F.A.NEWS

lovablemum · Joined: 02 Aug 2005 Posts: 4068 Location: Northants

Michael Essien escaped further punishment from the Football Association because of Fifa concerns over retrospective changes to decisions made by match officials.

Essien's lunging tackle on Bolton's Tal Ben Haim during their 5-1 Premiership victory at Stamford Bridge on Saturday was deemed to be nothing more than a yellow card offence by referee Rob Styles.

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce complained bitterly that the incident warranted a red card and went so far as to suggest that the Chelsea midfielder feigned injury himself in a successful bid to persuade Styles not to send him off.

Styles subsequently agreed to look at a video of the incident again and admitted that he would have sent Essien off had he seen the offence from a different angle.

However, the FA rightly opted to leave the punishment at a yellow card because of the concerns shown by Fifa over the downgrading of a red card at the start of the season.

Tottenham's Jermaine Jenas, then with Newcastle, was dismissed against Arsenal but his offence was later downgraded to a yellow card instead.

That sent alarm bells ringing with Fifa, who contacted the FA to express their concerns over the decision.

Essien's case prompted the FA to seek further clarification and Fifa informed them that in such cases the referee's decision is final and cannot be changed retrospectively.

However, football's governing body remains committed to the FA policy which allows clubs to appeal against what they consider to be a wrongful dismissal.

But these cases are clear cut and are either upheld or thrown out - there is no downgrading of cards in the process.

The FA's decision was welcomed by Chelsea, especially coach Jose Mourinho, who had always claimed Essien was a fair player.

"Essien is a great player," said Mourinho. "He is a fair player and a player with an incredible record on disciplinary issues. He is a very clean player."

When quizzed on whether he thought his player was feigning injury immediately after the tackle, Mourinho responded: "Of course not. You can say that for sure."