Whomp that sucker!

The usual "experts" have been all over the media blathering about the unacceptabilty of Ben Thatcher's "tackle" the other night. And quite right too. Some younger readers may be confused, though, by the strange silence of champion "rent-a-quote" Graham Kelly on this issue. We greybeards who remember his evidence in the Gary Blissett case aren't though.

I've never had much time for the charming Stuart Pearce - but doesn't he deserve a grammy for this morning's spectacular change of tune? A thing of brazen beauty. Of course Mr Pearce didn't have the benefit of a TV replay - but then neither did fellow manager Harry Redknapp:

"I know that the referee has taken action by booking Thatcher, but the FA have got to look at the incident. When I saw Thatcher running towards Mendes, I knew exactly what was going to happen five seconds before it did.

"I would have bet my life on it. How can it be a yellow and not be a red card? Do you have to kill somebody these days to get a red card?"

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/default.sps?pageid=115&pagegid=%7BAA113D0F%2DB095%2D4F9A%2D86F3%2D058F81E5ECFB%7D&newsid=357685&siteid=&pageno=&newscategory=&frommonth=6&fromyear=2006&tomonth=8&toyear=2006

Of course Pearce, like Thatcher, has form. I'm sure we all remember his calm and sportsmanlike response to this incident and can understand the context of his remarks the other evening:

"Tiatto foolishly decided to take the law into his own hands when Nedergaard blocked his run down the right flank. The little Australian, he of suspect temperament, with eight yellow cards to his name already this season, caught the Dane on the back of the head with a flying elbow and simply had to go..."