Former top referee David Elleray has claimed "the game will die" if match officials are not shown greater respect by managers and players.

The treatment of referees is under the spotlight again after another weekend of criticism aimed at officials in Premiership games.

Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd could face disciplinary action after his remarks following defeat at Portsmouth while Tottenham manager Martin Jol and Blackburn's Mark Hughes both castigated Phil Dowd following the 1-1 draw at Ewood Park.

Boothroyd said that referees who get decisions wrong "should be put in the stocks and hit with rotten tomatoes", and added: "Why should us poor managers put up with this kind of shit?"

Elleray believes there needs to be a complete change of attitude to officials.

He told Sky Sports: "A great sadness in football at the moment is that officials are being pilloried left, right and centre for decisions they do or do not give.

"We need a cultural change. People need to recognise that the game will die without referees and we need to show them more respect."

Elleray believes football can learn some things from rugby union, where the referee is given far more respect by the players - but he does not think the game should follow rugby's lead by using video technology, a cause which Hughes has been the latest to advocate after a frustrating weekend for the Rovers boss.

He added: "There is a school of thought which says that human error is part of sport and constant holding up of the game to review decisions is difficult and would spoil the flow.

"One of the greatest attractions of football over almost any other sport is that it is almost non-stop action.

"I went to Twickenham the other day to watch quite an exciting game (between England and South Africa) but it was constantly stopping, not least for video referee decisions.

"It was interesting again on Saturday, I had a ref-link where you could hear the referees talking to the players at Twickenham and it was fascinating the respect the referee was given, even when giving one or two controversial decisions, compared to football where match officials seem to be fair game for attacks by players, managers and fans, and even the media."