A drop of respect: Jeff gets on with it and gives a lead to the game

The Sky presenter stumbled embarrassingly off the stage, and out of picture, with a 'yelp' as he attempted to interview Ian Ashbee and then bounced back into view to accuse the Hull captain of fouling him.

'Did you see that trip referee?!' he complained to Mike Riley when he knew full well that, had he been on a football pitch, he would have been booked for diving.

Pals: ref Alan Wiley with Terry, Aston Villa¿s Martin Laursen and Fulham¿s Danny Murphy

Respect should also go to Martin O'Neill for providing yet more entertainment after following the 19 other Premier League managers in making a commitment to the 'Get On With The Game' campaign.

'Is this me signing my own death warrant?' he muttered after signing the managers' charter that will go with the charters signed by the 20 Premier League chairmen and 20 Premier League captains.

'I was the first manager to get sent to the stand last season after what, I have to say, was an innocuous incident. Does this mark the end of my "discussions" with the fourth official?'

O'Neill did then acknowledge what the Premier League, and the Football Association, are endeavouring to do in improving football's image. 'The idea is terrific,' said the Aston Villa manager, 'because we do need to cut out the excesses we sometimes see.'

The slogans are certainly catchy. Yesterday the FA took out full page advertisements in the national press . 'No respect, no referee, no game,' they declared before revealing that 'one match in three is played without a referee because of abuse from players'.

Yesterday in London, Blackburn and Sunderland the Premier League launched their own initiative. 'Get on with the game, get on with the ref, get on with each other,' they declare.

Pioneering changes are being introduced this season. From this weekend the team captain will join a senior member of the coaching staff in exchanging team sheets in the presence of the referee. It will provide an 'opportunity to develop the relationship between the referee and the captain' which in turn should make it easier to deal with situations that could arise during a match.

As Eamonn Holmes, as host of the London leg of the launch, pointed out to John Terry, there could still be problems.

'You guys are only human. They're not. They're referees,' he said.

But after a lengthy consultation period with managers, players, chairmen and referees, the Premier League hope to reduce the number of potential flashpoints.

Television monitors have been removed from the technical areas and so removed the opportunity for managers to take a look at a television replay and then appeal, often bitterly, to the fourth official.

And referees will get further support with the presence of refereeing experts in the studios of the major broadcasters. Former referees like Dermot Gallagher and Paul Durkin will be positioned in studios for Sky and the BBC and try and provide clarification when a referee's decision in a game is disputed.

In addition, a 'Get On With The Game' flag will lead out the teams at every Premier League match, while the fair play handshake between the two teams will also continue to take place.

The moment a referee fails to award an important penalty it will be interesting to see if the players have taken any notice. But the captains who attended the three launches across the country certainly seemed to be committed to the cause.

'We have to recognise that the referees have a difficult job to do and respect that,' said Terry.

'We have all overstepped the mark in the past. Not just me. Not just at Chelsea. Everywhere. But this is a move in the right direction.'

Richard Scudamore, the Premier League chief executive, did his best to sum it all up.

'Premier League clubs do so much to inspire and excite,' he said. 'At times though, and this came into sharp public focus last season, incidents crop up where the mark is overstepped and player and manager behaviour can become unacceptable.'

Yesterday Stelling overstepped his mark and all but somersaulted his way into YouTube legend. But the message was delivered to those who attended and now we have to see if the message will, in turn, reach the wider Premier League community.