The FA must ban Bruno Fernandes for several games to prove they are serious about clamping down on the abuse of referees.
That is the view of Ref Support UK chief executive Martin Cassidy after the Manchester United captain was seen pushing assistant referee Adam Nunn in the back during Sunday’s Premier League humiliation at Liverpool.
Fernandes’ action went unpunished at the time, with referee Andy Madley seen having a quiet word with the Portugal international shortly after.
Speaking to Mirror Football Cassidy said that retroactive action must be taken because there is a risk that grassroots players will emulate his actions because they think that it can go unpunished.
“Just like someone doing a Ronaldo celebration or a Cruyff turn, children will mimic what they see on TV. We’re talking about a world class official being pushed in the back here.
“The onus is certainly on the FA. They have all the evidence in front of them to send a real strong message across all football that touching a match official in this way is totally unacceptable.
“Fernandes behaved like an entitled child. The FA has done an awful lot of great work since the beginning of the year in terms of protecting match officials, such as the body cam pilot, which is a wonderful progressive move.
“But they can damage that by not addressing this with a strong ban. We believe it should be five games for this.”
The calls for retroactive punishment came after former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher made the counterpoint that “common sense” applied because the assistant referee had “manhandled” the Portugal international first.
Speaking to Sky Gallagher claimed that it was not wise for Nunn to physically stop Fernandes from arguing with Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold after the ball went out of play for a throw-in.
“I have mixed feelings about it,” Gallagher said. “You don’t want a player to be manhandling an official but I actually feel the assistant manhandled Fernandes more than he did.
“Once the official does it first Fernandes is almost fly swatting like, ‘Get out of my way I want to get on with it.’ So while I don’t condone it, the referee is in a difficult position because if he goes across and makes an issue of it Fernandes is likely to say ‘Well he grabbed hold of me first.’ It is difficult but it just went away.”
But asked if the assistant referee was merely trying to keep the peace between Fernandes and Alexander-Arnold, Gallagher added: “Maybe so but I don’t think it’s wise. I watched a game years ago at West Brom where an assistant grabbed hold of a player who didn’t know who it was and swiped around to say get off me. If he had caught that assistant in the mouth he was looking at a 12-match ban.
“You’ve got to be mindful. You want to prevent things happening but we can’t make a big thing of Fernandes pushing out at him when has actually received it himself. That’s where the common sense is. Andy Madley refereed it superbly. He spoke to Fernandes off the ball quietly and got the message over to him without making it public.”
In response to that view Cassidy described Gallagher as “the Comical Ali of the refereeing world." He added: "The PGMOL and Dermot Gallagher should be condemning this to the highest level possible and not try to give a justifiable reason to touch a match official."
