Where does the FA recruit the people it uses to decide on the punishments that they will hand out to those who offend and break the rules that hold English football together? Are these people trained? Have they seen a game of football? Do they understand business in the modern environment or do they live in an alternative universe?

The FA handed repeat offender Ben Thatcher an eight game ban (with another 15 match ban suspended for two years) for violent conduct when he hospitalised Portsmouth midfielder Pedro Mendes during a game earlier this season at Eastlands Stadium; giving Thatcher a number of weeks to reflect on his actions while he relaxes on a beach or works out at the clubs top class training facilities.

However the same football authority has just handed agent Jonathan Barnett an EIGHTEEN month ban with nine suspended, revoked his agents license and fined him £100,000 and ordered him to pay the costs of the hearing. What was his crime? Cold blooded murder of a player on the pitch? No he spoke to one club about a player owned by another club. In this case he spoke to Chelsea about Arsenal’s Ashley Cole. It appears there is no logic to punishments handed out. Although the FA have said that there is a “case for an element of deterrence in the sanction we are to impose” but I think I would much rather deter players from smashing in other players faces on the pitch; bearing in mind that they have over recent years taken much of the contact out of the sport.

However he was just doing for his client what many of us do every day. Many people have recruitment agencies call employers and tell them about their skills, they can even have them arrange a meeting, which could result in an offer of employment.

Why should footballers be restricted in their movement between employers, the clubs appear to have all of the power, they can decide to sell a play at the drop of a hat, however the player is unable to move when they want to. Imagine if in the ‘real’ world everyone that wanted to change jobs could only change during two periods in the year. The country would shut down and come to a complete standstill while all of the deals were done.

The powers that be in the FA need to perform a sense check on themselves. They need to ask questions that they may not want to hear the answers to, like which of these punishments was best for the game? Which violation of the rules needed the greater deterrent? The most important question is, was Arsenal FC ‘hurt’ more than Pedro Mendes?

Ashley Cole’s agent has been banned a for 18 months with nine suspended and slapped with a £100,000 fine by the Football Association for being the Catalyst in the Tapping up affair between Cole and Chelsea in January 2005.

Barnett has been disciplined for being in breach of code K5 in the Premier Leagues code of conduct. Chelsea have already been punished for contravening the same rule, they were given a 3 point deduction which was suspended unless they commit the same act again.

Although at the time this was a massive scandal and the issue has rumbled on for nearly two years, Arsenal and Chelsea managed to find an amicable settlement on their own. When a transfer involving William Gallas and cash moving north in return for Ashley Cole’s presence at Stamford Bridge was agreed before the recent transfer deadline; with many believing Arsenal got the better deal.

Martin Jol must be wondering on the lasting effects of the lasagne that affected his team’s performance on the last day of the season at Upton Park. His side have managed only four points from six games so far this season, seeing Tottenham sit just above the relegation zone, a far cry from twelve months ago when they topped the table for a while.

In a quiet Anfield Tottenham started well and managed to hold their hosts to a goalless first half, despite the chances that both sides had on goal. The turning point of the fixture came as Edgar Davids broke down the left flank and squared the ball past Jose Reina giving Jermaine Jenas an empty net to stroke the ball into, Jol must have thought he had made the perfect move introducing Davids just a few minutes previously. However his joy was short lived as Jenas missed the goal, even more spectacularly than his miss against his old club Newcastle United last season. Liverpool were to suffer the same indignity from the resulting break however they had men in the box to capitalise on Bellamy’s miss, Gonzales coolly slotted the ball into Robinson’s goal.

Ten minutes later Liverpool’s Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt sprung the Spurs off side trap and as the defence stood motionless he thumped the ball in to the Tottenham goal his first in front of the fans in the Kop.

The misery of the travelling fans was not yet over. On 89 minutes draft dodging John Arne Riise carried the ball and then struck home a hammer blow for Spurs who have to look toward beating Slavia Prague on Thursday to ensure their fans will have a cup run to look forward to.

Newcastle United registered a 1-0 away victory in Tallinn with Antione Sibierski scoring on his debut, giving the Geordies an invaluable away goal before the return leg at St. James’ Park.

Derry City fought for a well deserved draw against PSG at the Brandywell. Derry have already knocked out Gothenburg and Gretna and will want to claim the scalp of the French giants on the way to the group stage. A tie of this magnitude will certainly help raise the profile of football n Derry City.

Tottenham Hotspur travelled to Prague without an away victory in Europe for over ten years, and an without an away victory this season. Slavia Prague never really got into their stride; they were shackled by Martin Jol’s fifth different midfield set-up this season. Tom Huddlestone demonstrated why he has been tracked by a number of clubs, imposing his presence and dictating the play to Slavia. The Spurs away goal came via a first half Jermaine Jenas strike from the edge of the box.

West Ham United’s Argentinean new boys both got their first starts for the Hammers at a packed Upton Park. Most of the attention has been on the acquisition of Carlos Tevez, however it was Mascherano who showed the Irons faithful his worth, with a performance in front of the back four reminiscent of Claude Makelele. However he was not enough to inspire a victory or stop the Italians from scoring. They got their away goal on 45 minutes through Caracciolo, leaving west ham with a lot to do in the away leg.

Rovers scored two away goals in 7 minutes to come from behind in Saltzburg. Blackburn appeared to be cruising to victory until Saltsburg took their wiings from their sponsor Red Bull to score a late equaliser giving them everything to play for in the up coming game at Ewood Park.

Anderlecht 1 - 1 Lille
Dynamo Kiev 1 - 4 Steaua Bucharest
FC Copenhagen 0 - 0 Benfica
Porto 0 - 0 CSKA Moscow
Hamburg 1 - 2 Arsenal
Lyon 2 - 0 Real Madrid
Man Utd 3 - 2 Celtic
Milan 3 – 0 AEK Athens

The first night of Champions League football this season brought with it shocks and controversy that is befitting of the continents elite competition. Spanish galaticos Real Madrid crashed to a 2-0 defeat masterminded by former Liverpool manager Gerard Houlier.

Arsenal scored two away goals in their win over Hamburg, the first came from a Gilberto spot kick after Dutch stricker Robin Van Persie managed to fall over an out stretched hand, resulting in an instant dismissal for the Hamburg keeper. Czech midfielder Rosicky replicated his World Cup wonder goal to put the gunners two up. The Germans fought till the end and earned a consolation goal in injury time.

There was even more controversy at Old Trafford where Manchester United were taking on Scottish Champions Celtic. Celtic new boy Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink demonstrated fantastic control as he ghosted past Rio Ferdinand and stuck the ball past fellow countryman Edwin Van Der Sar. The events leading up to the equaliser were bizarre, Celtic keeper Boruc came out to the side of his box to close down Giggs. Boruc pulled out of the challenge and Giggs went to ground like he had been shot. Boruc received a yellow card while Giggs was substituted more in embarrassment than injury while Louis Saha converted the penalty. The Celtic fans will remind the world that the referee has form when it comes to making decisions on diving in Celtic’s European games, as he refereed the UEFA cup final when they lost to Jose Mourinho’s Porto. Saha scored a second before Celtic drew level with a free kick reminiscent of those scored by David Beckham in the theatre of dreams. Solskjaer marked his European return with a goal shortly after halftime.

Barcelona 5 - 0 Levski Sofia
Bayern Munich 4 - 0 Spartak Moscow
Chelsea 2 - 0 W Bremen
Galatasaray 0 - 0 Bordeaux
Olympiakos 2 - 4 Valencia
PSV 0 - 0 Liverpool
Roma 4 - 0 Shakhtar Donetsk
Sporting Lisbon 1 – 0 Inter

Barcelona played in the new Unicef sponsored strip in torrential rain that inhibited the TV coverage for periods of time. The weather didn’t stop the dazzling display as they put five goals past the side from Sofia.

Michael Ballack relieved Frank Lampard of penalty taking duties as he scored his first goal for the blues. Michael Essien also scored to allow Chelsea to register a 2-0 victory.

There was only one shock result on the night with Italian champions losing away to Sporting Lisbon.

Loan striker Jose Antonio Reyes wants to make his temporary move the Santiago Bernabéu permanent by the end of the season.

The 23 year old for Sevilla player knows he has to impress the president, the manager and the fans if his wish is to become true as he stated, he has said “all I want to do is to convince the coach that I worthy of a place in the side”. In a report on Skysports he also admitted that he is not thinking about returning to Arsenal as it would be “starting off on the wrong foot”.

Being on the bench for the champions league final appears to be the straw that broke the camels back for the Spaniard who found it difficult to settle with his family in London since Arsene Wenger convinced him to move to Highbury in January 2004.

Lawrie Sanchez was reported to have been handed an ultimatum by the Irish Football Association (IFA) after defeat at Windsor Park at the hands of Iceland. However the manager worked his magic and with the same squad of players he has helped the nation to its second most monumental victory in a quarter of a century.

Sanchez was at the helm in the last ‘Great’ victory, not that there are many, against England a year ago in World Cup qualifiers. David Healy was again the provider of the strikes that grabbed the glory, however this time the scalps were those of a star studded Spanish side.

Healy twice levelled for the home side after they went behind to goals from Xabi and David Villa. His final strike on the stroke of 80 mins was enough to secure victory and a well earned three points; and send the Norn Iron faithful home happy full of songs of joy and happy memories compared to the boos they left with on Saturday.

A poor run of results and Sanchez’s inability to interact with the media well has helped fire the peculation that he is about to jump or be pushed. However it has been reported that the IFA chairman Jim Boyce has indicated that he would like Sanchez to stay at least until the end of this qualifying campaign.

England faced the wrath of the Macedonian people as well as the passion of their football players, the 16500 people in the crowd made more noise than the 56000 that watched England beat Andorra on Saturday.

In a game where many thought that Jermain Defoe had been left in Manchester, Peter Crouch continued to the goal scoring robot he impersonated before the World Cup.

Upon scoring the 46th minute winner in the hard fought match Crouch took his goal tally to eleven goals in just fourteen games. Etching his name in the record books of English football; not bad for a player who had suffered terrible abuse from his own fans at Old Trafford when he was introduced to the England setup by Sven Goran Eriksson.

West Ham United pulled off one of the most audacious transfers in the modern game in signing Argentina’s Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano from Brazilian Corinthians club. They had been expected to pick a more salubrious destination than Upton Park.

Both players are 22 and starred for their country at this year’s World Cup in Germany. Tevez has been touted to be the next Diego Maradona more for his playing ability than his short stocky appearance.  The players registrations are held by London based Media Sports Investment (MSI) who paid just under $35 million to their previous clubs to allow them to play for Corinthians.

The deals are permanent and the fees have not been disclosed it is believed that West Ham will only receive a small percentage of any fee should they sell the players. Which only leads to heighten the rumour and speculation that already surrounds the transfer. From interference from Roman Abramovich using West Ham as a feeder club, to MSI using West Ham to increase the price of their investments by playing the Argentineans in the UEFA Cup and Premiership. Which could help MSI recoup their initial outlay from a big money transfer to another premiership club, or to one of the European footballing superpowers.