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• 'When's it going to stop?' – Ref Support chief calls for end to 'silent' response to officials abuse

  Football's governing bodies must do more to protect referees amid a "considerable rise" in abuse that has often been met with a "silent" response.

  That was the message from Ref Support chief executive Martin Cassidy, who referenced issues with Bruno Fernandes, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Andrew Robertson in the Premier League this season.

  Fernandes appeared to make contact with an assistant referee in Liverpool's 7-0 thrashing of Manchester United, while Mitrovic was banned for eight games after pushing Chris Kavanagh.

  Robertson was another involved in an altercation with an official, when assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis seemingly made contact with the Liverpool left-back with his elbow, though the official faced no further punishment after an investigation.

  A couple of seasons earlier, former Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero came under scrutiny for placing his hand on the shoulder of assistant referee Sian Massey-Ellis during a home victory over Arsenal. 

  Cassidy believes the response to the rise in these issues has been inadequate, calling on the likes of the League Managers Association (LMA) and Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) to do more.

  He told Stats Perform: "From a domestic point of view, what's been going on over here with the situations that [there has been] a considerable rise in contact with match officials from what's happened with Sian Massey-Ellis, Bruno Fernandes, Mitrovic, Robertson – it’s on the rise.

  "When's it going to stop? And there are people who are silent on this who shouldn't be silent on this – the LMA, the PFA and even the Football Supporters' Association, they're all quiet on this, they comment on everything else.

  "They will talk all these white papers and governments, and they tweet about enough is enough about things [that are important] to them, but they never come out and publicly condemn their behaviour by their members.

  "The LMA never do it. We wrote to them, and we got a very benign, weak response. [The] PFA never say anything about the behaviour of their players – their members.

  "Certainly, there never seems to be any stance from supporters associations who really want to stand up and say: 'Look, we are going to do something here, what's the protocols, what's the code of conduct for managers in the LMA, what is the code of conduct for a professional footballer with regard to how they behave with these post-match comments here?'

  "So, there are a lot of silent people here who need to step up like the FA have in this country. When these people criticise the FA, the LMA and the PFA need to look at themselves and say what they are doing to address the situation that's caused directly by their members."

  Cassidy acknowledged the problems span wider than English football, with the ill-tempered Europa League final between Roma and Sevilla marred by abuse of referee Anthony Taylor after the game.

  Aside from refereeing issues, the ongoing racially motivated problems with Vinicius Junior and Spanish football continue – and Cassidy believes UEFA must improve.

  "UEFA hasn't really got a good track record on what they've done with racism," he added. "So, they have been quite weak on that really and very erratic.

  "Look at what has happened in Spain, they haven't really taken control of that. So, I'm not very hopeful that they'll respond to this in a manner that football wants it to respond to, but hopefully they prove us wrong.

  "UEFA does, in particular with the UEFA foundation, some wonderful stuff. But when it comes to stuff like this, they don't seem to – look at what happened in the Champions League final last year, Liverpool-Real Madrid – they never really covered themselves in glory there.

  "Let's take this opportunity, UEFA, let's make the game better. Let's come out hard and tough and let's send a message that this behaviour is totally unacceptable in our game."

• Fred is yet to talk to Erik ten Hag about future at Manchester United

  Erik ten Hag is yet to speak to Fred about his Manchester United future with the midfielder about to enter the final year of his contract.

  The Brazil international has played 35 times in the Premier League this season and started United’s 2-1 FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City on Saturday, but said afterwards that he is unsure about his future at Old Trafford.

  This season has been by far the 30-year-old’s best campaign in terms of appearances with 56 games across all competitions.

  He has played a key role as United have returned to the Champions League after a season away, as well as winning the Carabao Cup in February.

  Ten Hag’s team were defeated by their city rivals on Saturday, thwarting them in their bid to win both domestic cups and stop City’s charge towards the Treble in its tracks.

  “Of course I always want to be playing, to be helping my team and gladly today I started and I think we played well,” said Fred.

  “(About my future) I still don’t know, I have to talk with my family, I still have one year left on my contract here. Now it’s holidays time and a good opportunity to rest. I’ll talk to my staff, to the club and see what’s everyone’s decision.”

  Fred joined United for £47million from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2018 but struggled to win a regular place in the side during his first season.

  In all he has scored 14 goals in 213 games for the club, and during his time at Old Trafford has nailed down a place in the Brazil squad. He currently has 32 international caps and played for his country at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

  He added: “I do have to talk with Ten Hag as well, he’s the manager and the conversation has to involve everyone. We have to see how next season will pan out.

  “I want to be important, I want to help the team, so we’ll see. But I’ve always been and still am very happy at Manchester United.”

• Man charged after wearing shirt appearing to refer to Hillsborough disaster

  A man has been charged after he was seen wearing a football shirt at Wembley which appeared to make an offensive reference to the Hillsborough disaster.

  James White, 33, of Warwickshire, was charged on Sunday with displaying threatening or abusive writing likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress, Scotland Yard said.

  The Metropolitan Police Events Twitter account retweeted a picture on Saturday of a man wearing a Manchester United shirt that had the number 97 on the back and the words “Not Enough”.

  Wembley was hosting the FA Cup final, where Manchester City beat local rivals Manchester United 2-1.

  The Met said White was arrested “after being seen wearing a shirt which appeared to refer in offensive terms to those who died in the Hillsborough tragedy”.

  He was bailed to appear at Willesden Magistrates’ Court on June 19.

  Meanwhile, police said a further 22 people were arrested during the course of the policing operation for offences including assault, affray, possession of drugs, and drunk and disorderly behaviour.

  Inquiries continue in respect of an item thrown on to the pitch shortly after the Manchester United goal, and there has been no arrest at this stage in relation to that matter.

  On Sunday, the FA said in a statement: “The FA strongly condemns the actions of the individual who wore a shirt referencing the Hillsborough disaster ahead of the Emirates FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.

  “We saw a photograph of the offensive shirt on social media and immediately started working to identify the perpetrator.

  “Our security team were able to quickly locate the individual based on the image, and we welcome the swift action which was then taken by the police.

  “We will not tolerate abuse relating to Hillsborough or any football tragedy at Wembley Stadium and we will continue to work with the authorities to ensure strong action is taken against perpetrators.”

  Ninety-seven football fans died as a result of a crush at a match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield on April 15, 1989.

  An inquest jury ruled in 2016 that they were unlawfully killed amid a number of police errors.