Angry Fans

OUR football correspondent LIAM MACKEY has been pacing the touchline doing leg stretches, running on the spot, generally looking like a thoroughbred. So he’s back and bursting with energy, hitting the ground running and giving his first set of verdicts of the season on the opinions of our Angry Fans.

Today he's spraying comments to left and right on the Respect campaign, the Champions League away games rule; the Tevez affair; the comedy that is Newcastle; overseas owners of Premier League clubs; Stephen Ireland; the comedy that is Spurs, Setanta and England supporters , Croatian racism, and the antics of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The first prize of the new season goes to Barry. . . get in touch with your postal address . . . and it will be in the post to you before you can say Arab billionaires.

HOW do you think the "Respect" campaign is coming along Liam? Mark Halsey sent to the lower leagues for daring to give a rugby tackle a red card; Rob Styles gifting a struggling Manchester United a penalty which changed the game? Mike Riley dishing out seven yellow cards, including three for dissent at Stamford Bridge. It doesn't seem to be going awfully well, does it?

Anthony Hennessey, Cork, by email

OUR SHOUT: Still, imagine how bad things would be if the campaign hadn't been introduced: full-scale riots, drive-by shootings, the collapse of society as we know it. Or, worse, the kind of stuff you sometimes see at a GAA game. Frankly, I think the FA acted just in the nick of time.

The rest of today’s Angry Fans column is available in the Irish Examiner newspaper and will appear here tomorrow.