So Scolari wasn’t happy about Terry’s red card eh?
At the time, I wasn’t happy either – I was bloody incensed with the injustice of it in fact. I mean, it was his first challenge for god sake, surely Dowd didn’t have to go straight for a red?
Even after the game, I saw a couple of stills and it looked as if the Chelsea captain was pulling his leg back. Unfortunately though, they weren’t the only stills I saw because there’s another one floating about that didn’t just make me cringe, it made me accept Dowd probably made a decision he was entitled to make whether we like it or not.
Anyway, forget about that card for now, it’s not being appealed so the club have obviously decided to live with it. Then again though, if Scolari’s so adamant the ref got it wrong why aren’t we appealing it? After all, it wouldn’t be in Chelsea’s interest to sit back and accept a ban for their captain would it? Or would it?
Because firstly, if the FA look at Terry’s challenge with their rule books firmly in hand, there’s no way they’d rescind it – although they could add to it if Chelsea got their backs up enough. Besides, any appeal would, by nature, mean Chelsea would have to throw a little more criticism Dowd’s way and that wouldn’t be the smartest move they’ve ever made.
You see, whilst Dowd might’ve reacted a little too swiftly to Terry’s challenge for our liking, the fact that he didn’t fancy searching for his red card for a second time on the night has done us a right favour. And he could’ve done – with even more reason to as it happens – because as far as I’m aware, it is an offence to practice step aerobics on the opposition.
I mean, what the fuck was Alex doing? Don’t get me wrong, I like the bloke – or at least I will do if he doesn’t sod off as threatened – but with one man off already, why would any player do that? I wish I could claim it was an accident, momentum or something, in fact anything but admit I haven’t a bloody clue what he was playing at. Still, you just knew the press would love it, not to mention the amount of time Sky Sports could dedicate to it, so an FA charge was inevitable – except it hasn’t happened.
And this is where consistency goes out the window a bit because whilst Terry was at least challenging for the ball, Alex had no excuses at all. So why did he get away with it?
Well, the FA’s version is: “Referee Phil Dowd confirmed to the FA today that he had not seen the incident at the time. He was subsequently requested to view footage of the incident. Having done so, Dowd informed the FA that, had he seen the incident, he would not have shown Alex a red card. On this basis, the FA will not be taking any disciplinary action.”
So he didn’t even have to think about Terry’s challenge and yet having probably watched footage of Alex stamp on Tim Cahill until his eyes were sore, he can honestly say he wouldn’t have booked him if he’d seen it?
I just don’t get that sort of decision making.
Blue is the colour
