AS ITS own chief executive Richard Scudamore might be moved to describe it in an e-mail, the Premier League's irrationality appears to have increased exponentially this week.

So much opprobrium has rained down on upon Mr Scudamore and his fellow high flyers since news of his appalling taste in e-mail wisecrackery leaked last weekend, it is a wonder that the league's headquarters in swanky Marylebone, London, is not buried roof-high in the stuff.

But no, there it still sits, its top brass barely able to see the world as it really is for the pound signs that keep blocking their view, as they continue their ceaseless quest to rake in billions of pounds in television rights deals.

And there too continues to sit Mr Scudamore himself, king of all he surveys, barely a stray crease in the material of his expensively tailored suit that might betray any hint of his having had, as my mum might say, "a right old time of it."

Hear that thunder earlier this week? No need to have worried. That was just the sound of Premier League board members, staff and the clubs rushing to circle the wagons around their beleaguered leader.

An investigation was held, we were informed, into the circumstances of these e-mails, and Scudamore was subsequently allowed to keep his job. Surprise, surprise.

Or is it? One of the features of this matter is the significant support Scudamore has enjoyed from high ranking football executives, some players, and from a shouty proportion of the public at large.

The word 'banter' has been thrown around a lot this week, as if it is a magic bullet to somehow excuse or negate the sort of petty-minded, misogynist rubbish Scudamore peddled in the e-mails that have come to light.

There is a lot of banter out there, much of it harmless, but it is also a word used to try to excuse stuff that really is a little more serious than that, and to try to excuse outbursts from people in positions of power and responsibility who really should know better.

And surely Richard Scudamore falls into the latter category. It should matter not whether some people, inside or outside the game, proclaim not to be offended, and therefore, everything is all right.

There are plenty, inside and outside the game who have been offended, and if this is the sort of narrow-minded rubbish one of the most powerful figures in football on these islands is coming out with - even in so-called 'private' e-mails - then his position ought to be untenable.

But of course, he is universally acknowledged to be excellent at his job, which is to make the Premier League a global brand awash with cash and shown on as many television screens as possible, in the UK and further afield.

So that's all right, then. The Premier League has pretty much brushed the matter under its no doubt very plush and expensive carpet. I suspect the aforementioned opprobrium will however, be much harder to get rid of.

This afternoon, my beloved Derby County take on Queen's Park Rangers in the Championship play-off final, for a place in the Premier League next season.

I should be incredibly excited. I am not. If Richard Scudamore is the man Rams fans have to be grateful to for securing the multi-million pound handout that goes with winning promotion from this afternoon's Wembley showcase, then thanks, but no thanks.

I'd rather my club stayed in the Championship than have to face that prospect.

Perspective is lost on Twitter

REMAINING on the subject of exponential irrationality, Newcastle United defender Paul Dummett has been on the receiving end of the South American-flavoured variety this week.

The 22-year-old, called into the Wales squad for the international friendly against the Netherlands next week, was sent off for a clumsy tackle on Liverpool and Uruguay striker Luis Suarez in the final Premier League match of the season at Anfield almost two weeks ago.

Dummett's red card was subsequently rescinded, but Suarez of course, has had to undergo surgery for a minor knee injury, which will delay his participation in the World Cup finals, and Uruguay fans, searching for a scapegoat, have homed in on defender's tackle as the reason for their hero's misfortune.

There was no indication after the match that Suarez had been injured as a result of the tackle, though it has been reported that he felt pain in his left knee when he began training at Uruguay's World Cup build-up camp.

Cue death threats to Dummett, one Twitter message alluding to "a bullet in the head."

Now of course, one of Twitter's roles is as a vast depository for type-without-thinking hot air, anger, verbal sniping, and bad taste.

But a sense of perspective often gets lost in the heat of the 140-character moment, and it can get downright nasty - and surely death threats, however empty, fall into that category?