Is football in danger of losing all control?

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Flashpoint: tempers flare at the Man Utd v Arsenal Carling Cup match

It has become almost as big a ritual of football as the matches themselves. After the final whistle, apoplectic managers, usually live on television, vent their fury at what they perceived to be the decisions that cost their team the game.

Inevitably, within weeks - it used to be longer before the Football Association introduced a new fast-track disciplinary system - they are marched off to Soho Square to explain their outbursts.

Over the next fortnight, some of the Premiership's most high-profile managers will literally be passing one another in the corridors of the FA headquarters.

Graeme Sounes's, Steve McClaren and Arsene Wenger all have appointments with the FA disciplinary commission. All three must answer charges of improper conduct.

And they are not alone among the managerial elite to be charged with disciplinary offences this season.

Chris Coleman was fined £500 and warned to his future conduct for comments he made about referee Mark Halsey in September and, a month later, Kevin Keegan was reprimanded and fined £8,500 for abusing referee Steve Dunn.

It is usually players who are criticised for boorish behaviour. But are they taking the lead from the very figures who should be setting an example?

Research by Standard Sport can reveal that 38 disciplinary cases were brought before the FA last season. Of these, 32 involved players and six were for managers.

With more than six months to go this season, there have already been 18 disciplinary cases - comprising 11 players, five managers, one club and one referee! Andy D'Urso was found 'less than proficient applying the laws of the game' during Blackburn's match at Southampton.

He booked Barry Ferguson for a second time but failed to send him off and was suspended from the Premiership list for 28 days.

All these misdemeanours beg the question: is this due to an outbreak of lawlessness in the dugout or are the FA becoming more draconian?

The FA say that their disciplinary system is quicker and more efficient this season following what critics would say was a much-needed review of their procedures.

But they insist it has not come at the expense of fairness.

"The basis on which charges are issued has not changed from last season," said an FA spokesman.

"It is the speed and clarity of the system that has changed. I don't think you can make comparisons [with last year] partly through the season."

Graham Bean, the former FA sleazebuster who left Soho Square in August 2003, is in a prime position to assess the state of disciplinary affairs in English football.

He runs Football Factors, a company that gives advice to employees of Premiership, Football League and non-League clubs who have been charged by the FA. Bean says that the increase in disciplinary cases this season is due to the FA's system rather than the conduct of the players or managers.

"I don't think their behaviour has got any better or worse," he said.

"It's a very emotional game, and although everybody involved would like to see good behaviour, that is not always possible in the heat of the moment.

"But it seems to me that some incidents could have been dealt with in a more relaxed way by the FA.

"I used to have a policy that if there wasn't a serious breach of rules I would send a warning letter to the individual concerned first.

"Now they tend to wave the big stick and come down on people like a ton of bricks. For instance, I despair of managers being charged for making comments after the game.

"At the end of the day they are experts in football and they do know what they are talking about. Why shouldn't they be able to criticise a referee?"

Bean says he receives a lot of complaints from players and managers about the FA's inconsistency.

"They say, 'how come I get done when David Beckham or Craig Bellamy doesn't?' You can understand their point of view.

"There are times when there is no alternative to charge someone, like the El-Hadji Diouf spitting incident.

"But there are occasions when another avenue might be taken."

 

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