We should also sign up De Canio and Adam Gilcrist as fair play coaches.

How many teams against us and others get offsides and free kicks for protesting and we just accept? It is a competitive league and we need to be more competitive.

Whilst I would not like a ratboy kind of diving player or players the likes of Chelski, Manure or the Redshite climbing all over officials, it has been a long time since our captain has regularly been vocal to a ref when a decision has been wrong or not quite gone our way... Nice teams always come last!!!!!

Ralph, cheating is not being more competitive. It's cheating. Can't stand talk of contact etc; if a player chooses to go down he's chosen to cheat.

I think the difference with Pip Neville's dive is that he was bollocked for it and fined. Other club's managers would say "Better luck next time".

Coming bottom of the Fair Play League every season would suit me fine.

Me, I don't give a shit about being called a cheat, I just want to win something and not be a nearly team, we damned decent upstanding professionals. Sometimes so-called cheating is using flaws in the system to gain advantage, ie, if the ref can't see it, you do it!

Did you ever play football, or any sport? If so, did you never attempt to gain an advantage? Sport for the professional sportsman is a job, most people will shaft others in work to get on, just a factor life......

Timothy, the fact that Neville dived and was roundly criticised both on here and by most Everton fans only goes to show what an out-of-character event it was, both from the player and as a club. Neville came out and apologised straight after the match and also admitted that Moyes had fined him.

Indeed, Neville's pantomime dive was, or would have been, funny were it not for the fact that it made it more difficult to retreat to the moral high ground as a result of it. Having said that, there were no club provided "Neville Is Innocent" tee shirts for the players and fans alike to mince about in wearing a victimised frown.

As for the Fellaini headbutt, that was clearly wrong; however, had the referee been up to the task, he would surely have given a penalty to Everton for the initial grappling on the part of Shawcross, which would have saved us the trouble of paying Fellaini to sit in the stands for the duration of his suspension. A suspension, remember, that some RS supporting journos wanted increasing to 9 matches. So, no hint of favouritism there, then, eh?

Everton have got a long way to fall before we reach the depths plumbed by the RS, Man Utd, Man City etc.

Man Utd, Chelsea and even the great Barcelona surround the ref for every decision, even if they are three up.

You gain every advantage available to you – remember the Clattenburg Derby? We accepted Hibbert being sent off after the ref had pulled out a yellow, just because Gerrard said he was going to shoot.

Nothing said in the press, nothing about Kuyt nearly cutting Neville in half, we never complain, and it makes it easier for refs to give a penalty, send our players off, or just give any decision against us, because we roll over.

If a ref does not book or overturn decisions then it will never be a fair playing field, and if not fair all around unfortunately teams are having to gain other advantages be it holding or bullying or being over aggressive.

Each year it seems that the referees are give a specific offense to concentrate on be it offsides or foul throws when they should be concentrating on all rules.

How many professional footballers can't actually take a legal throw in which we constantly see on to yet it is let go by refs, our kids watch it and see it as being okay and the rules at grass root fail.

Moral high ground is great if it earns you points or puts money in the bank, otherwise just another description used of the nearly rans.

The PL have no desire to tackle the problem. I sent an email to them in the summer about fair play and they sent me the DVD they had produced and sent to all PL clubs designed to show players what standards were expected in the forth coming season.

What I received was a two minute film of match footage of players surrounding the ref, some argy bargy with children in five a side courts then copying these actions. This was set to a rock version of 'I want to be like you' from the jungle book.

Not one second showed players diving on the ground, and presumably not one shit was given by any player having seen it.

Only long ball merchants get a sustained bad press (Stoke, Wimbledon) doubtless due to the perpetual fighting for the knock on.

If any club is reviled club for lack of Corinthian spirit, it's Liverpool, but if manslaughter and racism is on your CV amidst insufferable snide and arrogance, what do you expect?

As referees are not picking up on infringements and more and more players are getting away with them they will always happen. The issue is not with the players it is with referees as if they punished infringements then surely they would not happen?

There isn't one ref where you can think he'll be in charge today and take no rubbish.

Then again there is a Spanish referee where you have to more or less take someone's knee cap off before you get a free kick. He was the one in charge of Celtic and Juve 1st leg. Got bad press for his reffing at corners but all the games he takes charge of in Europe become full blooded, competitive and honest because the players know that lying on the ground holding their ankle will not work. That part of the player's mind is left behind and it all becomes about football.

What has happened over the past decade or so is that referees seem to 'lean' in favour of those teams and players with fame or money or both. They appear to have a pre-planned agenda regarding certain teams or individual players, witness the game on Saturday where once again at Goodison the away side appeared to gain the benefit of the doubt in most of the 50-50 decisions.

Add to that the media circus surrounding certain decisions dependent on who the offender was are highlighted to suit their agenda. Saturday's game at Goodison was a bit feisty at times but it was never dirty, however, the media almost to a man felt they had to mention the robust tackling of Everton and how it bordered on the illegal, which in its own way puts pressure on the officials to react when they next take charge of Everton.

Let's see what we all think of the Corinthian spirit following the Stoke game...

I think refs are glad when they see they have us, they know they'll get an easy ride if they get things wrong. Other clubs put pressure on refs and make them think twice about giving decisions against them.

The huge number of poor decisions we've had go against us is down to us being 'nice'. It pays to cheat or act like a twat in this league. In fact, it's encouraged by the way the FA do fuck all to stop it.

Which of us can tolerate the ridiculous wrestling that goes on at corners etc, Why can Everton not lead a campaign to have the FA stop ignoring it? Nice guys are not losers, weak guys are. Hard fair tackles, and we have players who are good at them, are much more effective than snide, cowardly attempts to injure an opponent.

As already stated, if you are not one of the darling teams that fits into Sky's remit on how the game is to be run for the good of us all (or certainly those with a financial vested interest), they you will neither get a decision, on the tv to earn you more money anything.

Referees are paid huge sums in relation to the average man with large bonuses and still can't get simple decisions right, they choose to attach themselves to the footballing superstars and believe by winning them over they will somehow be associated with them and therefore admired and respected as such instead of trying to earn the admiration and respect.

The biggest problem with the working man's game is that it no longer is, it is Sky's goose that lays the golden egg and therefore will dictate who will have the most supporters by giving it the most coverage, select its pundits and its Sky Four. (How many ex Everton, Stoke, Reading etc players do we regularly see on the TV?)

Not only are some clubs, ours included, rich men's train sets but to a certain extent football has become both Sky's train set and cash train.

If it was so concerned with how the games where officiated, it has the clout to do anything about it. However, it is in Sky's interest for bad decisions to be made and teams to have in-team and cross-team grudges – makes for good viewing.

All this crap wrestling at corners – what's that all about !!?? What is needed is one referee to give 20 penalties in one match and that would be that sorted. Unfortunately that is what it'll take to stop it.

Swarming around a referee after every decision is unsportsmanlike conduct and the referee should start booking some of these players to stop it. As far as diving goes, once again it is unsportsmanlike conduct and should be punished.

The reason that it is getting out of hand is the failure of the governing bodies not recognizing this behavior starting to creep slowly into the game and stopping it earlier.
Fifa as the governing body should stop ignoring this problem and for a change show some leadership and direct referees to stamp it out.

But you're right, I would hate a Carragher, Gerard, or Suarez playing for my team as every time I see them play I come away hating the world in general for allowing the injustices to go unpunished.

I can live with getting away with something the referee missed sure, but we will never achieve anything without a good team, not a cynical one.

I also think we should get rid of Blatter and get that Frog Platini away from the top job in world football, he's as mad as a box of frogs (quite literally) and Fifa's proposal to move the World Cup to Winter in 2022 is absolutely ludicrous.

Platini's hatred of England and English football with his desire for Spanish football and Barcelona is also ridiculous. Maybe the French haven't got over Agincourt yet.

It would stop all this crowding around the ref crap in one game.... especially as it would be highlighted on match of the day/sky first and the ref could back it up by giving an interview telling the press exactly why he did it and will continue to do it in every game he officiates.

It really is that simple but no-one has the balls to do it.

My particular beef concerned the antics that go unpunished in the penalty area when corners are being taken. Well, I duly wrote to the FA, who replied... but never addressed a single item of my complaint. But I'm sure you will be as delighted as I am to read that ....

"We do appreciate all of the feedback we receive from supporters. This feedback is collated and used to build a picture of public opinion and is subsequently fed back internally within the organisation. Please rest assured your comments will form part of this feedback process".

I never see any other sport where refs take stick off the players. It's like letting the lunatics run the asylum. Nuts!!!

The Mcmanaman affair was a disgrace. One of the officials should have seen it. How many do we need? All the players previously sent off for similar sometimes lesser tackles must be outraged.

Getting back to Everton, it has to be said the midfielders are the worst bunch of tacklers I have ever seen.

Maybe, "I have seen enough of the cheating that masquerades as top class football. Everton will be different. I have told my players that I will not accept diving, harassing referees or over the ball challenges. We will be hard and fair. I challenge every manager in the league to support me. Kick out the cheats".

What would be wrong with that?

From Everton Jags is deserving followed by Bainsey. Kompany of City is another... Ratboy is just an asshole.

Why don't the players just take performance enhancing drugs and be done with it?

Another point – watch rugby and learn. Strong refs and much better behaved players generally. And the "class" argument doesn't wash as 1) is same in league and union and 2) presumes the working class can't behave with discipline.

This is a football problem and contributed to by the media, the pundits and all the others looking to make a few quid from glib comments on yet another controversial decision.

I remember kids at school like the modern player – always running to teachers or mummy because they didn't get their own way. Pain in neck, then as now.