Typical cop out. "Sunderland are in turmoil after it emerged that they played an ineligible player in four Barclays Premier League matches. Striker Ji Dong-won played against Fulham (August 17), Southampton (August 24), Crystal Palace (August 31) and Manchester United (October 5) before realising he did not have international clearance to play. Incredibly he also played in a 4-2 victory over MK Dons in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday August 27 when he wasnât eligible to play. Sunderland then went on an extraordinary Capital One Cup run under new manager Gus Poyet and reached the final, where they narrowly lost to Manchester City. MK Dons are understood to be furious that Sunderland have not been punished by the Football League by throwing them out of the competition when the error was eventually spotted. Ji played in four matches before the administrative error was spotted by Sunderland and had helped them earn one point - against Southampton on Saturday August 24 - when the forward should not have been fielded. The South Korea striker, who joined Sunderland in 2011, was sent out on loan to German club Augsburg last season. When he returned Sunderland had to wait for international clearance before he could play for them again, but they never got it. Instead former manager Paolo di Canio selected him for the four fixtures and the mistake was not spotted until they had lost 2-1 at home to Manchester United on Saturday October 5. Sunderland immediately confessed and were fined under-radar by the Premier League board in December. Although it is understood that the fine is substantial, fellow relegation strugglers will believe that the integrity of the Premier League has been questioned." Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...es-North-East-club-fielded-Ji-ineligible.html
He played against us. He was dire and we got three points. Eh, let's not be Sheffield United over this.
In fact, they lost 3 of those 4 matches and only got a point against Southampton. He hardly gave them much of an advantage, did he?
We joined in that spat over Tevez, claiming compensation for loss of a league postion. Don't think we got owt in the end though.
So you can play someone without the right paperwork in place and just get a fine for it. Let say that Sunderland were doing well and he scored 10 goals in those 4 matches. Would the teams be baying for blood. You bet they would. Just because they didn't do well in those games dorsnt make it right!
And it was 4 premier league games plus at least one Capital One cup game. I mean one game could be a mistake, but five? It's incredible also that the powers that be took over two months to adjudicate and then kept it under wraps. And even now, 4 months later, when it's leaked there is a prescient silence from them.
Wow! You were very much in bed with Sheffield Utd over the Tevez case and would have behaved in exactly the same way had it been you relegated that season. Sunderland gained one point during these games. If they stay up by a point or on goal difference, then there will be a massive problem. I kind of hope they do just to see what happens.
AFC Wimbledon have been docked 3 points for playing an ineligible player in one game. Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/teams/afc-wimbledon Just saying.
There's precedent for them being thrown out of the cup - West Ham fielded an ineligible player in an early round 20 years or so ago. The fact that they won the cup game makes it more of a problem than if they had lost. There probably is a case for deducting the point, but I think no more than that, given that they lost all the other league games. The problem is that the AFC Wimbledon case is dealt with by the Football league, and Sunderland by the Premier league, hence the inconsistency. That said, if they don't get a points deduction (which it looks like they won't) and we go down, it won't be because of Sunderland's dodgy point, it will be because we've been poor for most of the season, have leaked goals at every opportunity, repeatedly played with ageing midfielders who can't last 90 minutes and failed to sign a decent striker in the summer. None of that is in any way Sunderland's fault!
No real comparison with the two scenarios..In Sunderland's case he was a player who had been on the books, with all the paperwork in order' for two or so years. The fault lay with one piece of paper that wasn't filled in properly when he returned from loan. This had went totally unnoticed until Sunderland brought it to the attention of the Premier League powers that be..
We are where we are and deserve to go down because we quite simply haven't been good enough. Sunderland on the other hand, while still not safe, you have to give credit for their results in the last four games when the chips were down. However this one is not going away - "Gus Poyet's 'miracle' happened when Sunderland were not docked points The Premier League side got off incredibly lightly after fielding Ji Dong-won when he was ineligible and the result is a mess. Sunderland rivals in legal fight for points deduction" That's the introduction in an article by our friends at the Guardian. It's well argued and while not backing what it calls "The Gang of Three" it rightly takes a pop at the ruling body. Here is a link to the story (it's too lengthy to post in full): http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/may/03/gus-poyet-sunderland-points-ji-dong-won-ineligible Petitions have also been doing the rounds - started by MK Dons who arguably have the best case but not the financial clout. Very unlikely that the original 'punishment' will be reversed but it must be correct that the lack of transparency and consistency is addressed by the Premier League.
As a SAFC supporter we are not " in turmoil " and it was 3 league games and the carling cup game not 4 league games !, you 3 teams are clutching at straws looking for a scape goat on your own failings. We have been done by refs this season but got on with it. Should the 3 league matches be replayed without Ji ?, I will go for that and we will them all anyhow. The f a fined us and the case is closed and that is going to be that.
I hope the club doesn't pursue this as it's embarrassing. Just take our medicine. In this case it seems it was a result of an innocent and unfortunate mistake, unlike some others that have been blatant bending of the rules ie: cheating. It's more of a problem to do with the Fa and leagues being inconsistent with their punishment. And the Premier is so corrupt it has a record of trying to sweep stuff under the carpet and that tends to makes things worse. Teams in the past have suffered from points deductions and it happens even more so in the lower non leagues and Park leagues. But I guess someone has to decide if it was a genuine mistake or deliberate and what advantage may have been gained. In this case it seems that a mistake was made and a fine handed out, but then another panel might have come to a different conclusion and given a points deduction as has happened to other clubs in the past.
One of the posters on our board posted this which gives a good explanation of what has happened and why there was no deduction; http://www.theguardian.com/football...-legal-challenge-sunderland-ineligible-player So the WORST case situation for us at the time would have been a fine + deduction of number of points gained during the games Ji was involved with. So in this case 1 point which would not have helped Fulham or Cardiff anyway
