He said that when he was in charge of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, he had a debate and discussion with all the managers in the Premier League highlighting the fact that, when a player puts his hands in the face of an opponent in an aggressive manner, this is a red-card offence.
And I would be very clear in that, where the player has got his palm round the neck of an opponent, that is a clear red card.
Confusion is not the word. This is an offence committed by a player, it's got an aggressive approach to it, it's not preventative and therefore I was amazed that the FA decided not to take any further action.
One can only assume that the reason no further action was taken against Branislav Ivanovic for his confrontation with James McCarthy is that the referee was satisfied that he'd seen it. I just think that it's a glaring error.
Let's get back to the basics: it's called football and players play with their feet, not their hands, so I think that it'll be interesting now where the FA go with this. Obviously they've charged both clubs with failing to control their players and the route that they're taking is that they're just grouping Ivanovic into that.
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