Nevermind the FA.......

Woody · Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:57 pm Post subject: Nevermind the FA.......

The Football Association have charged Manchester City's Ben Thatcher with serious foul play after his horror challenge on Pedro Mendes on Wednesday night.

Thatcher, who was booked at the time by referee Dermot Gallagher, has until September 12 to respond.

A statement from the FA read: "The incident is being considered as an exceptional case because the FA contends that the challenge was sufficiently serious that had Thatcher been sent off, an additional sanction would have been merited."

The defender has been suspended by his club for Saturday's Barclays Premiership encounter with Arsenal.

The former Wales defender has faced a barrage of criticism for his disgusting elbows-first challenge on Mendes at Eastlands.

And after a meeting with the player and City chairman John Wardle, manager Stuart Pearce has taken the matter into his own hands.

"Manchester City can confirm that Ben Thatcher has been suspended from first team action pending the results of the club's internal investigation into the incident involving Pedro Mendes during the game with Portsmouth on Wednesday," said a City statement.

"The player will miss tomorrow's home fixture with Arsenal. Ben Thatcher fully agrees with this decision."

The Police should charge the Tw@t

Woody · Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 11:42 am Post subject: nope

Ben Thatcher could find himself exiled until the end of October as a result of his horror challenge on Pedro Mendes.

Thatcher has been banned by Manchester City and charged with serious foul play by the Football Association following the incident which put Mendes in hospital on Wednesday.

It means the 30-year-old will miss the Premiership encounter with Arsenal at Eastlands before facing an internal disciplinary committee at City late next week which is expected to impose the maximum fine of two weeks wages.

In addition, Thatcher could also be asked to stand down from the trip to Reading on September 11, which falls just 24 hours before the former Welsh international is due to answer his FA charge.

With manager Stuart Pearce having already described Thatcher's conduct as 'indefensible', it is difficult to see any way the former Tottenham player can avoid being hit by a six-match ban similar to the one imposed on Lee Bowyer following his infamous scrap with Newcastle team-mate Kieron Dyer at St James' Park last season.

Should that kind of suspension be imposed, Thatcher will not be eligible to play in the Premiership again until City entertain Middlesbrough on October 30.

City officials have already indicated they do not expect their own disciplinary measures to be incorporated within the FA's punishment.

Even Pearce, whose own game was based on aggression, could come up with no justification for the tackle.

"People will say I played to the limit of the rules," said Pearce.

"Ben's game is also based on aggression. But every now and then a red mist appears and he steps over the mark, which is totally unacceptable.

"The more I have seen the challenge on Wednesday, the worse it gets.

"It was an awful challenge, completely indefensible."

Pearce has pleaded with Greater Manchester Police not to mount their own investigation, which they have threatened to do after receiving a number of complaints from outraged City supporters.

"Anything that happens on a football pitch should be governed by the FA and FIFA," he said.

"Once you starting involving the police, the floodgates can open and you could end up with a situation where players are arrested during a game."

Pearce followed up Thatcher's letter of apology to Mendes by ringing Redknapp personally to express his regret at the incident, which Blues skipper Richard Dunne claims has visibly crushed his team-mate.

"Normally Ben is such a bubbly character, but he has lost all that," said Dunne.

"He doesn't want to speak to anyone. He is really down in the dumps - and rightly so.

"It is something we could have done without so early in the season because it has just brought a lot of bad publicity to the club and has distracted from our preparations for the Arsenal game.

"But, unfortunately, these things happen. They have happened in the past and they will no doubt happen somewhere else in the future.

"There is an awful lot at stake once you cross that white line. It changes some people completely and sometimes, things do get out of control."

I dont agree , if i did that to some dood in the street I would be looking at three years , and so should he.

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