http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20639664 Bradford City have been kicked out of the FA Cup for fielding an ineligible player, sending Brentford through to the third round. The Bantams fielded on-loan Newcastle defender Curtis Good in the 1-1 draw with the Bees without written permission. Their replay on 18 December will be cancelled, with Brentford now visiting Bury or Southend in round three. Good, 19, joined the Bantams in November and made his debut in the Brentford match. He also played in the 2-0 Johnstone's Paint Trophy win over Port Vale this week. A club statement read: "The nature of the charge is the playing of one of our loan players deemed ineligible due to the late submission for permission for him to play. "The error was of an administrative technical nature and not one to intentionally break competition rules. "We presented a case of mitigation to the FA on Thursday, 6 December, however the FA panel chose to enforce the full powers of its jurisdiction and have removed the club from the FA Cup competition." The Football Association said in a statement: "Bradford City did not have the necessary written permission for Curtis Good to play in the competition, whilst on loan from Newcastle United, by the 12pm deadline on Friday November 30 prior to the fixture that evening."
"The error was of an administrative technical nature and not one to intentionally break competition rules." Shouldn't have kicked them out then.
More FA nonsense. But rules are rules i guess. One less fixture for Bradford to worry about though. They play game No.30 of this season already @ home to Torquay saturday. Maybe it has done them a favour. QTR Final tie with Arsenal next week Into the Qtr finals of the paint pot trophy and still 26 league games to go.
Indeed. So would i. But sadly for Bradford the COC is the one trophy Wenger/Arsenal can win this season, so i expect the Gunners to play a strong team just to make sure.
The Football Association said in a statement: "Bradford City did not have the necessary written permission for Curtis Good to play in the competition, whilst on loan from Newcastle United, by the 12pm deadline on Friday November 30 prior to the fixture that evening." I think this hinges on the time frame of events - in particular when Bradford applied for permission and when it was granted. If we're talking just a few hours after the deadline but still before the game kicked off then it's harsh, but if it's days then it's probably the correct decision. Dont forget though - the rules are the rules....
Thats Bradford dreams of Wembley scuppered for this year then. I thought they were a good bet at 10,000 to 1.!
If Newcastle refused permission for him to play in the cup I could understand them being thrown out. But they had permission and merely missed the deadline for sending to the FA. Seems very harsh to me
The loan window closed on Nov 22nd and he went there on deadline day, seems odd that they didn't manage to register him for a game on the 30th.
That's a fair point. The people that I deal with that work/live in Bradford tend to be...now how can I put this...****wits. That may also be a factor.
Surely they knew they hadn't got permission in time, and still played him? All seems quite avoidable to me.
It hinges on the fact that until you receive confirmation from the FA that a player is eligible to play you're supposed to consider them ineligible, so it's down to what paperwork the FA had sent them. If they'd sent them paperwork saying he was available then it's the FA's fault and they should be reinstated, as it seems the club are admitting they made a mistake they've been kicked out.
Rules are still rules. Even the FA's stupid rules. On the plus side it saves Bradford and there fans a trip down to the smoke and a possible loss @ Brentford. So its not all bad. Plus the winners would more than likely have a game with Southend in round 3. Always a plus to come out of a negative. Lol. But as Newcastle had granted permission the FA IMO should just have fined Bradford for the paperwork / clerical error.
If anyone's interested, Bradford won their appeal and are back in to play the replay at brentford. Not a bad couple of days for them in domestic cups!
