GRAEME Souness wins this week's prize for best referee insult by a football manager.

His "these people could drive supporters away from football" was a class above the often used "decisions like that can cost clubs points" and the standard "they're a disgrace".

Souness found himself up on an FA disrepute rap for his verbal blast and this week fellow managers Mark McGhee (Millwall), Steve Bruce (Birmingham) and Northampton's Kevan Broadhurst were fined a total of £12,750 for having a go at refs.

The main beef managers have with referees is their so-called lack of consistency in their decision-making.

But what about the consistency of managers in their treatment of the refs. Souness verbally slaughtered the ref because the decision went against his side. But what did he say about a blatant trip on an opposing player inside the penalty area in the last minute of last Sunday's Worthington Cup Final? Absolutely nothing.

Everybody in the stadium and at home reckoned it was a clear trip on Teddy Sherringham but when Souness was asked about it he brushed it off as a mere irrelevance.

I suspect it would have been a different story had it happened to one of his players.

Managers have every right to criticise referees for not being consistent so long as they are consistent in their criticism. That means being critical in victory as well as defeat or, better still, getting off the refs' backs and try to do something to help them.