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."
Football rumours: Juventus seeking new long-term deal for Adrien Rabiot
Juventus are reportedly working on a new long-term deal for midfielder Adrien Rabiot. The Daily Mail, citing Tuttosport, says the Italian giant is looking to tie the 28-year-old down for a further three years, after he turned down an approach from Manchester United during the summer in favour of extending his time in Turin.
Chelsea are believed to be gearing up for an expensive January. According to The Guardian, the Blues are set to target Napoli striker Victor Osimhen and Brentford forward Ivan Toney, after already spending £1billion on new signings in a year.
And the Daily Mirror, via Cadena SER, says Luka Modric is on radar of multiple MLS teams, with Inter Miami believed to be especially keen on the Real Madrid midfielder.
Social media round-upPlayers to watchKalvin Phillips: Arsenal will chase the Manchester City midfielder in January, according to Fichajes.
Lamine Yamal: The Daily Mail, citing Fabrizio Romano, says Barcelona are eager to sign the 16-year-old winger to a further three-year deal.
I was a mess – David Beckham lays bare pain he suffered after World Cup red card
David Beckham has revealed he still cannot forgive himself for the abuse his family suffered amid the fallout from his red card at the 1998 World Cup, which left him a “mess”.
A new Netflix documentary series titled ‘Beckham’ is set for release on Wednesday, looking back on the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder’s career as well as his marriage to Spice Girls singer and fashion designer Victoria.
In episode two, titled ‘Seeing Red’, Beckham, now 48, reflected on the “stupid mistake” which changed his life after he was sent off for kicking the back of Diego Simeone’s leg during the last-16 clash against Argentina in Saint-Etienne.
England went on to lose after a penalty shootout and Beckham found himself centre of a backlash – including a pub hanging up an effigy of the midfielder, who received a hostile reception from rival fans around the country when he returned to action for United the following season.
In the documentary, Victoria Beckham said the continued abuse left her husband “absolutely clinically depressed” as the then 23-year-old tried to deal with the fallout alongside becoming a father for the first time in March 1999.
Beckham admitted the saga “took a toll on me that I never knew myself”.
He said: “I wish there was a pill you could take which could erase certain memories. I made a stupid mistake. It changed my life.
“We were in America (on holiday after the World Cup), just about to have our first baby, and I thought, ‘we will be fine. In a day or two people will have forgotten’.”
Beckham added: “I don’t think I have ever talked about it, just because I can’t. I find it hard to talk through what I went through because it was so extreme.
“Wherever I went, I got abused every single day – to walk down the street and to see people look at you in a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things they said, that is difficult.
“I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping. I was a mess. I didn’t know what to do.”
Beckham added: “It brought a lot of attention that I would never wish on anyone, let alone my parents, and I can’t forgive myself for that.
“That is the tough part of what happened, because I was the one that made the mistake.
“It is only now that I am 47 years old, it is now that I beat myself up about it (still).
“When I have gone through difficult moments, I was able to block it out, but inside it killed me.”
Beckham spoke of the support he received from then Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the club as he looked to focus on his football.
“That was the only thing I could control – once I was on the pitch, then I felt safe,” Beckham said.
“Anytime I was kicked during that season, it was like the (opposition team) had got two goals.”
Beckham added: “As horrible as it was to look up to Victoria in the stand (getting that abuse), it was the one thing which spurred me on.”
The Netflix documentary also charts Beckham’s triumphant end to the 1998-99 season, which culminated with United having won the Premier League, FA Cup and a memorable Champions League final against Bayern Munich in Barcelona.
With Paul Scholes and Roy Keane suspended, Beckham played an integral role in United’s comeback win, which was secured by two goals in stoppage time.
Reflecting on the match, Ferguson said: “With David, that night there was something inside him saying, ‘I am not going to let this happen’. It was a personal thing that he had in him, that stubbornness and determination.”
Beckham’s former United and England team-mate Gary Neville was an executive producer of the Netflix documentary.
Neville recalled the way he and Beckham were “absolutely destroying teams” down the right flank for United.
“He was with his crossing. I was supporting him in a way which was to be fair, I would say I was a side dish really. Not the beef. I was the mustard on the side,” Neville said.
“I was subservient because I needed David to go and do something magical. He was practicing free-kicks and I was practicing throw-ins.”
Neville added: “It was telepathic on the pitch. Off the pitch as well, I knew where he was in his mind – it was not enough for him, he wanted to be more than a football player.”
Mykhailo Mudryk trying hard to adapt to Chelsea culture after difficult start
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino says Mykhailo Mudryk is making a concerted effort to adapt to life in England and fulfil his potential as a “unique” player after an indifferent start to his career at Stamford Bridge.
The Ukrainian moved from Shakhtar Donetsk in January for a fee that could rise to £88million, but he has featured only inconsistently in the starting XI under successive managers and is yet to score his first Blues goal.
He arrived having missed a significant amount of playing time during the previous 12 months after the war in Ukraine caused the suspension of the domestic league, and at the time of Chelsea’s bid he had made only 44 professional appearances for Shakhtar.
It is the first time that the 22-year-old has lived outside of Ukraine, with Pochettino having previously made the point that young players in particular require time to settle into a new culture when moving abroad.
Mudryk has started each of Chelsea’s last three games and has shown flashes of promising in short bursts, including the beginnings of a burgeoning on-field relationship with new striker Nicolas Jackson.
And Pochettino said the winger is making the effort that he expects of his players to integrate as he waits for his expensively assembled side to gel.
“The life of these guys, when they are so young, (it) changed,” said the manager, whose squad with an average age of just over 23 is the youngest in the Premier League this season.
“You pay big money, big change form where they came. Also it’s not about to arrive and to perform when you are young.
“It’s about to adapt, it’s about to help them to settle. Then the most difficult thing is to understand what these guys need to settle and to feel comfortable and to express their talent.
“If you ask me about Misha, he’s a very talented player of course, but you need to go with him very slowly. Cultural and everything is completely different to Latin people, from different countries or part of the world.
“He’s now trying to be more open, to adapt and be more involved in every situation, not only on the field but outside also. I think he’s doing a massive effort to try to integrate himself and to understand better what it means to play like a team.
“He’s unique. I can’t find a player to say he is similar, I can’t remember one. It’s a good challenge for him, and it’s a good challenge for us.”
The manager again refused to blame injuries for his team’s slow start to the season, with as many as 11 players likely to be missing when Chelsea face Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday in search of just their second league win of the campaign.
There were three players aged 19 or under with no first-team experience named on the bench when the team drew at Bournemouth two weeks ago, and since then Ben Chilwell’s name has been added to an extensive injury list after he limped out of last week’s win over Brighton with a hamstring problem.
“I cannot use the excuse of injuries,” said Pochettino. “The performances have been good. We cannot blame injuries, I think it’s not fair. We played well in every single game and we deserved more, but for different reasons, we didn’t score and we were not clinical enough.
“But we cannot blame injuries. Of course it’s a factor that we need to improve. When you have your whole squad, you increase the level of the team. You put pressure on the players that play because it’s another player waiting for your place. We’re not winning the games that we deserve, but not because of injuries.”
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