DIVING? IT GOES ON ALL OVER THE PITCH...

EVERY player dives. Every single one. It may not be to win a penalty or get an opponent sent off, but there isn’t a pro out there who hasn’t tried to con the ref.

My favourite trick? When a ball went down the channel, I’d run back towards it, then put my body between the ball and the player. The moment I felt him touch my back, however gently, I’d fall on my face.

It worked every time, and it used to drive strikers mad. So was I cheating? No. By putting his hands on me, that striker gave me the option to go down.

I was simply using my experience to gain an advantage for my team. Just like every player up and down the country.

Which is why, for me, Everton’s Oumar Niasse and West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini can feel a little hard-done-by after receiving retrospective bans for diving.

If someone blatantly – and by blatant I mean no contact whatsoever – hits the deck, that’s the time for bans and fines. That is completely wrong.

But if, like Niasse and Lanzini, you see a challenge coming or exaggerate its effects, that is no worse than what happens all over the pitch.

For me, the way to stamp out diving isn’t by handing out bans. It’s about making sure players don’t need to dive in the first place. And that comes down to referees.

I can think of six or seven occasions this season when I’ve said on TV: ‘He should have gone down there’.

A player gets clipped, staggers around like he’s on black ice, then misses because he’s off balance. The best example I can think of is Jay Rodriguez for West Brom against Arsenal.

But what did the referee do? Play on, goal kick. What he should have done was pull it back and give a penalty.

If more referees blew for fouls – instead of forcing players to dive – you’d soon see a cleaner game.