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. In a statement, The FA revealed they considered the incident serious enough to warrant a separate charge. "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," said an FA statement. Thatcher has until September 12 to respond to the FA charge.
It is about time the Police got away from their tax collecting duties and dealt with cases of GBH whether they be in the street or on a football filed.
Said in todays paper hat Man.C. had fined him 2 weeks wages ...£24,000. That's like hitting him with a feather duster. He had also committed 4 other fouls on the night. He elbowed Kanu as well.IMHO he should be banned for 6 months.
Surely Action must be taken against the match officials who were in good view!! Off to the dole office me thinks!(furious)
Well in my opinion, in view of his on going reputation, he and others like him should be hounded out of the game for good. I was also a little disappointed in his managers immediate reaction. If he had been one of my players I would have personally dragged him off the field there and then. Pearce didn't even condemn the "tackle" until the following day when he saw what everyone was saying about it. I have always been a fan of Pearce, both as a player and a manager but he has some bridges to build now.
