R-E-S-P-E-C-T (the FA spells out what it wants to see, JT)

He stressed the need to raise standards on the pitch and banish abusive behaviour towards officials as he unveiled the FA's National Game Strategy, a £200million investment in the grassroots of football over the next four years.

Lord Triesman admits the clean-up campaign would stand a better chance of success if the country's most famous players and managers end their foul-mouthed tirades and confrontational gestures at referees.

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The Labour peer will travel the country to hammer home his point to the professional clubs.

The quest for respect comes at a time when the Barclays Premier League is braced for a series of high-octane clashes.

On Sunday, Manchester United play Liverpool and Arsenal take on Chelsea in top-of-the-table games while tonight the Blues travel to Spurs with revenge in mind after their Carling Cup Final defeat.

In the corresponding fixture last season John Terry was sent off, sparking an ugly war of words with referee Graham Poll which raged for weeks.

Lord Triesman said: "Respect for the referee has to be a top to bottom thing. It's harder to get respect at the grassroots if it doesn't happen at a very senior level.

"People in the public eye and who are enormously effective and successful have the greatest impact. They're very visible and with that comes responsibility. I'm keen that players who are public and prestigious figures take a real part in this."

The FA are seven weeks into a 10-week pilot scheme called RESPECT, which is being tested at all levels of the amateur game and has three key elements: Only the team captain can talk to the match officials on the pitch; spectators must stay behind ropes to eradicate the 'pushy parent' syndrome; and all players, coaches and parents must sign a Code of Conduct which, if broken, will impose punishments ranging from official warnings to bans.

The FA's head of national referee development, Ian Blanchard, believes the Premier League will eventually adopt a similar scheme.

Respect towards match officials forms a key element of the National Game Strategy because grassroots football is gripped by a refereeing crisis.

Seven thousand referees are trained every year but the same amount are lost annually, many of them forced out by abuse from players and spectators.