BANTER IS MUCH BETTER

KEITH COOPER was the referee who made me realise that sometimes the best thing for a player to do is keep his mouth shut and concentrate on his own game.

Mr Cooper had dropped a right clanger – and I think he knew it by the reaction of both teams. I let him have it with both barrels and he could have booked me for dissent and paved the way for a club fine and a suspension later in the season.

Instead, he leaned into me and said: “I might have got that one wrong, Robbie, but you’re having a f ***** g nightmare.” He said it with a big grin on his face – and I couldn’t help but laugh.

And so a potentially explosive situation had been defused and we got on with the game without another cross word.

Now I know that a lot of people sneer whenever they hear the phrase “old-school” and I accept that it wasn’t always better in the good old days. But when I read that Bournemouth’s Dan Gosling (above) had branded referee Jon Moss “a disgrace” for the way he went about his business during the Cherries’ 2-1 defeat at Sheffield United, I was intrigued.

Had Moss been abusive? Had he crossed the line with an insult?

Not at all. Apparently, he had responded to some criticism by the Bournemouth players by sarcastically reminding them that they’re involved in a relegation fight.

Is this really what the modern Premier League footballer has been reduced to? Players complain that you can’t talk to referees, that officials have become robotic and lack a human touch.

It’s much better, in my opinion, if a show of dissent is met with a withering riposte from the man in the middle rather than a yellow or red card.