Liverpool, Alex McLeish, Blackburn, Chelsea, Wolves and Tony Pulis are all criticised as Mark Holmes presents his top 10 moans of the season.

When I was asked to start a weekly blog entitled Mark's Monday Moan I worried I'd struggle to find something to rant about every seven days. It turns out it's been remarkably easy!

Now, with the Premier League season over, I thought it'd be interesting to read through my 25 Monday Moans to see what the main themes have been and, considering the title of the blog, I was surprised by how much I'd NOT criticised.

Given the amount of times I defended Kenny Dalglish and stuck up for Andy Carroll, you could be forgiven for thinking I'm a Liverpool fan. But then I shockingly revealed one week that I had a soft spot for Arsenal, while I also offered support to Harry Redknapp and Tottenham, defended Mario Balotelli on a couple of occasions and wrote one blog which looks suspiciously like it was written by a Manchester United fan.

In other words, I had good things to say about most clubs at some point or another. But suffice to say I had bad things to say about most of them too so here, in no particular order, are my top 10 moans for 2011/2012.

Liverpool's handling of the Luis Suarez case

Unlike most others, I defended Kenny Dalglish during the Luis Suarez saga. I don't deny that his attitude was somewhat abrasive - and has been on numerous occasions throughout the season - but greater damage was done by the club's owners, who released a disastrous statement in the immediate aftermath of Patrice Evra's allegations but then stayed quiet in the background while Dalglish stood alone to face the glare of the media.

The statement, the t-shirts, Suarez's refusal to shake Evra's hand and the ludicrous conspiracy theories coming out of Liverpool - has a club as a whole ever made such a mess of dealing with a serious issue like this one?

What's more, the tribalism that followed from both Liverpool and Manchester United fans was nothing short of ridiculous. All in all, the saga was a disgrace to English football.

Cheats prosper

If you have been reading all season you will know that diving is the subject I have talked about more than any other. Hardly surprising given the amount of 'gamesmanship' we've witnessed this season.

But, as I've said countless times, it's not the players that I blame. As I wrote back in my first ever Monday Moan in October, referees actually encourage players to go to ground under contact.

It's a complete joke. If a player went down under minimal contact in the centre circle a foul wouldn't be given but if it happens in the box referees are quite happy to give a penalty and pundits are quite happy to back their decision, regularly claiming players are 'entitled to go to ground'.

To make matters worse, honest players that are impeded but try to stay on their feet usually don't get a penalty. Football's attitude on this needs to change.

Alex McLeish

I referred to Alex McLeish as the most boring man alive back in December, but I'm sure I'm not the only one delighted by the news that the Scot is on his way out of Aston Villa.

Let's just hope it's the last we have to see of him in the Premier League for a while. Villa's fans were often accused of not taking to McLeish because of his Birmingham past, but I've got no doubt that 'Big Eck' would have won them over had he not got Villa playing the most dour football imaginable.

Injuries certainly didn't help his cause but there are some exciting young players in Villa's squad and there is simply no excuse - despite McLeish's best attempts to find one - for the depressing fare the team served up this season. Never has the phrase good riddance to bad rubbish seemed so apt.

Blackburn Rovers

Where do you start to sum up Blackburn's season? Owners that are nowhere to be seen, a manager that has serious issues with delusion and a set of fans that spent more time protesting than supporting - it was hardly surprising to see Rovers relegated.

It's a little harder to know who to blame, however. For starters, no matter what the fans say, there is no way that their actions this season could have helped the team and you have to wonder whether Rovers could have survived without the protests.

However, they had good reason to protest and, with the Venky's rarely seen in Lancashire, fans will argue their chants and rallies pre, during and after games was the only way to get themselves heard. It's certainly hard to argue that the owners made countless mistakes which they showed no signs of learning from.

A trickier subject is Kean. He has acted as the owners' mouthpiece this season and some of the stuff he has come out with has been disrespectful, deluded and often plain laughable.

However, he could hardly speak out against his bosses and I have to say I thought he handled himself with a fair amount of dignity under the circumstances. In fact I still maintain he'd have been a contender for Manager of the Season had he somehow managed to keep Rovers up.

But ultimately he didn't and so the Scot must take his share of the blame for what has been one of the most disastrous seasons in the club's history.

Chelsea's old guard

The decision to sack Andre Villas-Boas has been made to look an inspired one by Chelsea's players, with the Blues winning the FA Cup and making the Champions League final under the Portuguese's successor Roberto Di Matteo.

However, I firmly believe it was Chelsea's players, specifically the so-called Old Guard, rather than Villas-Boas that was the problem. I don't doubt the former Porto boss made mistakes trying to change too much too soon, but I also don't doubt that some of the players did not try their hardest to make the changes work such was their disbelief and anger at being asked to do something different.

The Blues have gone back to basics under Di Matteo and I can only applaud their turnaround, but there will come a time when Terry, Lampard, Drogba et al will have to accept they are no longer good enough to build a team around. But will their egos allow it? History suggests not.

Officiating

I have defended Premier League referees on numerous occasions over the season and still believe they are of a far better standard than many people give them credit for.

The problem is that the rules are not clear enough and too open to interpretation. Does contact in the box automatically warrant a penalty? Does a studs-up tackle automatically warrant a red card? When is a flailing elbow dangerous and when is it accidental?

There are no definitive answers to these and many more questions, meaning the referees are on a hiding to nothing when they make their decision and then get judged on it by the often ill-educated pundits afterwards.

The subject of retrospective action has also made the headlines for all the wrong reasons, with the FA feeling unable to punish Mario Balotelli for a studs-up challenge on Alex Song because the incident was spotted by an official at the time.

As with so many of these gripes, the change needs to be made by FIFA, but we all know how reluctant the world's governing body are to introduce anything that would clearly improve the game.

The Wolves board

Wolves' board made almost as many mistakes as Blackburn's over the past nine months. First of all, Mick McCarthy did not strengthen the team enough last summer. Maybe the money was there and he chose not to spend it, but it seems more likely that only a small transfer budget was available after Wolves committed to a revelopment of Molineux. If so, what a cock up.

McCarthy must take a large portion of the blame for the on-pitch events which followed but I still maintain the Yorkshireman would have kept Wanderers in the Premier League had the board not panicked in the wake of a 5-1 Black County derby defeat to West Brom. Remember, Wolves were outside of the bottom three at that point.

As it was, McCarthy went and Wolves then pursued Alan Curbishley only to be knocked back at the 11th hour amid reports they had offered him a deal only until the end of the season. Again, what a cock up.

Then, of course, Wolves turned in desperation to McCarthy's former assistant Terry Connor - and what followed was one of the most predictable relegations of all time.

Tony Pulis

As a Stoke fan I am a huge fan of Tony Pulis but he has just presided over the most boring nine months of Premier League football imaginable. Thankfully we had Europe and the FA Cup to keep us happy, but the football in the Premier League has regressed so badly that many fans have started to seriously question Pulis.

Pulis rarely played with two wingers at the same time, persisted with Jon Walters despite his dreadful goal return and generally acted in the most negative, safety-first way possible.

I'll never forget my trips abroad or Peter Crouch's wonder goal but, that aside, this campaign will not live long in the memory.

Deluded managers

Steve Kean wasn't the only manager to suffer from delusion over the past season. In the early part of it we had to put up with Steve Bruce droning on about his apparently unbelievable achievement in leading Sunderland to 10th in the previous season and in the latter part of it we suffered a man, Brendan Rodgers, who had clearly let a bit of hype go to his head.

I'll never forget Bruce saying "we're only Sunderland" in response to fans' expectations at the Stadium of Light, and I'll never forget Rodgers informing the press that "it was great" for the people of Wearside that they got to see his side play, despite the fact that they were beaten 2-0. Quite unbelievable!

Joey Barton

There was a time earlier this season when Joey Barton had made a bit of a fan of me, but I doubt he has any of those left after his shocking last-day behaviour on Sunday.

First of all he showed himself up as the thug he has often been accused of being and then he showed himself up as the idiot I think most people already knew he was.

Some of his comments on Twitter, where he started well but has since become a laughing stock, were a disgrace and, taking everything into consideration, it'd be a miracle if Barton finds himself in the Premier League again next season.

To repeat a phrase from earlier, good riddance to bad rubbish.

Have your say

What has annoyed you most this season? Let me know via the comments box below and remember you can follow me on Twitter to keep up with my moans over the summer!