Breaking news: Williamson denies FA charge.
Posted on November 23rd, 2010 | 136 Comments |
Williamson had been charged after an incident with Bolton’s Johan Elmander during the weekend defeat at The Reebok.
Williamson escaped punishment at the time as referee Howard Webb claimed that he didn’t see it, which left the door open for The FA to use retrospective punishment with the aid of video replays, just like they did with Joey Barton.
I’m not sure whether or not denying the charge is a good move in all honesty.
To me it looked like Williamson was gulty, although I don’t think he meant to go into Elmander as hard as he did, or with his head leading. Instead I think it was an attempt at a bodycheck similar to what Nicklas Bendtner did to Williamson a few weeks back when we played Arsenal in the Carling Cup.
Williamson is in risky territory now. The FA have obviously seen enough to warrant charging him, so I think it is unlikely that they will change their mind. That will mean that Williamson will face an extended ban for making an appeal that is deemed to be frivolous.
Of course, he could well prove his innocence, but I don;t remember many players doing such a thing when they have appealed an FA charge.
The fact that Williamson looks set to appeal will mean that he could be available for the weekend game against Chelsea as any appeal is unlikely to be held unil next week.
No doubt we’ll here more about this…
I think this is a silly move. The FA basically say admit it and you’ll lose 3 games if you don’t we will punsh you even more. There’s no way he will get away with it. They will seek to make an example of him now with a lengthy ban I supect. How dare you protest your innocence against the FA Mike, this isn’t a democracy. :)