It's time to blow the whistle on multi-millionaire bullies

The tirade against the assistant referee was easily picked up by the pitch-side microphone and broadcast across the world: 'Are you blind or what? I didn't [expletive] touch it!'

The speaker, disputing a relatively meaningless throw-in, was from a northern European country normally known for its placid nature and good manners. But in the English Premier League, all politesse goes out the window when it comes to the now-ingrained culture of putting pressure on match officials.

It was one of the hundreds of similar incidents during a weekend when Mark Clattenburg was at the centre of a controversy that saw him allow Nani's goal for Manchester United after Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes had mistakenly assumed that a free kick had been awarded because of a hand ball.

Some observers were outraged by Clattenburg's perceived error in judgment for allowing play to continue and then his failure to give a clear signal to the obviously confused Gomes.

But the fact that so little was made of the outrageous behaviour of two Manchester United players on the edges of the melee underlines just how tolerant the Premier League is of referee intimidation, especially from its most famous clubs. Seconds before he handled the ball, Nani appeared to have been brought down in the box by Spurs' Younes Kaboul but when Clattenburg didn't award a penalty, he was grabbed by Red Devils' veteran Paul Scholes.

Later, when Clattenburg consulted with his assistant Simon Beck, whose flag had been raised as the ball went into the net, United captain Rio Ferdinand was in the face of both men, even though the referee had just shooed away a bunch of Tottenham players. And when Clattenburg decided that Nani's goal should stand, Ferdinand appeared to give the linesman a final piece of his mind before getting ready for kick-off.