suggested that referees need a little bit of help.

That support should come from players and managers, but most of all, from their own giverning body.

In not supporting him in the strongest possible terms, I think Keith Hackett has let a member of his own body down.

Anglo Scottish Premier League was always a non-starter

IT was a foregone conclusion that Phil Garside's proposal to admit Rangers and Celitc into the Premier League would be booted out.

The political difficulties associated with Scottish teams playing in England, not to mention the maintenance of a national team and the fact that the teams playing in England would never be allowed to enter Europe, are such that I was surprised it was even debated.

The other point on the agenda was the formation of a two tier Premier League - with no promotion or relegation.

Once again it was a non-starter. If the reasons behind this artificial, random tinkering was to provided financial stability for those teams likely to be invovled in promtion and relegation issues, then why don't the Premier League just vote to give more money to the Championship?

On the other issue of restricting promotion and relegation at some arbitrary point in time, if that decision had been taken 20 years ago, have a look at which side of the line those seeking to protect their interests today - Bolton, Blackburn, Wigan, Birmingham, Hull, Wolves, Burnley - would have been.