Mark Holmes rants about 'Mad' Mario Balotelli, the El Clasico 'disgrace' and Andre Villas-Boas' 'B' team idea in his latest Monday Moan blog.

Last week, I ranted about the sudden raft of calls for red cards and the lack of patience afforded to Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool, and this week I've been upset by the reaction to Mario Balotelli's tangle with Scott Parker as well as the El Clasico antics and Andre Villas-Boas' 'B' team idea among other things.

'Mad' Mario the victim of perception

Regular readers will know perception is something I moan about on an almost weekly basis. Only last Monday, I highlighted the different ways Ryan Shawcross and Jonathan Woodgate were treated by referee Howard Webb, and over the weekend just gone I saw another example of how powerful perception is in football.

As I said on Monday's TEAMtalk Podcast, nobody can say for certain whether Mario Balotelli meant to stamp on or kick out at Scott Parker. I have watched the replays dozens of times, and still have no idea whether there was any intent - yet there are a lot of people adamant that Balotelli knew full well what he was doing.

I just wonder whether they'd be quite as certain had it been David Silva who had tangled with Parker. Would Silva have been castigated in the way that Balotelli is? Or would he have been given the benefit of the doubt?

I suspect the latter, but 'Mad' Mario will be judged rather more harshly because of his 'reputation'. Although quite what he's done to make people so certain he purposely kicked Parker in the face is beyond me.

El Clasico Disgrace

People often say to me that they couldn't watch Stoke every week like I do. Well, call me a Philistine, but I'd rather watch the Dog and Duck on a Sunday morning than either Barcelona or Real Madrid. After their antics in the laughably-named El Clasico, I'd be ashamed to be a fan of either club.

Play-acting, snide thuggery, surrounding of the ref... ahh, don't you just envy these two?

Frankly, it's an absolute disgrace that either of these sides are held up as the model for the rest of the world to follow. Remember kids, talent counts for nothing without class - and that lot have none.

Swanselona

Talking of teams that are regarded as shining lights, Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers seems to have let the recent praise of his side go to his head.

"It is great for the public here at Sunderland to see us," Rodgers said... after Swansea's 2-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light. "They must have been wondering what this team everyone is talking about are all about, and now they have seen. We were wonderful."

So wonderful they were comfortably beaten by the Black Cats. As the BBC states, they "dominated without threatening."

Now I have a lot of respect for Rodgers and the football he has got Swansea playing this season, but he is the latest person to fall into the trap of believing passes mean points.

Swansea can pass the ball around their midfield all they want, but it counts for nothing if they don't turn it into good chances and goals, and a failure to do so can make the 'pass at all costs' extremely boring to watch.

That was certainly the case on Wearside and, despite what Rodgers might think, I'm fairly sure the Sunderland fans won't be telling their grandkids about the time the mighty Swansea arrived in town. Don't go all Phil Brown on us, eh Brendan.

Financial inequality strikes again

Last week saw Northwich Victoria evicted from their stadium after failing to raise the cash to buy it back from receivers, while Darlington were saved from liquidation at the last minute on Wednesday but still face an uncertain future.

One annoyance is that bigger, money-laden clubs do not step in to help their neighbours in these situations - Manchester United, for instance, used to play their reserve games at the Victoria Stadium and could surely offer some assistance - but the wider issue is that Northwich and Darlo are just two of many clubs that have chased the dream and come up short.

Why? Because of financial inequality.

It is 20 years next month since the Premier League was formed or, as I prefer to say, 20 years since the beginning of the end for many football clubs in England.

The moment the 22 founder members of the Premier League decided to keep the television-rights money to themselves was the moment football ceased to be a fair fight. While 22 clubs were armed with swords, the rest were given bread knives.

While money was needed to improve stadiums and the image of football in the country, it should never have been spent on those top 22 clubs alone. If distributed more evenly through the leagues, we may have seen more than just four winners of the country's premier division since its inception. Who knows, if some of it had been invested in youth facilities as it should have been, the national side may even have won something by now.

Instead, it was handed to 22 clubs that gleefully lined their pockets and even now the TV rights money continues to be distributed in a way that can only increase the gap between the haves and have-nots.

But it's too late anyway - it's got to the stage where the Premier League clubs need that money to stay alive - and, every time I hear of a club's financial problems, I will think of that day in February 1992 when 22 clubs ruined football forever.

'B' Team plan doesn't come together

As the competitive element has long since been removed from our game, it shouldn't have come as any great surprise to hear Andre Villas-Boas suggest Premier League clubs should be allowed to field reserve teams in the Championship.

After all, it has worked wonders for the likes of Barcelona in Spain and we all know that it's only the big clubs that really matter.

Villas-Boas is correct that the youth development system in the UK is not right and he's correct that being able to field young players in a competitive league like the Championship would be far more beneficial than playing them in reserve games. Do you know what, I'm surprised he hasn't received more support.

Only, thankfully, that little-known organisation the Football League has not taken too kindly to the idea. As its chief operating officer Andy Williamson said, believe it or not, matches played in the Football League actually matter. To millions of people.

I am all for an overhaul of youth development - hopefully the Elite Player Performance Plan will have a positive effect, despite its flaws - but Villas-Boas' suggestion is, as Williams said, "frankly offensive."

You can check out all of my previous Monday Moans here and follow me on Twitter if you want to read me moaning on the other six days, too.