Bolton's former top Premier League referee talks football - every Wednesday

REFEREES showing green cards for good behaviour? You’re having a laugh!

Whoever came up with this idea, currently being trialled in the Italian second division, needs their bumps feeling.

The green card is shown to a player when he does something like kick the ball out of play to allow his opponent to receive treatment but has no material value in the game, indeed, how could it?

If a green card, for example, could wipe out a caution, you might have players stocking them up until the final whistle where they could commit a serious foul and escape scot-free.

I can see what they are trying to do, highlight good practice, but I can’t see it ever catching on over here.

He won’t mind me saying it, but Kevin Davies definitely knew when to be naughty and when to be nice on the pitch.

It was a shame to hear him announce his retirement this week – but I wish him all the best because he really is one of the good blokes in the game.

When I used to train down at Wanderers he used to chew my ear off about referees every Monday morning. Funnily enough, the name Mark Clattenburg tended to come up a lot.

But he gave tremendous service to Bolton during the time he was there and I still maintain he got a raw deal from Dougie Freedman. I don’t think he was given the respect he deserved.

I hope someday soon Davo will get the testimonial he is due, and I’d certainly consider it an honour if I could get involved on the refereeing side.

Another lad who gets undue stick is Wayne Rooney – and I’m proud as punch to see him get the plaudits for, at the time of writing, equalling Sir Bobby Charlton’s scoring record for England.

I once asked Wazza if I could have his shirt after a game and he said: “Okay, just so long as you don’t show me a yellow card.”

Of course, I did. He smiled at me after committing the foul and said: “I deserved that one. You can still have my shirt.”

I always found that if you treated him the way you’d want to be treated, Wayne was a joy to work with on the pitch and he’s been superb for his country.

I, for one hope he carries on scoring goals for his country for a long, long time to come.

I dusted off my boots last weekend to referee a couple of games, including a gorgeous new sports facility at Wellow in Somerset.

That was a lot easier than the following day, where I was in charge of a Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool fans. Without assistants it was hard work, I can tell you.

But I did catch up with ex-Everton striker Franny Jeffers. He went off after about an hour, so I suppose nothing has changed there!

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MY old mate Gary Speed would have been 46 yesterday, and I still find myself thinking about him regularly.

I’m not sure we’ll ever understand what happened and why he chose to take his own life. It certainly showed me how fragile life really is.

One thing I know is that he’ll be looking down with pride on what the Wales football team are doing right now under Chris Coleman.

When Speedo took that job he transformed how the Welsh went about things and now, with Chris continuing his excellent work, they stand above England in FIFA’s world rankings and on the verge of the European Championships. What an achievement.

Chris had every reason to be aggrieved that the extra official did not spot a blatant handball in Sunday’s game against Israel, where a win would have booked their place in France.

The referee was blind-sided, he couldn’t do anything, but a corner was given, so what part of the body did they think it bounced off?

There was more controversy in the Northern Ireland game on Monday night, where Chris Baird got two yellow cards in the same incident.

By the letter of the law, the Turkish official was correct. He played advantage for the first offence, then had to show a second yellow for a foul from behind further up the pitch.

I’d like to have seen him manage it better and show just one caution, and I think the referee was asking for trouble by allowing the game to continue when he intended to issue a caution.

I’m afraid the ultimate blame has to lie with the player in this case, though.

Mark Clattenburg furthered his cause for next summer’s Euros by doing well in the Russia v Sweden game. I personally hope UEFA decide to send two officials from England to avoid having to choose between him and Martin Atkinson.