Wayne Rooney and Manchester United decisions show FA needs to get its priorities in order

Football in England has a lot of problems both on and off the field that it need to be addressed.

Mental health, racism, and gender inequality are all issues that the Football Association has made significant strides to address over the past few years.

However like any governing body, sometimes they can get so caught up in protocol that they lose sight of what truly matters.

Emotion is a big part of football, yet Manchester United were charged for arguing with referee Peter Bankes who only gave a yellow card to Lewis Dunk for taking down Anthony Elanga during the midweek win over Brighton.

The VAR upgraded it to a red card as Elanga was adjudged to have a clear chance of scoring. The decision was upheld by the disciplinary board when Brighton appealed, but United were still charged for failing "to ensure its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion".

But a more disappointing decision is how they handled the recent Wayne Rooney situation.

Last week Rooney gave an interview with the Mail on Sunday ahead of the release of his self titled documentary on Amazon Prime. He detailed his struggles with mental health throughout his playing career and painted a vivid picture of how being consistently in the public eye affects a person's psychology.

He stated that he was conditioned to not show vulnerability and would bottle it up. "There were times you'd get a couple of days off from football and I would actually lock myself away and just drink, to try to take all that away from my mind," Rooney said.

"People might know that I liked a drink at times or went out but there was a lot more to it than just that. It was what was going on in my head.

"Now, people would be more empowered to speak about that kind of thing. Back