Former Arsenal midfielder Vieira, who is now a football development executive at City, claimed Roberto Mancini’s league leaders have been singled out by officials in recent weeks.
Vincent Kompany was hit with a four-game ban for a two-footed tackle, while Mario Balotelli suffered the same suspension following a retrospective punishment imposed for violent conduct.
Vieira claimed City have suffered unjustly at the hands of referees and suggested there was an agenda against the club to prevent them from landing a first Premier League crown.
“It felt like that anything that City will do will be amplified and we get punished, compared to the other teams and the other players” said Vieira. “I don’t want to think about it because I don’t want to say everyone is against City or anything like that.
“But when you look at the last few decisions, you are asking yourself if something is wrong here, if people don’t want us to win the league.”
Vieira cited Frank Lampard’s dangerous tackle on Wolves’ Adam Hammill and Peter Crouch’s alleged eye-gouging of West Brom’s Jonas Olsson as examples of inconsistencies in refereeing decisions.
Lampard, who admitted he was lucky not be sent off, was cautioned, while Kompany was shown a straight red card.
Crouch, unlike Balotelli, escaped retrospective action despite there being clear video evidence of his alleged offence.
Vieira said: “Lampard’s tackle looked dangerous compared to Vincent’s. Crouch, when he put his finger in the eye of another player, looked bad as well.
“We try our best to win the league, we accept our punishment. But when you look what is happening to the other ones, that makes us as a football club really frustrated.
“It seems like if you have one referee you get one decision but if you have a different referee the decision may also be different.
“It’s difficult to understand some decisions compared to the decisions we had. I think this is what brings the confusion. The confusion is dangerous for our game.
“Players are saying that they don’t know what the rules mean and if they are likely to be sent off or not.
“Confusion is really dangerous, especially for the referee and the refereeing body. I believe that they’re making the referees job more and more difficult.
“A good referee is someone who referees with his personality and with common sense, to make the decision he thinks is right at the moment, not because he’s afraid of the consequences.”
Vieira believes referees and their bosses are in danger of ruining English football and stripping the game of its unique passion with their zero tolerance policy towards tough tackling.
The former Arsenal star built a reputation as a formidable and dynamic midfield enforcer, renowned for his uncompromising tacking style, during his distinguished playing career.
But Vieira has become dismayed at refereeing standards and cited Kompany and Balotelli’s punishments as examples of why he is losing faith in officials.
“Mario didn’t get sent off, but when you look at the position of the referee you say ‘how couldn’t he see it?’,” said Vieira.
“Of course there’s going to be a debate, but he made his own decision [at the time] which he thought was right or wrong. I think this is the danger of not letting the referee just be a referee.
“With Vinnie my feeling was that when he went for the tackle he went for the ball. For me, it wasn’t a foul. I was quite surprised that the referee gave a foul.
“I was more surprised that he came out with a red card. Ten years ago the game was much more physical than it is now.
“Tackles that that were happening when I was playing at Arsenal. If that was a red card there would have been a sending off in every game I played for Arsenal.
“It was one of the harshest decisions I’ve ever seen in the last few months.
“England is the only country in the world where fans in the stadium applaud the striker who has scored but also the defender who wins the ball with a tackle.
“You will not get that anywhere else in the world. Now it looks like you can’t tackle anymore. The refereeing body has to be really careful to not kill the passion of the game.”
