Firstly. referees are that bad today it is impossible to answer and secondly, players like Ron Harris were so cute and ultra-professional in their quest to put opponents out of the game only the TV cameras of today would have caught them. I was brought up on the likes of Dave Mackay who was as tough as nails, but not only was he tough he was an exceptional footballer and leader, who took charge of matters at the first Double winning team at White Hat Lane. It is well known that Dave would get into the dressing room before manager Bill Nicholson to give his team-mates a dressing down if things were not going the way he liked. English football in the 60s was full of hard men, not only defenders but all over the pitch and the centre-forwards were big hard number 9s who would what was said years later “Get their retaliation in” before their marker got to them first. I remember watching Burnley with Andy Lochead leading their line and boy was he tough and then the Bristol born Bobby Smith who was in the same side as Mackay at Spurs and was also a Chelsea legend. If you could knock the likes of Lochead and ‘Smudger’ to his knees then you would probably have got the leading role in ‘Die Hard’, one, two, three and four.

In a day where defenders pull shirts and grab opponents round the neck from dead ball situations without a referee seeing anything or as I say ‘Turn a blind eye’ even bringing in a fourth official who is getting paid for doing absolutely nothing.

To think that Suarez got away with the last two ‘biting’ incidents just about sums up the whole situation and that is why the Uruguayan has got to this level. It is like a referee in a boxing ring allowing boxers to hit low yet ignore it or in any other sport continually ignoring or missing such incidents. If referees are not going to punish the player at that precise moment then what is the use of having them?

When we were kids playing in the street we never needed a referee and the game was far better and it was not until I played professionally that I realized how they interupted the game and changed the result more than any player. The old adage of a ‘Good referee is one that is never seen’ has gone and now they are the centre of attraction.

I also remember in one of my first ever matches for Chelsea I swore at one of the great referees of his day, Jim Finney, and he turned to me and said, “I should f****** worry about the way your playing young man instead of me” which put me in my place.

Yeah, he swore, something that one does in the heat of the moment and I can remember a couple of years ago FIFA, UEFA and the FA wanted to ban swearing, well, if Finney is anything to go by, he will do for me, because I never questioned him again.

The picture above shows Liverpool hardman Tommy Smith who I bumped into in Tampa Bay, Florida some years after his retirement where we drank a few beers together and you might have been fooled into thinking he was the ultimate professional and a gentleman and you would have been right. What people have lost touch with football is a contact sport and those like George Best loved the challenge of overcoming such fierce tackles. İf there was an art tio dribbling and passing there is an art to tackling, but the problem is today players cannot tackle properly and that is why they have to lower themselves to pull shirts and pull players to the floor. If Smith hit you you knew it but there was no chance of him pulling your shirt because that is for what he ight call “fairies”.

One of my finest moments on the field was sticking it through his legs at the Victoria Ground as he came flying at me like the Liverpool to London Express train, leaving in the mud. I have no doubt he will not remember because he is a very proud man, but it led to Bill Shankly shaking my hands after the match saying “That was the greatest performance I have ever seen” and I have a funny feeling me leaving Tommy on the floor had something to do with it.