By Micah Richards
Manchester City and England defender
I have never been booked for dissent.
My temperament is not perfect; I've been booked for arguing with opposition players and some of you might remember my petulant reaction when I was substituted against Reading a couple of years ago.
But I have never had an argument with a referee.
I leave them alone whether I agree with their decision or not because it is hard enough for them anyway. In fact, I am more likely to have a go at my team-mates and tell them to get on with it.
"I feel sorry for the referee when I see five or six players gathered round him and it can sway their decisions - they get intimidated and players need to stop doing it"
You hear too much talk on TV about the referee these days too - whether this decision was right, or that one. It is ruining football.
If video replays are ever brought in then you can reassess the decision but, at the moment, if the referee has made his decision then it is final and you just have to deal with it.
I feel sorry for the referee when I see five or six players gathered round him and it can sway their decisions. They get intimidated and players need to stop doing it.
How can you stop it? You need some consistency for a start.
Some referees are stricter than others. Sometimes I've seen players say to the ref 'that was a bad decision' and he has booked them just for speaking.
It should depend on how players speak to the referee - I know Liverpool's Javier Mascherano was already on a yellow card when he got sent off against Manchester United on Sunday but he was just asking what was going on.
You could see it coming though, especially when Xabi Alonso tried to hold him back.
And Chelsea's Ashley Cole was lucky not to be sent off for the way he behaved when Mike Riley booked him in their game against Tottenham.
That was down to the heat of the moment too. I know a lot of people think Ashley is arrogant from the way he acted but, off the pitch I know him well, and he is not like that.
Sometimes in games you do things you regret and he knows he was wrong.
Some players just cannot help themselves when it comes to giving referees backchat though.
606: DEBATE
When he was at Manchester City, Joey Barton always had a lot to say for himself but, to be fair, he got on with a lot of referees.
He used to give them a bit of stick but referees normally stood by him. They knew what he was like so they waved it on.
So at the moment you don't know whether you can speak to officials or not.
When he was City boss, Stuart Pearce used to tell us when we had to be careful with a certain referee - if he gave a lot of yellow cards or didn't take any nonsense. We would definitely be warned before a game.
I think the idea that only captains can speak to referees could work. I still think you should be able to chat to the referee but if a player really wanted to get his point across he can just get his captain to have a word - that way everything is done properly, not with people screaming at him.
I also want to say well done to David Beckham after his 100th England cap against France on Wednesday.
He definitely deserved it - he is a legend for the number of times he has dug us out of trouble.
Should he have a future with England? Yes, definitely.
The pundits were saying Wes Brown had to do all his running but he wouldn't have minded.
If I was at right back I would have loved to have done that myself. I am young and fit and it is part of your job as a right-back to get up and down the flank.
• Micah Richards was talking to Chris Bevan
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