Scales. Used to measure justice. And sometimes to weigh weed.

ToePoke's resident expert on the laws of justice, Jamie Walker, casts his informed eye over the recent penalties given to Wolves for fielding a bare-boned team and to Ashley Cole for baring his bone(r).

Disparity: [dih-spar-i-tee]

Lack of similarity or equality; inequality; difference: a disparity in age; disparity in rank.

Apparently, this is the word of the past week in the Premiership. Firstly, Wolves receive a suspended £25,000 fine for ‘fielding a weakened side’ against Manchester Utd. Then, if the papers are to be believed, Ashley Cole faces a penalty of £400k and possibly being transfer-listed as a result of the latest sexual indiscretions to emerge from West London. Well, I suppose it’s nice to know where your superior’s loyalties lie...

So, Ashley’s in the doghouse again. No surprise there. It’s even nice to see that punition is finally coming into line with the over-inflated wages that are the territory of the top-level professional footballer. But I actually feel sorry for poor old Cashley. After all, since when did it become your employer’s prerogative to say who you could, and couldn’t shag? Does an extramarital affair constitute bringing the game into disrepute, besmirching the good, honest name of Chelsea F.C (lol) when your missus is a fit-but-wholly-untalented pop siren and crap TV judge? Perhaps there’s a quota on how many deviants each club are allowed to have embody their very ethos. Regardless, I bet Ashley Cole’s regretting not going public with this before John Terry. Then again, those old Arsenal ties run deep, I doubt he’d ever get a shot at being the new ‘Mr. Chelsea’.

As for Wolves, has there ever been a more unjust fine dished out by the F.A.? Sure, £25 grand isn’t a massive fee to pay if you’re a multimillion pound business, but it sets a horrible precedent. From now on, assumedly, everyone must play their strongest XI week in, week out. No more ‘squad rotation’, no more resting of players. Yes, 10 players is a large change, but it’s unfair to state as an outsider what a squad’s best possible selection is. Mick McCarthy’s job isn’t to knacker his best players in what he probably rightly saw as a dead rubber against a top side. Conversely, if Sir Alex Ferguson had decided to rest half his squad, Rooney, Carrick et al., this wouldn’t even be considered news. Chairman Jez Moxley smartly remarked that the case against his side will set a precedent. So in the future expect to see Gary Neville playing until he’s in his mid 40s, Rooney entirely fatigued for the World Cup, and an Arsenal side made up of legal adults in the so called ‘lesser’ cup competitions.