League One rivals Southend United have had their punishment revealed after fielding an ineligible player against City earlier in the season.
The Shrimpers beat us 2-1 in what was arguably the low point of the season, with a late leveller for us cancelled out before the end of the game. However, Southend fielded an ineligible player in that game and were subsequently hit with an FA charge. They have now been punished for the indiscretion, being hit with a suspended three-point deduction which will only come into force should there be further breaches.
They have also been fined £7500, something they’ve accepted as a club. Their statement read: “The club accepted the charges and submitted arguments in mitigation to explain the specific circumstances which led to the breaches occurring. The disciplinary commission accepted these arguments and in reaching its decision noted, in particular, the club’s previously “unblemished” disciplinary record.
“The deduction of three points has been suspended for the remainder of the 2019/20 season and the first six months of 2020/21, and will only come into effect upon the club is found to have committed (or admitted) any further breaches. In addition, the club will be responsible for payment of the legal costs related to this hearing.”
One or two Imps have commented that perhaps we should get the three points, or that the punishment is not enough, as you’ll see below. The fact is this; the player who came on didn’t directly affect the outcome of the game and frankly, we didn’t deserve anything from the outing, not even if they had the player on from the start.
Also, the point about signing Messi I suppose is a fair one, but again it isn’t like the ineligible player scored both goals or even helped set one of them up. It would be foolish to believe the points should be awarded to us and, even if they had been, what would be the point? Southend are still going down, we’re still staying put and the difference between finishing 15th, 16th or 13th is negligible, to say the least.
In a football world beset by uncertainty and fear, this outcome is probably the very fairest that Southend could have expected and the level of punishment just about fits the ‘crime’, which was barely a crime at all.
So if we play promotion rivals last day of season needing to win. Draft in Lionel messi somehow and play him unregistered. Win and get promoted we would only get 3 point suspended deduction. I know obviously extreme but at this level the punishment seems very very weak.
— Matt Stevenson (@mattstevenson21) June 3, 2020
https://twitter.com/William67201223/status/1267898111906713601
Would be good to see some context here i.e what punishments are issued for simaalr breaches of the rules. Fair enough that they pay legal costs but why bother with a fine points deductions, or the threat of, should be enough to my mind.
Everybody knows the laws of the game we should get the 3 points for the game which would take us up 2 places in league table whether we start again or not to finish the season off if the premier League is allowed to finish why not the rest were is the difference.