Referees and their officials are so often vilified for making the wrong decision, regardless of whether they could see the incident, that it is often difficult not to feel slightly sorry for them. Take yesterday’s early offside in the Carling Cup final: Birmingham’s Lee Bowyer is played through, flagged offside and television replays show he was actually the opposite. Bowyer running one way at full tilt and an Arsenal defender walking the other way creates a difficult decision – sometimes it is given correctly, other times not. A team can only hope that these things even out and, though often it does not, especially when facing bigger teams, Birmingham snatched a late win and the wrong decision is confined to history.

Add in just shy of 90,000 people creating an atmosphere at the home of English football, while a further several million watch from their television sets and the pressure can get to anyone. Cup final day and plenty at stake.

Compare that to Mark Clattenburg’s surroundings on Saturday. The DW Stadium with a scattering of 18,000 people and an incident that was clearer than a split-second call. That Clattenburg decided to give a free-kick the way of Wigan when Wayne Rooney’s elbow landed on the cheek of James McCarthy shows he saw the incident. That Rooney was not even booked for raising his arm has to call into question the quality of Clattenburg as a referee.

But still, surely after two days of giving it some thought, tens of replays shown across a series of different shows, including in the offices at the FA, Rooney will face up to his actions. Not one bit.

Aside from the injustice that Rooney gets away with violent conduct, the words of Sir Alex Ferguson and assistant Mike Phelan were equally remarkable. Phelan spoke of a “witch-hunt” against Rooney, while Sir Alex said the press “will raise a campaign to get him hung or electrocuted”.

Combined, the words of Sir Alex Ferguson and the inaction of the FA set a tone that needs to be eradicated. Footballers must act as role models and anyone stepping out of line must be brought to justice.

Rooney has evaded discipline. Now will the FA have the strength to stand up to Ferguson? Most likely he will get away scot-free.

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