Special guest column this morning. Shaz wrote this a while ago but I've been waiting for the right moment to post it. The aftermath of a busy encounter against Stoke City seems like that moment, particularly with Tony Pulis drawing attention to Pavel Pogrebnyak's enthusiastic tackle (*cough* glass houses *cough*).

Before we even dip a toe into the blame game that is WPS vs Dan Barislow, I have one serious question.

Who represents WPS?

Legally, I mean.

Indulge me for a minute, if you will.

Let's assume that I got a new job. On my first day in the new office, rather than set up my email, read the personnel manual and display a photo of my adorable puppy, I instead chose to smash my computer, spray paint my name on the wall, and subject my coworkers to a vicious series of guerrilla wedgie attacks.

Liverpool striker Luis Suárez suspended from Newcastle United match

• Luis Suárez suspended for gesturing towards Fulham fans • Kenny Dalglish reiterates backing for striker Andy Carroll Luis Suárez will miss the Anfield game against Newcastle United on Friday after the Football Association handed down a one‑match ban and a £20,000 fine for his one-fingered gesture to the crowd at Fulham this month.

It's been a good week for racism in football. Luis Suarez has been banned by eight matches and fined £40,000 for racially abusing Patrice Evra whilst Chelsea and England captain John Terry faces a racially aggravated public order charge for allegedly abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand in a match in October.

An anecdote from last week:
Sitting on a late, crowded, stiflingly hot train. Suddenly the peace of the carriage - that funny, miserable peace that descends when everyone is as pissed off as everyone else - is broken.
There's a handful of young football fans on the train. Drunk, loud, demanding attention.

Wales and Cardiff striker Robert Earnshaw believes that racism is still rife in English football, but insists that Liverpool F.C forward Luis Suarez is innocent until proven guilty.
Earnshaw, who revealed that he has 'experienced racist abuse loads of times...even at certain grounds in this country', said:
"It's hard to comment [on the Evra-Suarez incident] because both players have their opinions and it might be crossed wires, we just don't know.

In the summer of 2006, Wayne Rooney was sent off during the pre-season Amsterdam Tournament for an innocuous challenge on Pepe, as both players jumped for the ball. It was only a couple of months earlier that Rooney had been sent off against Portugal in the World Cup and Pepe was prepared to use this to his advantage.

By AVI CREDITOR

When Dwayne De Rosario fell to the ground flailing after hardly being contacted by Juan Pablo Angel on a cross and flicked-on header into the Chivas USA box in second-half stoppage time of a crucial game on Wednesday night, most figured the D.

So, a few weeks ago, the Portuguese federation banned Ricardo Carvahlo for a year because he skipped out on a national team practice. A pretty harsh punishment, right? If Allen Iverson, the former NBA player, had been dealt with accordingly, he would be serving his ban up until just before the successful colonization of Mars.

Sir Alex Ferguson has had a pop at the FA for the repeated double standards they show towards our club. Time and again our players and manager are made an example of, receiving harsher punishments for identical crimes as managers and players from other teams.

Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Young, Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley, Phil Jones, Danny Welbeck and Chris Smalling have all been called up to the provisional squad to face Bulgaria and Wales in the Euro 2012 qualifiers, much to the delight of the manager.

It was one of the more egregious dives seen this MLS season, and now Alvaro Saborio looks like he could pay a steep price for his action, which drew a penalty and a red card that turned a scoreless match against San Jose into a 4-0 blowout win.

According to sources within MLS, Saborio stands a very good chance of being suspended for one match for his tide-turning dive against the Earthquakes last Saturday.

By CALEB SONNELAND

Much scrutiny has been made of the disciplinary action taken by the MLS this season.

The latest actions taken see suspensions for LA's Chris Birchall and Chicago's Diego Cháves while San Joe head coach Frank Yallop gets a $500 slap on the wrist for "conduct unbecoming of a professional" during the Earthquakes match against the Union over the weekend.

By Lady Nina Bracewell Sunlounger My old quaffing partner David Gill, the Manchester big chief pow wow has had a bash at the Football Association, accusing them of victimising his club with punishments that would not be given to rivals. Now I know the so-called FA and quite honestly few of them are to be [.

David Gill has today spoken about the FA's treatment of Manchester United last season, claiming that they singled us out for harsher punishments because we're the country's biggest club.

Wayne Rooney was given a two match ban for swearing at the camera, despite the laws of football making no distinction between any sort of swearing.

David Gill has today spoken about the FA's treatment of Manchester United last season, claiming that they singled us out for harsher punishments because we're the country's biggest club.

"I do genuinely believe there have been some poorish decisions that, in my opinion, wouldn't necessarily have hit other clubs," he said.

A big congratulations to our reserve team yesterday for pulling off a 2 - 1 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes. I know it's not the regular season, but the reserve system is important for getting the team to play well together and build confidence. It was also something that was sorely missed in the last few years so I am, personally, very happy to see it return.

Thank you for articulating our point so effectively, Winston Reid. Image: Getty Images/Daylife

Dear Karen Espelund, (newly appointed lady member of UEFA's Executive Committee),

From our internationally recognised and lauded feminist perspective, we are absolutely thrilled that you have broken through the glass ceiling and achieved a position of power within one of the few global organisations still utterly dominated by males.

So the season MLS wanted to stop thuggish play has become the season where talented players get their legs and ankles broken. Last night Javier Morales of Fake Salt Lake joined Dallas's David Ferreira and our own Steve Zakuani on the inactive-for-months list with a broken ankle. The challenge on Morales was cynically issued by a well-beaten Marcos Mondaini, who showed zero interest in going after the ball.

Outwardly benign, really rather malevolent.
Inviting your enemies round for a house party is a nice gesture. Until they realise that most of the guests have only turned up to celebrate your achievements.
Cruel that.
Spare a thought for Falkirk's fans. Off the pace in the First Division title race, financially suspect, offloading players here, there and everywhere and stuck with a divisive manager for another season.

The FA has confirmed that Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish will not be charged for using unprofessional language towards Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
The two bosses clashed when the Reds were awarded a penalty deep into stoppage time, with the Frenchman believing that his players had been hard done by the decision, and TV cameras caught the Scot swearing at the Gunners manager.

The FA have today confirmed that Mario Balotelli will not be punished for celebrating in front of Manchester United fans at the end of the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday.

Over the years, we've seen plenty of examples of players winding up the opposition. Rio Ferdinand was particularly annoyed with Balotelli, given the inciting celebration came at the final whistle rather than amidst the rush of emotion after goal, which makes it slightly different from the examples below.

The Mirror has also now exposed the double standards of the FA in dishing out a two match ban to Wayne Rooney for "using offensive, insulting or abusive language" whilst ignoring all the other players guilty of the same offence on a weekly basis.

Whilst everyone can agree that Rooney was wrong to swear directly in to the camera, the rule he was charged and punished for makes no mention of a camera.

I'm not generally a fan of points deductions, as they are the one punishment guaranteed to punish the club as an entity (as well as the players and fans), without really punishing the people responsible for the transgression in the first place. However, most of the points deductions in recent times have been off the field transgressions.

Newcastle star forward Hatem Ben Arfa has today called for tougher punishments on dangerous tackles. Ben Arfa see I can still do this stuff! Ben Arfa returned to training at Newcastle for the first time since he sustained a double fracture of the left leg after a wild challenge from Manchester City's De [.

The Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) flexes its muscles in the on going bitter battle with the upstart Liga Primer Indonesia. A whole host of match officials have had their licences revoked while the man whose money is bankrolling the LPI, Arifin Panigoro, has been banned from any football activities under the jurisdiction of the PSSI.

I don't think there was much surprise when Sir Alex Ferguson refused to speak to the press after his side's defeat to Liverpool on Sunday.
He will, of course, been frustrated after his team were thoroughly dismantled to fall to their second defeat in a week. But he will also have been aware that the last time he spoke to the press he ended up with an FA charge.

Two Indonesian-based Singapore players - Baihakki Khaizan and Shahril Ishak (pictured below) had joined IPL (Indonesia Premier League) club Medan Chiefs following their release from ISL (Indonesia Super League) club Persib Bandung.
The fate of the both Singaporeans were in much speculation with a tweet message posted by Baihakki on 6th February had made it crystal clear for him, at least, that time is up for him in West Java.

The fine folks at FIFA have turned a wary eye towards neck scarves. Also known as Snoods, these light circular pieces of fabric keep players necks warm during the chilly winter months of the premiership. They've become much more popular nowadays after being first used by Tevez. Now a number of players, Gunners included, sport the snood.

Never before has Indonesian FA chairman Nurdin Halid been under so much pressure from so many angles. Halid is of course no stranger to controversy. He may well be one of the few FA chiefs to have served time in jail for his role in a corruption scandal. Interestingly the FIFA fat cats, them what's supposed to run the game world wide, overlooked this breach of their own statutes, an oversight they have never adequately explained.

Check out the brand new episode of 3 Up Front!

The fast-growing podcast featuring host Adrian Clarke alongside acclaimed football journalists Iain Spragg and Iain Macintosh debate all the hottest topics in the game including;

What effect can Kenny Dalglish have on his Liverpool side?