Even in my playing days, spitting was considered the worst thing you could do on a football field.
I understand why it is so reviled - but somebody could deliberately go over the top and snap somebody's leg. Is spitting on a par with that?
No matter what your view, it is disgusting and there is a stigma attached to it and that is why El-Hadji Diouf will have a real problem when he completes his three-match ban for spitting at Arjan de Zeeuw.
 |  You can't lock Diouf away for what he did |
He now has a reputation, and everybody will be looking for his next misdemeanour which puts pressure on him and his club.
He will find it difficult with visiting fans - maybe even Bolton fans - from now and people will target his short fuse.
You have to question whether he will get on with playing football here or whether he should seek a fresh start abroad.
I would be appalled if one of my players behaved like Diouf - but I would handle it in exactly the same way as Sam Allardyce.
He fined him two weeks' wages and offered him professional help - and I think he will need therapy to stop him reacting but you can't lock him away.
I have been spat upon on three occasions.
I was 17 the first time, when I was playing in a northern intermediate game for Chesterfield.
| Lee Hendrie is like the little boy who takes a sweet out of a bag without permission |
The person who did it went on to become famous - although I will not say who it is - and I have never forgotten it. I remembered him all through his career for that reason.
It happened again when I was a full-time pro, and it has also happened to me as a manager. It is just despicable.
I believe Diouf should have got more than a three-match ban - and maybe the whole sentencing system needs a re-think.
Look at what happened with Lee Hendrie at the weekend. He got a red card for making a gesture at Danny Mills - yet he had no intention of headbutting him.
Nobody would have blinked if the referee had given him a telling off, but now he has got a red card and an FA charge and could feasibly miss five, or even six games.
The real villains of the Premiership are laughing their heads off. They do it week in and week out and get away with it, yet Hendrie gets this ban for nothing.
It is a ridiculous situation.
If you liken what goes on in football to crimes, then Hendrie is the little boy who takes a sweet out of a bag without permission.
But the guys who are equivalent to those who nick old ladies' handbags are getting off.
Speaking of discipline, Arsenal seem to be suffering problems again - and Arsene Wenger has got the toughest job he has had at Highbury for years.
Getting over the lack of confidence which comes with a few negative results is the most difficult thing a manager faces, and if someone had a magic formula to combat it he would be a millionaire overnight.
At the moment, Wenger is distinctly second best to Jose Mourinho. Say what you want about him, but I think he has been a breath of fresh air.
I wait for his interview every weekend, as it will not be the usual run of the mill stuff. But when it comes to winning the title, let us not write off a certain cunning old fox at Old Trafford just yet...
MMIX
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