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Victor’s Blog
Manchester City Get It Right
Written by Kj talk | 26th August 2006 | 1 Comment(s)
Well I wrote this after the incident but was unable to load to the net due to trouble at mill but it seems the stance of Stuart Peace is the correct one. My thoughts on the subject follow.
Rarely do I ever agree that the Police should get involved with football related matters when it concerns incidents on the pitch. However I like all other football fans was horrified by the assault from the Manchester City full back Ben Thatcher on the hapless Pedro Mendes of Portsmouth. And feel the strongest and severest punishment has to be served on the Man City thug.
There is no doubt that when Thatcher ran at full speed into Mendes he only had one cowardly intention and that was to slam an elbow in the jaw of his target. Quite simply that has no place in football and nor should Thatcher.
Assaults of that type show absolutely no respect for your fellow professional and deserve the strongest penalties. It matters not that Thatcher showed "remorse" and has written a letter of apology to his victim. The weasel was probably thinking only of saving his own skin in the light of all the resulting criticism that followed.
This is where the clubs have the take a lead and not wait for all the endless reports and pontificating from the player, the guilty player's solicitor, the FA, the press and show true management and leadership. Stuart Peace and the board of Manchester City should remove Thatcher from the City team and ban the player themselves for at least 12 games and dock his wages in that time.
It should not matter one bit that referee Dermot Gallagher had mud in his eyes and only booked Thatcher meaning he escapes an automatic ban because he avoided being red carded. The powers that be have to make a stand here and set an example for the good of the game that concerns players and fans alike.
Remember Mendes was knocked unconscious after the incident and had a seizure in the dressing room whilst be treated by the paramedics, followed by a night under observation in the Manchester Royal Infirmary.
Every player accepts that an accidentally mistimed tackle could result in an injury but this is something else and if it happened on the streets you would expect your assailant to be banged up or heavily fined or both.
And it's not as if this moron has not done it before! Just ask ex Sunderland player Nicky Summerbee and Shanghai player Yang Chun who suffered a punctured lung after a clash with Thatcher. I don't suppose a grovelling letter would have been of much comfort to those in their road back to recovery.
The beauty of being able to write for a web site like this is to voice ones opinion for the reading world to agree or disagree. And at a time when Britain is under the grip of feral scum that wreck havoc for families up and down the country under cover of the poxy hoods they wear. Stabbings are now a daily occurrence on Britain's streets you are hardly shocked by them anymore.
If we allow these sorts of assaults on the football pitch to go unpunished or for the guilty player to merely receive a slap on the writ then football as we know it will be the loser.
Then we may as well introduce crash helmets for the players and provide them with stun guns and motorcycles and call the game Rollerball.
I note the video of the challenge now has a starring role on You Tube video, it should be under horror. And I repeat Manchester City should take the lead and ban Thatcher for 12 games.
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Fair play to the FA who have acted and ignored some of football’s archaic rules that puts all the pressure on the referee.