COLIN Todd has slammed Gordon Taylor's call for ill-disciplined clubs to be docked league points as "ludicrous" and "unnecessary". The Wanderers boss says clubs, managers and players should be left to keep their own houses in order under the current disciplinary system without the threat of revolutionary sanctions.

And he says the players' union chief is over-stepping the mark in pointing the finger at Arsenal and calling for the FA to take draconian action against clubs with bad disciplinary records.

"It's not Gordon Taylor's job to get involved in matters like this," he said.

"Why should he have a go at Arsenal or any other club for that matter?

"I don't really know what he is trying to achieve. There's nothing wrong with our game but this is just another example of people in high places bringing up negatives when really they should be stressing the positive aspects. "I think the game has improved two-fold over the past four years or so. More and more teams are playing good football; the quality of play has come on in leaps and bounds but we always seem to be knocking the game instead of looking at the positives.

"In our case, managers and coaches I bump into keep telling me how impressed they are with the way we play but we don't seem to get the same plaudits from some of our own supporters.

"We won't be deterred though and we'll continue to play in the way we believe the game should be played. But I still want us to play with steel and aggression - as long as it's controlled aggression.

"There's nothing wrong with that but there seems to be a move towards doing away with the art of tackling and that's a nonsense.

"It's part and parcel of the game. Okay, there'll be badly timed tackles from time to time but the over-the-top tackle that always used to be the worst of the problems isn't anywhere near as bad these days. "Discipline comes from within and clubs and players have got to take the responsibility for that. If there are problems, clubs have got to be allowed to put their own houses in order."

Taylor says docking points is the only way to get the worst offenders to clean up their acts.

"That way there would then be pressure from directors and management to ensure improvements in discipline, because failure to do so could become extremely costly," he suggests. But he fears there is a reluctance by the FA to run with his scheme because the likes of Arsenal - one of the highest profile clubs in the land - would be in the firing line.

Last season's Double winners have had 18 players sent off in the 27 months of Arsene Wenger's managerial reign and Taylor is reported in a national newspaper as saying: "The world and his wife can see that disciplinary record and judge it's not as good as it should be. There's also a feeling, and this is perhaps how Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson feels at times, that some clubs get more favours than others.

"Arsenal are ending up as a team with a bad disciplinary record but because they're also the most successful - and you hesitate to say this - you wonder whether a few blind eyes are being turned.

"You wouldn't want your most successful team to have the worst disciplinary record, rather the other way round."

Wanderers have signed Blackburn Rovers' 19-year-old midfielder Luke Staton on a contract until the end of the season following a successful trial stint at the Reebok.

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