I WOULD like to respond to Peter Barron’s recent From the Editor’s Chair column (Echo, Nov 5) and suggest professional referees should be firmer with players and managers in senior football.

I think referees should give a yellow or red card for foul and abusive language from players and managers.

They should also give a yellow card for arguing with a referee or assistant referee, pressurising him or surrounding him.

Furthermore, players encroaching within ten yards of a free kick any time after it’s awarded should be yellowcarded.

Also free kicks and throw-ins ought to be taken from where the offence occurred or the ball went out of play.

Some suggestions: if a yellow card is given, the offender should leave the pitch for 15 minutes (similar to rugby union).

If a red card is given, the offender should not be paid for the period he cannot play; instead half his wage should put into a pot and shared by the top six clubs in a fair-play league.

There are many good things to admire in modern top-class football, like good ball-control, accurate passing and clever flicks and feints, but I dislike the weak refereeing which only encourages players and managers to protest, argue and swear.

Malcolm Dunstone, Darlington.