Ian Holloway: The dog is the player, the club owns the dog and the agent is a flea on his back

Without wanting to sound like a broken record, when are we going to help referees get the major decisions in football right? (GETTY IMAGES)

You may have noticed my comments about Wayne Rooney and what is wrong with football earlier in the week. A few million people seemed to...

Some people called it a rant. But I have no regrets because I believe I am right. I am prepared to speak up when I think something is wrong. I'd have been the fella watching the Emperor walk past in his new clothes, going: "You're buck naked, me old cocker, someone's had you over. Put some clothes on."

I was not having a go at Rooney. I don't know the lad and no-one was more pleased than me when it all got sorted out. God knows what the full story was but, as usual, Sir Alex Ferguson was a genius and he won the battle.

As a manager aspiring to be the best that I can, I can only admire Fergie for the way he handled a really nasty situation.

I want Rooney to be like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, respectful as well as being a great player, and hopefully, now he has sorted his head out and seen sense, he will be.

But back to what I was going on about the other day. What bugs me is that United paid £25m for Rooney and he agreed a contract for a certain length of time. But because of this stupid rule that at 24 you can walk out for nothing, £25m of investment on United's part could have disappeared and the player would have got all the reward. It doesn't make sense, never has and never will.

It almost happened with Cristiano Ronaldo. How can a player be stronger than a club? How can an agent be stronger? What's going on?

For me, the football club is the owner of the dog. The dog is the footballer and the agent is a flea on his back, taking a ride on his talent. How can that flea, or the dog for that matter, govern where he goes and what he does when he has been bought for £25m? Agents must be laughing all the way to the bank.

This whole scenario started with the Bosman ruling. They changed the laws when our laws did not need changing. But the new rules have left some loopholes which we need to sew up.

If you are at a club, you should show respect to the manager and owners. But we have people encouraging players to fall out with the manager and get a move. Players say: "I'm not playing this week, you can shove it." They can't have that power, it's dangerous.

Thankfully the Rooney saga is sorted. But the only way we can stop it happening again somewhere else down the line is by getting the rules right. So whoever you are, sat in your nice, fancy little Uefa offices: sort it.

We have the technology, use it

Without wanting to sound like a broken record, when are we going to help referees get the major decisions in football right?

My Blackpool team beat Manchester City 2-1 last weekend. Oh, hang on a minute, it says 3-2 to City in the paper. That's because City scored two goals that should not have stood.

Do you know what? Because of our refusal to use modern technology, this will continue to happen, and managers, players and fans will keep on moaning and getting upset at referees every week. It frustrates me because it could easily be solved and we could get every decision right. I've banged on about this for years but it is more important now than ever; all we need is a monitor on a five-second delay in the technical area which the fourth official watches.

For any major decision – an offside which leads to a goal, or a foul in the build-up to a goal – the fourth official can say to the ref: "Good decision, it's a goal." Or, and this is what should have happened when Carlos Tevez tripped my defender Ian Evatt before his second goal last week, he can go: "You missed a foul there, no goal."

The ref would wear a mic and could announce to the crowd the reason why he disallowed it. No one would argue. The ref would be bomb-proof.

Look at how modern technology is used. Look at Apple. They came up with the iPod, the iPhone, now the iPad. Brilliant, always moving forward. Yet some people at the top of football say "oh no, we can't use that, it will be unfair". Do me a favour.

The Premier League are strong enough to say: "Excuse me, we demand that we trial it this year." We would do it in the top flight of football everywhere around the world. You don't need to do it in the bottom flight. We've got five match officials now. Do they have that for your amateur teams on a Sunday? The way society is now, with most people getting smashed on a Saturday night, Sunday League footie teams are lucky to find a bloke who isn't hung over and is up early enough to ref for them.

So how Mr Sepp Blatter can say new technology has to be introduced throughout football otherwise it's unfair, I don't know. It is unfair that my next-door neighbour has a Bentley. But if he can afford it, well done to him. We all aspire to be the best.

This technology is available. We know that because we see Andy Gray using it on Sky every week and it must be easy to use if he's managing it.

So get it in the top flight, help referees get things right and improve our game.

If the Fifa delegates are found guilty, they should be shot at dawn

The story about two Fifa delegates reportedly caught selling their votes for the 2018 World Cup has disgusted me. If they are guilty, not only should they be kicked out of Fifa, they should be shot at dawn.

Am I shocked this sort of thing goes on? No, because the world is wrong and everybody seems to be chasing money. But these people, in the privileged position they are in, shouldn't be exploiting it.

We are talking about the biggest and best tournament in the world and we are turning it into a mockery.

For someone to get paid to vote for which country it goes to leaves me feeling sick. How dare they abuse their power? I just hope our campaign to host the World Cupisn't affected because I would love us to get it.

I'm already excited enough about the London Olympics but to have the World Cup on my own doorstep would be something else.

It is also about what it would do for every youngster. It would lift the country. The infrastructure is already in place and we'd do a marvellous job in hosting it. It would be a hell of a spectacle, so fingers crossed.

McLeish beats our system

Hats off to Alex McLeish yesterday. Yes I am disappointed we lost at Birmingham but I couldn't help butbe impressed with the way a great manager set his team up.

He had obviously watched us because they played a way I haven't seen them play before – either that or I am going to have to blast my scouts for not telling me – and it stopped us from doing what we are normally so good at – finding space on the pitch and utilising it.

We are still learning in the Premier League and that includes me. Alex has managed in the Champions' League, won titles in Scotland and turned Birmingham into a fantastic top-flight team. I've got a lot to learn from someone like him.

I thought we played very well on the day but the second goal was always going to be vital and they got it. My skipper Charlie Adam made a mistake and apologised afterwards. But I just said to him you didn't apologise after smacking 20 goals in for us last season. He should have cleared it but these things happen. That second goal knocked the stuffing out of us but fair play to Birmingham, they were the better team on the day.

Coleman's mustard

Seamus Coleman is a wonderful young fella who will be a top-quality attacking right-back in the Premier League. He thanked me earlier in the week for helping him during his loan spell at Blackpool last season. But itis me who should be thanking him because I don't think he will ever fully realise how much he helped us.

I had a situation where one of my players got injured and I needed some cover. I chose Seamus at Everton and we did a loan deal. It was one of the best things I did because he came in and added a new impetus and helped us go all the way to Wembley in the play-offs and win promotion.

He helped us achieve something we probably didn't dream of. I love the way he plays. He runs with the ball and has a great touch. I tried to get him back on loan this season but David Moyes said no because Seamus would get in his first team. Typical Moyesey, he is a man of his word and put Seamus in. I saw him create Tim Cahill's goal in the Merseyside derby last week and I'm pleased for the lad.