Gosling should be thoroughly embarrassed
Players have been getting softer for years now.
But this week marked a new low.
I was stunned when I heard Bournemouth’s Dan Gosling had been upset by comments from referee Jon Moss during a match.
I thought: “What on earth has the ref said here? It must have been terrible”.
So when I read his alleged words, I was left absolutely baffled.
All Jon Moss did was make very mild references to Bournemouth playing poorly on the day.
Frankly, the kid, Gosling, should be embarrassed by his reaction.
In my day, you could have a bit of back-and-forth banter with referees.
They didn’t always take it in good humour, mind you. But nobody went running to the media in tears.
A few days back, Craig Burley told a fantastic story from his career about being told he was on course to “visit his teeth in the dressing room” by the great Willie Young.
On the other side of the spectrum, there was Dougie Smith’s sense-ofhumour bypass after Gazza “booked” him at Ibrox.
Referees have always had to take criticism on the field from players.
So I’ve got no problem with them giving a bit back – and neither should today’s snowflake players.