Football as a sport is flawed and always will be unless radical changes are imposed. There are several angles to this debate and I believe that the issue has gone too far now to be able to claw back a fair playing environment.

Consistency is never going to exist in football. If referees stuck to the rule book in every game then there would be sendings off, penalties and most probably riots.

Shirt pulling happens during every set piece. Shirt pulling is a yellow card offence. During the very first corner of every game, 22 cards should be issued if rules are to be abided by.

Using offensive language is too, and my experience in lip reading suggests that referees deal with their share of expletives and give players the benefit of the doubt 95% of the time.

Consistency would ruin the game in essence, which is why referees try to balance out decisions and the balance is usually flawed and favour usually leans towards the more influential and appealing side on show.

There needs to be a sensible flexibility whereby there is a consistency in refereeing decisions. What frustrates most football fans is that there is no consistency in todays game.

A given player will consistently trip, push and at times, wipe out another player and he may complete 90 minutes without receiving a card. Another player on the other hand, could make his first mistimed and non-malicious challenge in the latter stages of a match and receive a booking.

The point above is well met, there does seem to be a unfair allocation of decisions that go in favour of smaller clubs but I do think that the problem is unfixable without drastic and game changing consequences.

Referees have a tough job, impossible even, and the theatrics and cheating nature of players doesn’t make matters any easier.

I do not agree with Sepp Blatter that football is better with errors, but I don’t think that football will ever be a fair and honest sport. To meet such a milestone would mean every player and official has to be honest and accurate, which lets face it is never going to happen in a million years!

I do agree that harrassing the referee is wrong, but I don’t agree that it’s limited or more frequent amongst bigger players/teams.