I was listening talk sport discussing it yesterday, they had a FA spokesman’s on who said something along the lines of, the FA policy of ‘If a match official saw the incident then they do not review it’. Was because the Match Officials overall get more decisions right than they get wrong and was to also ensure whenever possible match officials make decisions on the pitch at the time of incident, knowing that the ruling body supports them in all their decisions, and is not undermining their authority or rights to control the game, they also want to avoid match officials not making decisions knowing it will be reviewed later, especially when you consider what is seen in other sports where the Match Officials appear to take the easy option of putting incidents ‘On Report’.

Wonder which other sports he was refering to?

They don't "back the referee" though do they? On the one hand they will refuse to take retrospective action or not impose a ban when a red card has been shown in error. But then they'll stand down the official from the following week's matches. They make it fairly clear that he's being punished.

That said, I think there's a stronger case for leaving things alone if the ref takes no action than there is for imposing a ban if a red card is shown when clearly wrong. Automatic bans go against natural justice. Banning someone who shouldn't have been sent off in the first place is punishing someone wrongly, twice. And often a sending off is adequate punishment itself.

Couldn't agree more. It was an accident but he does make serious contact with the player so if he had been banned I wouldn't have complained.

The challenges on Kone, Alcaraz and Scharner were deliberate and intended to hurt. They're the types of tackle we should be outlawing.

Perch got booked for that. The handball for the winner was deliberate, as was Macmanamans seconds after his disgusting tackle. No bookings there though.

So you're saying that Callum should at most have only been booked for his challenge then and not hung from the Douglas Bridge like some are pointing out? As I said, his was accidental. I'm not sure the same can be said for the Newcastle challenges in the second half.

Regards the handball, I'll see you the sending off of Figueroa at Newcastle that ended the game after just 12 minutes.

rlNewcastle lose moral high groundrl