ANYBODY watching last week's UEFA vote on its 2008 Championships must have been struck by the obscene manner in which those self-important suits with swollen bellies staggered onto the platform to deliver their verdict. Pate de foie gras washed down with Vintage Krug all paid for by the competing nations -- it was like a scene from the latter pages of Animal Farm.

Nobody in the Scottish/Irish contingent could understand why their impressive bid failed to make the final four. Then somebody spotted that seven of the nine panellists were Sepp Blatter loyalists -- the same Blatter who had earlier sacked his FIFA Communications Director who just happened to be Scottish.

Why is this important? Because these people running football are in fact politicians. Most of their decisions are not made in the general interests of the game, but in the blatant cause of self-interest and preservation. Deals are done in smoky rooms, bellies got more obscenely rounded, and our game suffers the consequences.

Take the latest spat between Blatter and our FA which refuses to close down its video panel used to look at miscarriages of justice and punish violent play not witnesses by the match officials. FIFA are ordering us to wind up this body to protect the authority of the referee. But have they actually asked the referees if that is what they want?

I and others spend most of our lives pursuing a charm offensive for referees. We constantly seek to avoid claims that we are a sub species of a lower life form tattooed at birth with three sixes. This will become a lost battle if we are asked to stick by honest decisions which are later seen to be manifestly wrong. How in heaven's name can applying a ban to an innocent player uphold the integrity of the officials.

No Sepp. By all means throw the book at those thugs who stamp on opponent's faces. But don't hid behind our supposed infallibility when we admit we have erred. Stick to huge lunches, vats of wine, and questionable deals -- it's what you know best.