Ultimate responsibility lies with the parents

I have to say, as a parent, I welcome the judge's decision.

For a long time now we have read about a supposed lack of discipline in schools and certainly to my mind there has been a lowering of standards.

Ultimately, responsibility lies with parents but I certainly think schools should be able to adopt a stricter disciplinary code and yet some of today's rules and regulations don't allow it.

The news from Hampshire then is, I think, a step in the right direction, a step back to reality and common-sense.

The so-called 'do-gooders' have held too much sway and influence in the past and perhaps now people in authority will be able to administer sensible discipline in the right way.

You may wonder what all this has to do with football.

But as a manager I also take heart from the ruling in so far as it may be the start of a change in attitude not just in the classroom but in society in general.

Here at York City, we have a proud reputation for taking talented youngsters on after leaving school, coaching them and, hopefully, turning them into professional footballers.

But away from the football side of things, we are acutely aware we also have an important role to play in the development of the youngsters as they move into adulthood.

It is unfortunate then that we have recently encountered one or two problems as we strive to not just ensure our youngsters and scholars are taught the basics of football but also grow up as responsible individuals.

The Football Further Education and Vocational Training Society, a branch of the Professional Footballers' Association and the organisation responsible for football scholars, came into the club and said the trainees were doing jobs they should no longer be doing under recently introduced guidelines.

They are jobs - cleaning the senior players' boots and cleaning out the changing rooms for example - the youngsters would be doing in any other walk of life and at the beginning of their comparative careers. I would call the jobs simply good house-keeping.

Obviously, we understand that the boys are here to become professional footballers.

But they are also here to prepare for going out into the big wide world because not all of them will make it.

I am a traditionalist in many ways, but I am aware things change over time.

However, there is nothing wrong with hard work and if any of the young boys we had here had to go and do National Service they would soon find out what life is all about.

One of the people to have a big influence on me when I was starting out in football was Ian Greaves, my manager at Huddersfield Town.

He used to say if you do things properly off the field, there is a much better chance you will do it properly on the pitch.

It is an ethic a lot of football clubs have cherished throughout the years and to my mind it has never done anyone any harm.

While I am loath to say we are breeding a nation of wimps, the problem it seems nowadays is that children have to do very little at home compared to 20 years ago.

They then come into the club and think they still have to do nothing.

Of course, I am not tarring everyone with the same brush.

But what you tend to find is the ones who have a good attitude off the pitch have a good attitude on it and will ultimately be the ones who go forward.

The years from 16-19 are perhaps the most important for their future development, not just as a footballer but in becoming a better, more rounded human being, ready to face life's challenges.

We have strived to maintain the necessary disciplinary regime so that the boys are ready to do so.

Under the new guidelines there has been a change in emphasis so that the club's influence is perhaps more restricted.

Ultimately, and as I stressed earlier, the responsibility more than ever lies with the parents and the ones who are brought up in the right way in their home life will have a far better chance of progressing in football and adulthood.