The campaign to improve players' behaviour was hindered on Sunday, writes Stuart James
LITTLE MORE than a month into the new season and already it feels like a trick of the mind that every Premier League manager and captain signed up to a charter agreeing to show more respect to referees. It was celebrated as a turning point at the time but before long the benign comments and warm smiles had been replaced by expletives and scowling expressions.
Normal service has returned to the Premier League - officials are back in the line of fire.
The Football Association, Premier League and Professional Game Match Officials Board insist the Respect programme and Get On With The Game campaign are proving successful, but there is precious little evidence of that. The initiatives have been about as welcome to Alex Ferguson as a Real Madrid bid for Cristiano Ronaldo, and others, including David Moyes, have tried to take on, rather than get on with, the man in the middle.
Although the FA and Premier League make it clear that they never envisaged dramatic changes immediately, there is no getting away from the fact that several managers and players have responded poorly.
"What we are trying to do is change attitudes," insisted an FA spokesman. "We fully understand the passion involved in the game and we're not trying to take that away. We're just trying to raise levels of respect and behaviour as a long-term commitment."
It could be a very long project at this rate. Seven Manchester United players were booked on Sunday and the most damning statistic was that three of the yellow cards were awarded for dissent; so much for the promise to improve standards of behaviour. "I don't think anyone expected an overnight avalanche of change," said Dan Johnson, a Premier League spokesman.
"All of those people have a responsibility in effecting the culture change over a period of time. What we said right at the very start is that this is not going to eradicate incidents of the nature (of Moyes and Ferguson), nor is it going to eradicate referees' mistakes.
"There are always going to be isolated incidents but, generally, the response from players and managers has been good, as has been noticeable in the vast majority of games."
Keith Hackett, the head of the PGMOB, who was heavily criticised by Ferguson last week after John Terry's red card against Manchester City was rescinded, is also putting on a brave face.
"I am very positive about the early impressions in terms of the Respect programme and the Get On With It campaign," said Hackett. "Our referees are telling me the captains of the clubs are responding to our requests and that it is seen to have been accepted as a positive move."
Hackett, who claims "we are not using a big hammer here", points to the constructive "discussion and debate" that officials have taken part in during visits to clubs as further reason to be sanguine. He will also have taken encouragement from Luiz Felipe Scolari's comments on Sunday, when the Chelsea manager said Mike Riley had been right to issue yellow cards to those players showing him disrespect. It felt like a glimmer of hope after a chastening start. "The Respect campaign is still going to go ahead and we're still going to work at it but it will take time," said one referees' assessor who did not want to be named.
"What is not helping is the high-profile managers doing what they're doing; sometimes they think they can get away with murder. The referees are trying to do their part - and I'm not saying they're foolproof - but the reactions of the managers and players have got to ease down a bit.
"Did you see Rio Ferdinand at the final whistle on Sunday? He was swearing and throwing his arms around, thinking that the referee had given a foul against him. What (the referee) was actually doing was blowing the final whistle. If he had waited and thought about respect, that wouldn't have happened. So I don't think a lot has changed. Players still cannot put themselves in the shoes of a referee and think, 'This is what the referee has seen'."
Guardian Service
