Ben Thatcher

[Dublin12]

What was that elbow all about last night:eek: :mad: ,an absolute disgrace to see that in football,and Dermot Gallagher only issued a yellow card:rolleyes:.I hope the FA have a good look at it and hopefully ban him for at least 5 or 6 games,hopefully the club will do the right thing aswell and give him a fine too.Gallagher also missed a clear handball in the box too.

[tetsujin1979]

I don't think they can, once the incident has been dealt with by the referee, the FA are powerless to do anything. A yellow card was a disgrace for that assault, Thatcher would be arrested if he did that on the street.

[FarBeag]

An absolute disgraceful tackle and I hope that he will be severely punished for it. It appeared that he intentionally went out to hurt the chap. I hope that Mendes recovers soon.

[Dodge]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTRaS7ffyWg

F*cking hell

[Poor Student]

My God.:eek:

I know it's hard to avert your eyes but notice all the empty seats at the front, particularly on the last replay.

[Over the post]

What an animal!

[hoops1]

Could someone please explain to me how them two Toe Rags Tatcher and Lucas Neil havent got there come uppance yet?
Having watch football at all levels in this country one thing was always
clear if someone thought they were a hard man they eventually got a taste of there own medicine because
1 Somebody was dirtier/harder
2 Somebody was so afraid of been done themselves the would get there
retaliation in first
Is anyone else not suprised/disappointed they havent been seriously hurt themselves yet?

[Dublin12]

I don't think they can, once the incident has been dealt with by the referee, the FA are powerless to do anything.

If the FA have the balls they will review this and severe action will need to be taken,for the sake of football they need to make a stand of this behaviour.

[DmanDmythDledge]

The Greater Manchester Police are going to investigate the incident. It was an absoloute disgrace, he should be banned for the remainder of the season.

[4tothefloor]

Disappointed with Manchester City and Stuart Pearce in all of this. They should be publicly scolding the player, but not a word yet. Pearce called it 'one of those things' :rolleyes:

[Closed Account 2]

I have been accustomed to associating anyone with the surname Thatcher as being worthy of contempt - case proved again. :rolleyes:

[Ash]

more on www.football365.com (http://www.football365.com)


Dermot Gallager has been red-carded from the list of Premiership refs
following his decision to yellow-card Ben Thatcher after the Man Citeh defender
knocked Pedro Mendes unconcious. Even Gallagher's boss, Keith Hackett, has
refused to defend him..

[DmanDmythDledge]

Disappointed with Manchester City and Stuart Pearce in all of this. They should be publicly scolding the player, but not a word yet. Pearce called it 'one of those things' :rolleyes:
http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8691_1443881,00.html

[Clifford]

I don't think anyone can argue with the below comment. I know some people were disappointed with Pearce's original comments but it was quite obvious at that point that he'd not seen the incident in too much detail. What he says below is as severe a degree of condemnation as anyone could possibly expect. I do agree, however, that involving the police with these sort of events is ridiculous. Where does or can the line be drawn? The FA and FIFA need to get their houses in order, and the referee should also be brought to task for not dishing out the requisite red card.

From BBC:
Meanwhile Thatcher's manager Stuart Pearce will meet his chairman John Wardle and chief executive Alistair Mackintosh on Friday to decide on the internal punishments to be handed to the 30-year-old.

"What happened on Wednesday was indefensible," said Pearce. "Any form of discipline will be discussed at board level, kept internal and we will move on from there.

"But I can assure everybody, this has hit the player very hard. There is no bravado about him. He has gone home, turned the TV and seen the challenge. The more you watch it, the worse it gets."

However, the City manager does not believe Greater Manchester Police should become involved.

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

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

Thatcher has already written a letter of apology to Mendes.

Pearce added: "Ben is distraught by this. He now realises just how bad the challenge was and his face was ashen when I spoke to him yesterday.

"He is disgusted with himself and there is no way I, or anyone at my club, can defend it. People are having a go at him but, in all honesty, he has not got a leg to stand on."

[Clifford]

How this for ya 4tothefloor?

Manchester City have suspended defender Ben Thatcher following his challenge on Pedro Mendes.

The City full back has been condemned from all corners of the game following his clash with Mendes, which left the Portsmouth midfielder unconscious.

Thatcher was initially booked for the incident, so it was presumed the Football Association would not be able to take action - one reason why City have taken it upon themselves to suspend him, meaning he will miss this weekend's clash with Arsenal.

City have stated that Thatcher is suspended from all first-team action until their own internal investigation is completed.

The FA, though, have also announced that Thatcher will indeed face a charge of serious foul play.

[DmanDmythDledge]

The FIFA rule that stops it being upgraded to a red card is ridiculous. Can referees not recind yellow cards after the game? If so why can't they upgrade them? FIFA are becoming a joke.

[red metal]

Dirty f*u*c*k*e*r didnt even try to play the ball!Had his on eye on mendez!Could have breaking the man neck.DISGRACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Emmet]

The thing which a lot of people don't realise is that he has done it before. There was a game against Sunderland when he was at Wimbledon where he elbowed a Sunderland player in a similarly vicious manner - the guy needs help because he clearly has a big big problem

[The Legend]

6 game ban imposed by City, but i doubt if he'll play again this side of christmas

[drinkfeckarse]

2 of those games are suspended so technically it's 4 but I expect the F.A. to hammer him with a 6-10 game ban anyway so he'll not be playing anytime soon like you say.