Originally Posted by
The Ref
A penalty is a direct free kick for an offence that occured in the defenders own box.
For a direct free kick to be awarded he must commit one of the ten listed offences. The one in this case:
tackles an opponent to gain possession of the ball, making contact with the opponent before touching the ball
In this instance, Darren Fletcher touched the ball before touching the opponent, therefore there is no offence. Jock MIB did not disagree (I think)with me on that point, he was arguing that referee could not have seen the touch.