Poch is apparently shocked to have received a two match touchline ban and wants to know the reasons. I guess this means the reasons why what he did translates into a two match ban when others have been treated differently. As his first offence in six years, and something he apologised for and accepted, the punishment appears particularly harsh - and (here's that word again) inconsistent. You might wonder what the point of apologising and accepting the charge is, or are we saying the punishment would have been even more severe if he did not? There have been numerous examples of other managers confronting refs (some more than once) who have not received bans, so can we add this to the ever growing list of FA cock ups. While I'm on the subject the greatest FA decision was surely not to charge Tores when he gouged Vertonghen. The ref didn't see it at the time, so by the FAs own ludicrous rules this meant they could take action. They didn't because they decided it was part of the earlier challenge which was seen. Surely one of the greatest illogical statements ever. Later of course they gave Dembele a six match ban for the same thing.
At least he will be able to be in the stadium for the first match at the new lane. Basically he was charged with two 'E3' offences, whatever they are, which he admitted. Each carries a statuary one match ban.
Last time I checked, the worst E3 offence is using scripted voice chat in your gameplay videos, as EA did with the Anthem reveal a couple of years back
It's a lose-lose though. Revealing what Dean said would've gone one of two ways: Dean actually said something totally out of order, Poch and us get some sympathy from the media, some from neutral fans, Poch still gets the ban and - here's the rub - Dean never refs for us again, opposition teams protest, and his mates in the PGMOL make sure we never get a favourable decision again. Or, if Dean said something wrong but excusable in the heat of the moment, Poch comes out of it all looking like a complete arse, Dean refs us again and his mates in the PGMOL still make sure we never get a decision again. Not lamping Dean was the painful but correct approach, sadly. Bottom line is we lost because we were crap. Dean didn't help, but we were crap.
We've got absolutely **** all since then, anyway. We weren't getting anything before that, either. Pochettino's normal approach to the officials is admirable, but it's damaged us. His lack of criticism and failure to question things that have gone against the team has been perceived as weakness and surrender. We're seen as a soft touch and we get slaughtered for perceived bias, because of a lack of complaints. He's treated them well and it's been thrown back in his face.
Fergie was never a shrinking violet, just a very knowledgeable intelligent Scot who had forgotten more about football than the collective knowledge that all of the administrative kunts could remember. He was so superior to the tossers at the FA, they had to bow to him or be made to look stupid. Go in strong I say.
Exactly, however, it's not politically correct to criticize people who are born with disabilities. Mark Clusterfek was clearly born with his dick stuck up his own l'arse.
Good that there's consistency across UEFA associations, as multi-repeat offender Simeone escapes a touchline ban for a more serious matter.....
Luckily, we can rest assured that the color of the offending player's kit and/or skin had nothing to do with this inconsistency.
Just wondering what the punishment might be for City if they're found guilty of financial irregularities, points deduction maybe?
