A little naughty of him to "touch the ref" but I think the calls for 10 games are excessive - some suggesting the 9 month ban Di Canio got back in the day! Personally think 5 games would be appropriate, you shouldn't be chasing the ref down like that and he did do it in an aggressive manner but, really, he hasn't pushed him over or anything seriously malicious, loads of players grab the ref by the shoulder when "discussing"/contesting decisions. Bruno Fernandes did very similar very recently and nothing came of it and I'm not sure how this is different. Not condoning touching the ref but I think there's a difference between assaulting them and disputing a decision. Think Mitro has been a victim of his own perceived aggressive image and the way he chased the ref down was a bit OTT but I'd be amazed if the ref even had a slight bruise from the whole thing... Ultimately though it could be the spark to change the rules on approaching the ref. Should be like Rugby, what the ref say goes and there's no arguing with it, only captains allowed to approach them and ANY dissent is met with a straight red.
Sorry but Mitro is a grade A **** here - he shoved the ref, shouted a lot of abuse in his face, thrust his chest into him and was obviously trying to intimidate and threaten him. It's stuff like this that puts young people off wanting to be a referee; you hear stories about park games where the ref gets all kind of abuse and it's out of order, and seeing this happen in the Prem is sickening. Ok players might argue with the ref, but refs should never feel like they're in danger like that. Bruno Fernandes's example was very different, linesman's arm on him and he just shoved the arm off, no aggression or threatening. 8 game band at least for me.
Think he needs to be made an example of and it used as a starting pointing for improving player and manager behaviour. I would think a ban until the end of the season was appropriate.
Di Canio didn't get a 9 month ban btw, it was 11 games. I think you're thinking of when Rio Ferdinand got an 8 month ban for missing a drugs test.
I get the need for a harsher sentence for aggression towards the refs than a typical red card for "violent conduct but 10+ games for essentially touching his shoulder and standing face to face with him? Not disputing it's not a good example to set or was needed in anyway shape or form but even doubling the regular punishment seems very harsh. If that is the standard we are setting Sunday League amateur football might as well be cancelled because 6/7 players from each team would be sent off each week.
Was no fault of the ref, and VAR pretty much vindicates refs these days. Same situation here, ref originally gives a corner, then VAR spot Willian's handball that stops it going in and tell ref to go to my monitor. Ref sees what has happened and does the only thing he can - sends off William and awards penalty. Mitro knows they've gone from a position where they would likely win the tie to where they'll definitely lose, and disgustingly takes out his anger on the ref.
LOL- It's understandable why he was angry because he was denied a blatant penalty in a big game. No excuse to do what he did, but it was barely a push. 3 games would be fair enough, you could do much more to a player and get away with it.
I was talking about the **** refs get in general... they get shouted and sworn at throughout games. Imo they should start sending anyone off that shows the slightest bit of lip.
No excuse whatsoever for what he did. Overly aggressive, grabbing hold of the referee, shouting in referee’s face, ‘forcing’ referee back by moving into the referee. Clearly an attempt to intimidate referee. He has an automatic 3 game ban. For me, I would give an additional 12 game ban making 15 in total. An example has to be set. Haven’t watched the Poor Man’s Bruno incident and so can’t comment on that. Laws should be changed so that only person immediately involved in incident and Captain can approach the referee. Any others and automatic yellow card. Any abuse and automatic yellow card and if aggressive or excessive abuse then automatic red card.
There has to be a balance between setting an example, making it relevant to the severity of the situation and also still keeping it fair. Having contemplated all the different factors involved, I have concluded that the only fair and releative way to punish Fulham (both Mitro and the manager) is, rather than a lengthy ban, the PL should deduct all the points that Fulham accumulated this season in games in which Mitro has played - and then give those as additional points to NUFC. This would set a very clear example, befitting the situation and seems 100% perfectly fair to me.
It was plain stupid what Mitro did. He's going to take one both for his moment of madness and his fellow players here. An example will be made of. It looked a response in support of his boss - proof that if their manager gets knarley, the players can follow suit. I'll be surprised if his ban is less than 9 games.
3 game ban and stop being a bunch of wimps. British refs are horrible arrogant ****s for the most part, they can wind people up. Not to mention, incompetent. Some people comparing it to Cantona who karate kicked a fan ffs
Nothing to do with being wimps. It’s all about ensuring safety of all referees from overly and inappropriate aggressive behaviour from prima donnas on a football pitch. If you behaved like that at work then you would more than likely be sacked and quite rightly so. What makes footballers so special?
He didn't murder the fella, he got in his face and shouted and the ref shown him a card. That was the entire sum of the incident. If he slapped him we would be having a different conversation. After their recent performances throughout the entire League, it's an absolute testament to the players that nothing has happened apart from this.
