Riether banned for 3 matches... Fair and square We all think what he did was unacceptable but I will have to say that FA needs to have a strong look in the mirror on the manner they apply the rules!
Fulham followed up the ban on Riether, claiming it was similar to the situation when Torres got off. The FA disagreed - ”The report by commission chairman Stuart Ripley states: "The commission felt that a distinction could and should be made between these two incidents in that the stamp made by Mr Riether on Mr Januzaj was one of a series of 'coming's together' involving a number of players in a melee as opposed to the isolated 'coming together' of Mr Torres with Mr Vertonghen which involved just the two players. "The referee clearly states in his written match report that the act of stamping was 'unseen by any of the match officials at the time' and having viewed the DVD footage of the incident the commission had no reason to disbelieve the referee given his position, distance from the melee and the fact that his view was likely to have been obscured." Link to the full story: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...t-fulham-defender-sascha-riether-8929656.html Not in any way supporting Riether, or the Club in following this up. I think both were wrong. However the FA aren’t exactly falling over themselves regarding Mr Probert - ”..no reason to disbelieve.. his view was likely to have been obscured.” As I said in the other post, Mr Probert was shocking, and not for the first time at the Cottage. I’m amazed that he gets assigned to so many of our matches. Instead of pursuing this ban, the Club should be doing a Sir Alex and firmly requesting him persona non gratta at future games.
We couldn't do that. Sir Alex was Sir Alex. A law unto himself that even the authorities dare not challenge - even UEFA. Managers are supposed to give pre-champions league press conferences. Sir Alex sometimes didn't and was never sanctioned.
Riether has learned the hard way that you can't just go stamping on a Man Utd/England protege and get away with it.
