If you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

That is a famous quote from Abraham Lincoln and it’s so true.

For at least 90 minutes on a Saturday, at 3pm all over the country, the most powerful men are usually dressed in all black.

Equipped with a whistle, pen, pad and two cards in their pockets, they’re not exactly Mafiaso, but nevertheless very powerful in their own right.

Last week, my former Reading teammate and now Oxford United player Dave Kitson, landed himself in trouble with the FA for comments made about referee Mark Brown.

He was charged with breaching FA Rule E3 which covers bringing the game into disrepute and improper comments which are threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting.

It also concerns comments about match officials which imply bias, disputing their integrity or which are personally offensive in nature.

Fall foul of any of those, including on social media, and you could be in trouble.

Kits’s actions will divide opinions. Some may feel he should have kept his mouth shut, while others will applaud his honesty.

I am not here to criticise his actions or to bash referees.

What I will say is this: who do players go to after games to air their views about a referee’s poor performance?

We talk so much about players’ honesty on the pitch, but they then have to be wary of being honest afterwards.

Players cannot always speak the truth because of the fear of punishment from the powers that be.

During the game, players can’t complain or voice their opinion to referees about their performance.

And it’s the same after matches.

Nobody on the pitch should be exempt from criticism, and if said in the right way, then all criticism should be heard. I have been punished for comments I made on twitter after a game while I was playing in the Scottish Premier for St Johnstone.

I tweeted: “I f****** hate refs! I have never seen such a blatant offside! I hope the officials that did our game are embarrassed by their performance today! #F*****gRubbish?”

That landed me in trouble – a bit harsh in my opinion, especially as I toned down the swearing! My comments were not made in anger, more in frustration, and I was very relaxed and cool when I tweeted it.

I do concede that my comment broke the rules, but didn’t feel they were wrong.

Had there been someone to vent my feelings to, then I could have got it off my chest, and by the time I left the ground, I might not have been so frustrated as to tweet that message.

SO I can empathise with Kits and any other player who lands himself in hot water.

There needs to be an impartial governing body in place so players can be heard straight after games.

That way they won’t have to bury anger and frustration or speak out and land in trouble.

Funnily enough, the only people willing to listen to players sounding off after games about referees are the Press!

That makes great headlines, but it’s not good for the players or the referees.