THERE was a time when you might have worried about Wayne Rooney’s discipline on a football field – but those days are long gone.

He can have no complaints with the red card he got against West Ham for violent conduct on Stewart Downing. He was banged to rights.

But to say he should be stripped of the captaincy on the basis of one silly moment is absolutely ludicrous. Everyone can make a mistake.

Wayne has calmed down a lot from the hot-headed teenager who used to steam around the pitch playing for Everton.

He hasn’t had a red card in five years and I think that’s an achievement because at one time you wondered whether those moments of red mist might spoil a world-class talent.

He’s not above moaning at a decision, I can tell you.

I remember giving a free kick against him one week and he raced towards me shouting and balling. Without using the exact words, I told him to shut up and leave me alone.

About five weeks later I reffed him playing for Manchester United against Everton – which was obviously an emotional one for him.

I pulled him to one side before the game and told him I’d seen the DVD of the free kick he’d been complaining about and that he was right, I’d got the decision wrong.

“That’s why you’re my favourite referee,” he said with a grin across his face.

I knew I’d be in for same verbal bashing the next time I gave a decision – which happened to be the only yellow card I ever gave him.

It was in the Community Shield and he was up off the floor right away: “That was never a yellow, what are you playing at?”

I said: “Wazza, calm down, the yellow cards you get today don’t count towards the regular season.”

“Oh, well maybe it was a yellow then,” he smiled back.

He’s a hard bloke on the pitch and he’s got that will to win that managers love to tap into. But I found him a very easy person to deal with on the pitch and he has matured a lot in recent times.

He has taken to captaincy, he knows the responsibility he has on his shoulders now.

What he did was daft. He probably meant to tap Downing’s ankles as he went past but ended up getting more of him than he had intended.

The little bit of frustration might have stemmed from a handball that wasn’t spotted on the edge of the box before West Ham broke. United should have had a free kick.

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IT’S a shame to say it, but I don’t think you’ll ever see a time when footballers see refereeing as a career move.

I remember ex-Wanderers striker Tony Philliskirk getting into it on a Sunday at one stage before his coaching took over at Oldham, where he’s still doing an excellent job.

To most players, however, it is a job they simply wouldn’t want to do.

We are always talking about getting more people “who know football” into refereeing but the pay scale simply doesn’t make it a viable choice.

I have spent a lot of time with clubs like Bolton and Bury and the lads don’t even want to referee a game in training, let alone start from the bottom and work up.

I’d like to see ex-players given the right coaching and started off in the Conference to learn their trade.

Maybe the PFA could look at subsidising it because it would be a good way of keeping youngsters in the game who might not have made it, or pros who want to go in a different direction.

Refs in the Football League have to ply their trade alongside a regular job. It’s tough and a hobby to most – which causes its own problems.

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I’M not sure any referee knows exactly what handball is any more.

Gareth Barry got away with blue murder in the Merseyside derby with one that Martin Atkinson failed to spot. Was he protecting his face? Not in my opinion.

By the letter of the law it has to be a deliberate act. It is the only part of the law that says there has to be intent on the players’ part.

But once again referees are getting mixed messages from the top, which is making it a very difficult law to enforce.

It’s a subjective issue. When I was on the list you’d sit in meetings and they’d go over videos of what they felt was handball and what wasn’t. It just left everyone confused.

They have just had another meeting at St George’s Park and come out of it none the wiser.

All that happens after meetings like that, when a law is over-analysed, is you see a spate of handballs given – just like in the World Cup when they choose to crack down on one thing or another and it all goes mad.

The evaluation system they use for referees is causing problems. They need better leadership from the top.

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FOOTBALL is about scoring goals – so why are we punishing players for celebrating them?

I saw Nacer Chadli get a yellow for Spurs for cupping his ear to the Arsenal fans. What on earth is going on?

I just think it’s sapping the enjoyment out of the game.

Fans pay their money to see goals and emotions from the players.

I’m not saying let things get out of control but let’s stop taking the human element out of the game.