Time to cap footballers' earnings and get them to behave better?

I enjoy watching most sports, but one thing which I find increasingly irksome, is the behaviour of some footballers.
In Scotland not that long ago, two footballers on International duty, Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor, were first barred from the team and then demoted to the bench for the next Scotland match, following a drinking session that lasted until lunchtime after a late night return from a game. To compound the felony they both sat, like a couple of silly schoolkids, making 'v' signs at the cameramen from their places on the bench. As a result, they were told they'd never play for Scotland, nor their club team Rangers again. Now that the outcry has died down, the suggestion is that they were harshly treated.
Personally I believe that Ferguson especially, as both captain of Scotland and Rangers, received what he deserved for setting such a bad example. And before anyone asks, yes, I am a Celtic (armchair) supporter but my view is that Celtic should equally have taken action long ago against their own player, keeper Artur Boruc, who is another very poor role model.
In the past week, we've had Joey Barton reverting to his thuggish behaviour and Didier Drogba losing the plot - not for the first time.
Should it all be excused and put down to the 'pressure of work'? I don't think so. After all, these men are earning five or six-figure wages every week. Surely it's not too much to ask for a little self-restraint and responsibility in return?
Perhaps it's time that some kind of financial restraints were placed upon clubs and players - after all, to be paying vast transfer fees and several million pounds a year to players doesn't somehow seem right in these times of economic hardship for so many people. And it wouldn't go amiss to introduce much stricter codes of conduct for players either.
But then what do I know - I'm only a woman, after all.