Manchester United winger Ashley Young should take a leaf out of the honest book of jockey Tony McCoy Even those of us with only limited affinity with the Sport of Kings can appreciate that McCoy's endurance alone, carrying on towards his 40th birthday despite all the broken bones, punctured lungs and splintered teeth, is a remarkable feat. Young cannot even break his own fall. It would be too much to hope that the Manchester United attacker, who is not alone in his cheating ways, looks in the mirror and has a few moments of honest self-assessment. It is frustrating. There is still a very talented player inside Young but his hopes of adding to his 30 caps and seven international goals are fading unless he changes his game. At 28, Young should be at his peak, enjoying that golden period when the athleticism of youth is amplified by a decade's knowledge of his craft. He should be a fixture on a United flank. He should be going to the World Cup. On the eve of Euro 2012, Young received plenty of praise for some of his performances for England. Now he is out in the cold. Roy Hodgson gave Young 22 minutes for England in Kiev in September, and although emphasising "that the door hasn't been slammed in his face," it is clear that Hodgson's focus is now more on Andros Townsend, Ross Barkley and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez have moved ahead of Young. He is in danger of becoming yesterday's man. Arsène Wenger, Arsenal's manager, argued that the disdain of the media and the disapproval of fans would make divers like Young and others be more upstanding. Unlikely. It really requires a collective intervention from managers, the players" union and the law-makers. And the player himself. Managers have an immense responsibility. They are the ones who have most influence, being able to leave the player in the stands. Jose Mourinho needs to have a word with Ramires after Saturday, and while David Moyes earned much admiration when condemning Young's dive against Crystal Palace, he undermined that commendable stance by defending Young this time, saying it was down to the referee in the Basque country. "If you need to talk to anybody, you should ask the referee," said Moyes. Most observers felt Nicola Rizzoli had been duped. Moyes argued that there was some contact, albeit the tiniest of tugs from Markel Bergara on Young, whose response was utterly disproportionate. Of course, Bergara's place of work has its own practitioners of gamesmanship. The Spanish league has been joined by Neymar and Gareth Bale, wonderful attackers but also known to exaggerate challenges on them. Peter Schmeichel spoke powerfully on BBC 5 Live of how he was left almost speechless with anger at the amount of diving in Portugal. Even good old Phil Neville, such an admired professional, admitted diving at Everton. England's current darling, Townsend, confessed his guilt after being cautioned for simulation when challenged by Frank Lampard. And do not mention Wayne Rooney v Sol Campbell 2004 to Wenger; he has still neither forgotten nor forgiven. Diving stains the game at home and abroad. The focus on Young is because he is a frequent offender. He has dived against James Milner, of Manchester City, against Shaun Derry, then of QPR, against Ciaran Clark, of Aston Villa, and against Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic. Young does not just collapse; he seems to straighten his body through the air before inviting gravity to do the rest. It is one of English football's most unappealing signature moves. For all his public defence of the player in San Sebastian, Moyes must also think of his club's reputation. Similarly, the Professional Footballers" Association should remind its members that they are cheating each other and damaging the image of the game that pays them so richly. The Football Association needs to act because of concerns over the impact of Young's simulation on aspiring, impressionable youngsters. "On occasions when I have delivered FA courses, coaches raise the issue, saying kids may mimic what they see on TV - just like they may try and copy a new turn or trick," said Roger Davies, the FA's National Game coaching in education manager. We discuss how to deal with it if it does happen. When we played as kids in the street with no adults and no refs, it would self-regulate by us dealing with it. Peer pressure would sort the problem with a growled or mocking "Get up!" order. "The other way is I take the football issue out of the equation,"" continued Davies of his advice to youth coaches, telling them "how you would deal with a child found cheating in an exam or doing something underhand to gain an advantage over someone else." Ultimately, grass-roots coaches are shaping human beings and sportsmen. We are developing the players to be footballers yes, but, also holistically, to be good citizens of our country, and with that comes honesty and integrity. Honesty and integrity: not words always associated with modern football. Seeking to restore such standards, the FA now permits retrospective disciplinary action for violent incidents even if partially addressed by match officials at the time. "This sacrosanct rule that once it has been judged by the referee nobody can come back, means you could be a killer just because the referee doesn't have the perfect angle to see what you did,"" said Wenger. If the game's guardians are now, quite rightly, prepared to take post-match action on violence then why not on felonies that assault the fabric and popularity of the game? Young's misdemeanour was in Europe, outside FA jurisdiction, but divers should be brought to task if deemed by a panel to have committed offences in England. Wenger made the valid point that players will become warier, knowing that the short arm of the law has grown longer. They can run and dive but they can't hide. When the FA compiles its Fair Play League, offensive and abusive language carries three times more penalty points than a dive. Clearly the yellow-card sanction is insufficient. If a referee has decreed it a dive, then a red card should be applied. Again, there are grey areas: simulation is cheating whether inside the area or outside, it is simply the stakes are higher in the box, so the punishment should be higher. Weaker referees might waver, doing nothing, rather than triggering the inevitable storm of a red card. The case for a sin-bin grows ever stronger, leaving the devious likes of Young squirming for 10 minutes on the seat of shame. This modern public stocks might just embarrass the divers into refraining next time.