The behavior of managers and players towards match officials this season “hasn’t been good enough”, chief referee Howard Webb said.
A number of Premier League managers, including Jurgen Klopp, Marco Silva and Roberto di Zerbi, have served sideline bans after being sent off.
Webb says a “stronger” approach is needed to try and fix the problem.
“We need everyone in the game to support a move towards a more respectful environment,” he said.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, the Refereeing Director of Professional Game Match Officials Limited added: “Clearly it hasn’t been good enough. Everyone recognizes that we need to be stronger to make dealing with behaviors that are not at the acceptable level.
“I think for a long time the referees took a conciliatory approach, I did too. I didn’t want to overreact and ruin the game in the moment.
“But it hasn’t gone well overall and we need to collectively look at ways to change the trend – and that needs to change. We all accept that.”
The issue of manager and player behavior towards officials has come to the fore this season after a number of high-profile incidents.
Liverpool boss Klopp received a a match ban after being sent off against Manchester City in October for berating the referee’s assistant. The German is also awaiting the result of a Football Association fees for comments he made about referee Paul Tierney after a game against Tottenham last month.
Fulham manager Silva served twice touch bans, including for an incident in the Cottagers’ FA Cup loss to Manchester United in March which also saw striker Aleksandar Mitrovic banned for eight games for pushing referee Chris Kavanagh.
Brighton boss Di Zerbi has been sent off twice – including for a scrum which also saw Tottenham’s caretaker manager. Cristian Stellini fired – and served a sideline ban.
Webb says all parties want to address the issue and hopes the changes implemented over the summer will have a positive impact.
“For some time now, a group of people from all aspects of the game have been coming together to look at participant behavior and come up with measures that we believe will make a difference and will be implemented as the season draws to a close,” added Webb.
“We will speak to the clubs, the managers, the players, the media, everyone involved, to explain to them what it looks like.
“I feel like there’s a stronger desire now than before for this to happen. We have a great product and a great league and we don’t need some of the behavior that we’ve seen to continue.”
