The defender-turned-manager is concerned modern players dive too much because of the potential to win a free kick and “real tackles” and “robust challenges” have become a thing of the past.

He told FourFourTwo magazine: “I think things have gone a bit too far now.

“Players work within the rules, like they always have done, but the awards for going down too easily have made diving a part of the game and I don’t think that’s good for football.

“The rules of the game have got to such an odd level that we’re veering towards something no longer physical.

“I don’t want to see it going back to the days when I started out, but I’d love to see the competitive edge go back to, say, the late 1990s and or early 2000s levels. That was the best time.

“It was physical, there were duels all over the pitch.

“The crowds loved it. Real competition, real physicality, tackles going in – real tackles, not dirty ones from behind and going through players, but real well-timed and robust challenges at pace.

“Crowds love that and it adds to the game.”

The Nottingham Forest boss also worries that people take the game too seriously these days, which leads to those involved in the sport becoming “super safe”.

He said: “the demand for the characters in the game to be so pure and so the same is a worry.

“Say one bad word and you’ll get blasted out of the room.

“Managers and players are super safe, they’re advised about everything and that’s a worry.

“I get the coverage is huge, it’s global and you have to conduct yourself a certain way but I don’t believe you can’t have a bit of a joke or banter.

“I got in plenty of trouble just for having a laugh.

“We have to be careful – managers now are just saying the same things.”