When I started to write this column it was intended in reaction to the news that Wolves have been given a suspended fine for fielding a weakened team against Manchester United last December.
It sums up what is wrong with the Premier League - it is built on hypocrisy and hierarchy.
Buckle your seat belts boys and girls, because this is a long one!
I, like many fans right now, am trying to not to fall out of love with football. The role of fan is both sadist and masochist, and that is an exhausting mixture for anyone.
And I do love the game. I love wonder goals, exquiste passes, on the line clearances, brave blocks, strong challenges, underdogs, the primal nature of it, the battle, the shocks, the sheer poetry the best players can elicit with the ball at their feet and the pure elation at beating the odds.
I even love watching two teams battle through a match trying to win ugly, as long as it still resembles a game of football and there is at least some attempt to play the ball.
But football is less and less about the football.
Few players now know how to tackle cleanly - why would they when they are as likely to get booked for a good challenge as they are for a reckless leg breaker depending on the monetary worth of their opponent and the whims of the referee?
The majority of players also make very little attempt to stay on their feet. For a penalty or free kick they will go down at the slightest tough rather than actually test themselves to see if they can score.
'Contact was made' is the get clause for everything. If you were running down the street and brushed past someone would you fall over? No, I didn't think so.
Mind you, they needn't bother, since the quality of penalties being taken in the Premier League is also laughable given that these are trained professionals trying to hit anywhere within a none moving target (apart from straight at the goalkeeper).
And it's not even their fault, it is the way they are now being taught to play.
The beautiful game is more Monopoly than Subbuteo these days.
In football, as in life, survival is paramount, and then comes the pressure for success.
It is the most privileged who are cut the most slack, the people who need the least help are those who people fall over themselves to placate.
Take John Terry (yes, I know, I'm sick of him too, I'll be quick I promise) this guy broke the man code and, it seems fair to say, lost his friend. His conduct was deemed to be not benefitting an England captain, so he was duly stripped of his captaincy. He cheated on his wife and was implicated in a host of dodgy dealings surrounding Chelsea. So, was he sent to sleep on the sofa by his wife and disciplined by the club? No, he was given a free holiday to Dubai which some 'friend' has described as a second honeymoon!
Odds are he won't learn much of a lesson from either 'punishment'.
Rewarding bad behaviour breeds more bad behaviour, its pyschology for idiots, hell, even rats can figure it out, just not love rats, apparently.
But just like the big name players, teams with power are often rewarded for bad behaviour, or at least go unpunished.
Sir Alex Ferguson is an exceptional manager. He is also an extremely bad loser who chucks his toys out of the pram (and then blames someone else for the mess) whenever things don't quite go his way.
He is not the only one, but he (and Arsene Wenger) are probably the most prolific, and high profile offenders.
The Respect campaign is supposed to encapsulate the game as a whole, but it is clear that several managers, some referees and a plethora of players think it does not apply to them.
Which bring me to Wolves.
Wolves have received the suspended fine, because, according to the Premier League, they have broken Rule E20 and Rule B13 by fielding a weakened side against Manchester United.
Premier League Rule E20 states: "In every League Match each participating Club shall field a full strength team"
Perhaps it is the 'League Match' section which exonerates Manchester United from fielding a half strength side against Everton in the FA Cup.
The game turned Italian teenager Federico Macheda from 'potential star' to 'massively overrated' and despite a contract keeping him at Old Trafford until 2014 and some star turns from the bench, he now plays most of his football for United's reserves.
But I digress, the point is that, besides producing some of the dullest football ever seen in England (particularly in the first half) by fielding their weakened side Manchester United were showing a lack of respect to the institution of the FA Cup.
And United are not the only ones, Harry Redknapp had yet another tea and biscuits meeting with the FA after announcing that he would field a much weakened side against Middlesbrough last season.
When Mick McCarthy was choosing his side to play Manchester United, he was not disrespecting anybody, or trying to break the rules, at worst he was being practical.
The Premier League said in a statement: "In coming to this decision the board also wants to put clubs on notice that any future rule breach of this nature would be subject to a disciplinary commission that would have available a full range of sanctions."
Basically they were using Wolves as a warning to repeat offenders, the lesson being that you cannot work the system if you are one of the smallest cogs in it.
The truth is that fielding a weakened side, or just a different side, is common practice for the big four.
But when they do it it's called 'rotation'.
It could be argued that anytime Liverpool rest Gerrard or Torres when they are not injured then they are fielding a severly weakened team, since they do not have a reasonable expectation of being able to win a game without these particular players!
Ironically it is because McCarthy has a fairly settled starting eleven that the ruling was made. If McCarthy chopped and changed his squad, it would have been far harder to argue that the line up he fielded against Manchester United was not full strength.
Still, on average the players selected for this 'weakened side' had played ten games in the Premier League.
He also could have lied. McCarthy could conceivably have announced convenient injuries and/or illnesses to a large group of players and therefore been 'forced' to field alternative side. He would not have been the first manager to do so, and the club would have recieved no punishment whatsoever.
Because their is no investigation into whether players are actually injured, it is just taken on face value, as it should be. However the Premier League do propose to judge what constitutes a full strength side.
Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock took time out from his own problem club to express his disgust at the ruling, saying: "It's a disgrace. Have Liverpool been docked points for the team they put out against Fulham or the one Manchester United did against West Ham? I don't think so somehow.
"It's a disgrace the Premier League even thought about charging them. They didn't charge United or Liverpool which were far more expensive mistakes. It is laughable they have even published the fact they have handed Wolves a suspended sentence."
Warnock is still bitter because these kind of decisions (by Manchester United, again) had a impact on his Sheffield United side being relegated, but that doesn't make him wrong.
It is not the punishment which annoys me - it's basically just a warning not to do it again - but that once again, the governing bodies who represent football have made a example of a small team instead of ever dishing out punishment to the big contenders.
Wolves are just trying to survive this season and, are being punished for adopting the attitude of bigger teams, without having the personel, or the influence to pull it off.
Further down than Wolves, Portsmouth have been so badly mis-managed that they look increasingly likely to be consigned to the history books. If this happens it will be a sad day for football, but unfortunately the game is in such a sorry state at the moment that some casualties are inevitable.
And someone always prospers from the defeat of another. Personally I'm hoping relegation (probably the least of it) for Portsmouth will mean a reprieve for someone like Wolves, or Burnley.
These are clubs which have been run properly and achieved promotion, along with Birmingham, last season through sheer bloody minded determination and hard work.
I've already looked at Wolves, so let me explain my preoccupation with Burnley's future.
I like Burnley for a couple of reasons, firstly because I ran one of their fan sites for a short period, secondly because I have a friend who hails from those parts and thirdly because as a Middlesbrough fan, I watched Rhys Willliams successful loan spell with the Clarets, and their subsequent promotion with some interest.
But mostly I just think they are plucky. And the Premier League is lacking in 'pluck'.
The Clarets knew they could not sustain their excellent early home form, so they tried to pick up as many points at Turf Moor as possible in the opening games - memorably beating Manchester United in the process - before they tired. What they did not count on was the departure of Owen Coyle.
It is impossible to say whether Burnley would have fared better had Coyle stayed, as their away form is truly tragic, but it is fair to say the departure of the man who got them promoted knocked them for six. But I still think they are more interesting than a number of teams around and about them, including Coyle's new team, Bolton.
As much as I have no personal dislike of West Ham, Bolton or Hull, I think there are too many under performing teams scraping by in the Premier League and the quality of football is suffering.
I do dislike Sunderland - I'm from Middlesbrough, it is inbuilt! - and think they were incredibly lucky that other teams (Boro included) were even more poor than they were last season. Hull City also have us, in part, to thank for their continued Premier League status, together with an excellent start to their 2008-9 campaign.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if all three Premier League newboys managed to survive this season?
I think it would be refreshing. It is an unlikely scenario that would see Birmingham, Wolves and Burnley all playing Premier League football next season, and it would be at the expense of two of the clubs mentioned above, but it would provide a spring clean, and a spring clean is long overdue.
Too many clubs are sacrificing the football in exchange for hanging in at the wrong end of the Premier League, and I really want something to get excited about next season.
First published on www.SportingPreview.com on 20/2/2010
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