The FA Need to get Control and Quick

Another weekend and yet another week of trial by television as the media, as the headline writers take advantage of the multiple cameras in football stadia to put individuals under the microscope and look to subsequently get them punished. It is becoming a joke and further underlines what a mess the once ‘Beautiful Game’ is fast becoming.

I know there of many of you out there who will see no problem in this scrutiny and believe those guilty should be made to pay, but I question not only the consistency of them and whether the real villains are getting their comeuppance. I’m not going to come on here and preach to the world about how Mario Balotelli has been hard done by, because the guy is an idiot, but let’s compare his actions to that of say Joleon Lescott. It seems to me the FA have simply responded to Harry Redknapp’s outburst and the subsequent outpour of disdain towards Mad Mario, rather than look to address the intentional (in my opinion) forearm smash that Younes Kaboul received. We all know the FA don’t like to throw the book at England internationals and I fear the same blind eye has been turned here. Balotelli couldn’t see where he was kicking out to, where Lescott certainly knew where he was and what he was doing.

What I find frustrating is the total inconsistency of the FA’s actions. I’m sure had Balotelli not scored a last minute winner that saw Redknapp’s angry post-match rant, which subsequently triggered a media response; they would have simply brushed it under the carpet like they did with Lescott. They now have a new incident to deal with as the ‘trial by television’ brigade have brought up Peter Crouch’s apparent gouging of Olsson. Roy Hodgson claimed this morning that he didn’t know of the incident and his player didn’t mention it, therefore leaving muddied waters for the FA to deal with. You can guarantee that City fans and hierarchy are sitting there, waiting to see their response to it and will rightly cry ‘double standards’ if no action is taken. I personally fear the FA will simply ignore it, because let’s be honest they are an organisation that react to an outcry, rather than be consistent and govern the game properly, while putting appropriate sanctions i ... MORE

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