Another weekend, another series of managerial outbursts against referees. The FA’s much-vaunted Respect campaign stands on the brink of disintegration.

What started as a mutually beneficial exercise in August, with support from all the leading football authorities, appears to have descended into a weekly round of criticism and recrimination, most of it emanating from the managers. Some managers, privately, have threatened to “walk away” from the campaign.

Other managers have effectively “walked away”, anyway, with their persistent protesting against decisions. In an attempt to halt the slide into anarchy, the League Managers Association hopes to stage a meeting this month.

Also likely to be discussed will be the behaviour of the players towards officials, which was seen as key to the Respect campaign working. After a similarly promising start, this, too, has shown signs of deteriorating in recent weeks.

When Benni McCarthy, the Blackburn striker, was sent off for deliberate handball – his second booking – during the 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on Saturday, many of his teammates surrounded Mike Jones, the referee. Some also harangued Mark Halsey, the fourth official, as did Paul Ince, the Blackburn manager.

However, it was Ince’s postmatch attack on Keith Hackett, the general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), the referees’ governing body, that has raised fears that the manager-referee relationship is near collapse. Ince accused Hackett of talking “crap” in a preseason discussion about the improved fitness of referees.

The remarks of Ince will be studied closely by the FA and he could be charged with bringing the game into disrepute. The attitude of his players towards Jones and Halsey may also be considered. To illustrate the depth of the problem, The Times has given each match in the Barclays Premier League this weekend a mark out of 10 for the respect on display.

Even Tony Mowbray, the usually mild-mannered West Brom manager, was unhappy with the display of Jones, who also awarded – rightly – Blackburn a penalty when Ryan Donk pulled the shirt off Jason Roberts. “I didn’t think it was a penalty and I didn’t think it was a sending-off,” Mowbray said.

McCarthy was livid about his dismissal. “A diabolical decision, everyone can see that,” he said. “It was a stupid mistake from the referee.”

While PGMOL will continue to support Respect, Hackett is known to be unhappy at the constant undermining of the referees’ authority, not only from managers but also from some of the governing bodies. Rob Styles, a leading referee, considered retiring last month when the FA annulled his dismissal of Habib Beye, the Newcastle United defender.

Roy Keane, the Sunderland manager, was sent to the stands at Stamford Bridge on Saturday after complaining too vociferously to Martin Atkinson, the referee, and Stuart Attwell incurred the wrath of Paul Jewell, the Derby County manager, during the 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest yesterday. He disallowed what would have been a late winner for Derby. “The referee’s made a complete and utter howler,” Jewell said.

Word for word: Ince’s rant on Mike Jones

‘We had that meeting before the season started with Keith Hackett and he was saying to me “refs now are a lot fitter and Prozone and stats show they can get in there quicker now and they can make the right decisions.” As far as I am concerned that’s a load of crap because they're not making the right decisions. There are major decisions that come out every weekend. What I don’t understand also is the penalty that he gave. He [Ryan Donk] pulled Robbo [Jason Roberts] back, is that not a yellow card as it’s an offence in the area? Ten minutes later he gets booked and should have been sent off. There’s so much inconsistency, and you wonder why managers get irate. Our jobs are on the line. If they make a decision that changes the game, then they have got to look at themselves. Talk about the Respect campaign. We’re trying to respect them but they’ve got to start respecting us. It works both ways.’