THE behaviour of Premiership footballers has dominated the news this week.

I am a big believer in the adage 'you are innocent until proven guilty' and I do think people are being pre-judged by the media before all the facts have come out.

It is difficult to comment on the alleged incidents at a London hotel and those involving Leeds United players at the moment.

However, if they are found guilty then I think they have to have the book thrown at them.

Players do have to realise they have a special responsibility and they are regarded as role models. Youngsters do look up to us.

We have a code of conduct at York City Football Club that we expect our players to adhere to.

For instance, we do have curfews and a general rule is there is a 48-hour drinking ban and a ban on frequenting licensed premises before a game.

The players stick to that. It is a professional game and while we are not maybe paid as much as players in the Premiership it is still a great profession.

We are fortunate to have the job title of professional sportsman so we have to act like professional sportsmen.

As a manager at this level, it is perhaps fortunate that the players are a little bit closer to reality.

The power is now back with the clubs, not the players. As players, we may have the same responsibility but it is on a much smaller scale.

We aren't paid the vast sums of money, we aren't as high profile, we don't have as much media intrusion or the sort of hangers-on that can be associated with Premiership stars.

It will be interesting to see how I react as a manager to the first situation I find myself in regarding the off-field behaviour of a player. Fortunately, it hasn't happened yet and hopefully it won't happen.

You try to protect your players as much as possible but there are times you have to lay down the law and if you are honest with people players will accept it.

I do think young players have to be educated in how they are expected to behave and in the pitfalls and what they have to look out for. It is a fine line.

Personally, when I became a first team player at Burnley I had a quite a dramatic pay-rise and it does go to your head a little.

I enjoyed myself, as any youngster should do, but I was also aware of my responsibility and I looked after myself in the right manner.

That has to be stressed to the youngsters in football today. They need guidance and the odd rap across the knuckles. They need to be told what's right and what's wrong.

On the drug issue and the furore surrounding England, it is a difficult one.

Rio Ferdinand has found himself named and shamed whereas previously other footballers haven't been treated in quite the same way until much further down the process.

Personally, I do feel he has been harshly treated but the Football Association are standing by their ruling and are basically saying not taking the test is as serious as being caught taking drugs.

It promises to be an interesting next few days and it is unfortunate that minds have been distracted from what is a very important game for England on Saturday.

All the energies should be channelled towards that game.

Being patriotic, I still think England can win or at least get a result.

This week's distractions haven't helped but we have a lot of good, young footballers in this country now and hopefully the last few days will all be forgotten about by Saturday night.

Updated: 10:40 Thursday, October 09, 2003