Dave Whelan. Mario Balotelli. If you didn’t know any better, you would think you were watching the latest dumb and dumber movie.

I wrote about Whelan last week, not expecting him to make matters worse for himself but he has. While apologising to the Jewish community after making racist comments towards them, he goes on to tell the Jewish newspaper he was giving an interview to that he used to call Chinese people “chingalings.”

What I can’t believe is that he had no idea that he was offending the Chinese community and it proves my point that he needs to be re-educated sooner rather than later.

The Football Association’s ongoing investigation into his first comments will have to be expanded after his second load of comments.

Whether or not he is banned from the game remains to be seen and it is difficult to compare this incident with the one of Donald Sterling in the US. Sterling was heard saying he didn’t want black people at his games and while I am not condoning what Whelan said in the slightest, he isn’t helping his defence that he should be allowed to continue as Wigan owner.

And then you have Balotelli. He is probably the only player who in trying to make a light-hearted anti-racist joke does the complete opposite.

You can imagine Balotelli sitting at home and he sees the picture. It describes him perfectly. Both are called Mario and have been nicknamed Super Mario. The caption talks about Jewish people. His adopted mother is Jewish. The caption goes on to talk about black people. He is a black person. It talks about diversity and accepting people. Balotelli wants to promote a positive image of a mix of ethnic minorities and religion and here is the perfect chance.

Wrong. Either the former Manchester City striker failed to realise how insulting the picture was to the Jewish and black community or he didn’t care. I personally think it is the former.

Balotelli has been racially abused in his football career and when he realised how damaging the picture was, he immediately took it down and apologised. Does it make it right? No. Should he be punished? Yes. Should he have to miss games? I don’t think so.

This was not a malicious act of racism. It was deeply insulting and he broke the rules. I disagreed with the three-match ban Rio Ferdinand was handed and said that the FA needs a clear set of rules detailing specific punishments for what is said on social media.

If Balotelli had called a black person the N-word or anything along those lines, then we would be looking at a ban from playing the game but this was a terrible anti-racism campaign gone wrong.

And I don’t say this because I like Balotelli. If Suarez had posted this image, taking into account his history of biting players and his racist comments towards Patrice Evra, I would not be calling for him to face another ban. It was a misguided attempt to promote a positive message.

With the FA investigating the Liverpool striker, it has been suggested that instead of them being the ones to punish players, it should be up to the club to properly discipline their player when they are in the wrong.

The problem I have with that is that some clubs may not punish certain players severely enough as they don’t want to upset the player or they feel he is too valuable to ban for a prolonged period.

When Suarez racially abused Evra, Liverpool wore T-shirts in support of the striker and if it was up to them Suarez would have got away with what he had said.

They were outraged with the FA’s ban handed out to the striker and saw it as an act of injustice.

It was a difficult case to judge as it was one person’s word against another’s and Suarez’s defence was that he felt he wasn’t saying anything racist.

Would Liverpool punish their player for something he felt was harmless and didn’t realise would cause offence? Most likely not.

And there have been examples in the past of Premier League sides not punishing their key players harshly enough.

Ever heard of Jacob Mellis? He was a Chelsea youth player who had his contract terminated for letting off a smoke grenade at the training facility in 2012.

But a year prior to the incident, Ashley Cole (pictured) shot a work-experience student with an air rifle. His punishment? A “severe dressing down” and he was forced to apologise.

Eric Cantona’s punishment for the now famous kung-fu kick? The club banned him until the end of the season which would have been five months but the league felt it was too lenient a ban and extended it until October, making it a nine-month ban.

Clubs hate to see their players fully fit but in the stands due to a suspension. I feel that if it was up to them, you would see certain players given lenient punishments if they are punished at all.

The FA may not always get it right but at least they are more impartial than clubs would be.