When Declan Rice screamed at Jesus Gil Manzano, “You have probably been f****** paid”, the Spanish referee should have had a reply at the ready.
“Yes, but not nearly f****** enough to have to deal with spoilt professional footballers.”
Rice is an engaging, normally humble, down-to-earth character. And one hell of a football player. But UEFA must make an example of him. As he walked away from Manzano, who had a pretty decent game as West Ham United went out of the Europa League in Frankfurt on Thursday, Rice said, “F****** corruption”.
Now, imagine if we suggested on this page that Rice was corrupt. That he had tried to throw a game. His lawyers would be at the front door before you could blow a few bubbles. Rightly so.
But Manzano is just expected to take this sort of disrespectful nonsense because it happens in the heat of the moment. Manzano and plenty of other referees have to accept ritual belittlement as part of the gig, it seems.
Rice is far from the only high-profile offender. For all their wonderful contributions to English football, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, for example, get away with all sorts of stuff when it comes to disrespecting officials.
But this effort from Rice is at the high end of the scale. The allegation is so ridiculous – if only because Manzano actually did not make any outrageously erroneous decisions – that some find the incident almost laughable. Sunday league stuff.
But aggressively confronting referees is a shocking example that authorities have to stamp out. In the English club game, remember when it was supposed to be only the captain who could speak to a referee? That soon came and went.
On countless occasions in the Premier League this season, referees have been surrounded by baying mobs. And there was a time when managers, who went on to the field of play after a game to harangue an official, would face tough sanctions. That does not seem to be the case any longer.
David Moyes was not guilty of that sin. But he did, rather bizarrely, volley a ball at a ball boy. It was that type of indiscipline that undermined West Ham’s decent bid to reach a European final after a run that had seen them account for Sevilla and Lyon in the knockout stages.
Again, some found it mildly amusing and, even when apologising, Moyes made a flippant remark. But it was another example of a manager losing his temper on the touchline. And these examples filter down to the grassroots, to the Sunday leagues.
In Rice’s case, in particular, it is a shame, because on so many levels, he is a quite brilliant role model. But, on this occasion, the punishment has to send out a message that this sort of thing will not be tolerated.
And if Rice does move to a Champions League club this summer, UEFA should ensure his debut in that competition is put on hold for a serious amount of time.
