Liverpool FC Forum

by **48-1119859832** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 1:24 pm

I've not heard anything about Ben Thatcher facing a criminal charge, so I'm guessing, he'll get off scott free, he has Mendes to thank for that. I'm sure if Mendes has pressed charges then I'm sure Thatcher would be charged. It's ashame there aren't many player like Mendes around these days.

by **CardinalRed** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 2:08 pm

I'm a Bizzie as one or two of you know and the position with Thatcher's challenge is that if Mendes didn't make a formal complaint, the Police would not pursue Thatcher for Assault but he could be open to Public Order charges as happened with Bowyer at the Toon last year....

:cool:

by **davo_LFC** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:32 pm

come on though, you have to admit he's not half as bad as his name-sake margaret

by **greenred** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 9:35 pm

City have banned the bloke for six games and i reckon the F.A will give him a few more on top.

Good article about it here.
....................................................................
How Thatcher's actions left my beloved City in ruins

Simon Hattenstone
Wednesday August 30, 2006
The Guardian

A few years ago I felt for Newcastle United supporters. Such great fans, such a nasty team. Bowyer, Woodgate, Bellamy, Dyer. The club seemed to be attracted to troublemakers. I was relieved that I supported a club like Manchester City. For all City's faults, this wouldn't happen to us.
City might have had endured a quarter-century-long silverware famine but at least we were popular. We played with humour and adventure, and there were likely to be goals. I was proud of the make-up of the team - Shaun Wright-Phillips played with a constant smile, Shaun Goater spent his time off the pitch rescuing children from poverty, and in midfield we solved the Middle East crisis with two great ball-players, the Algerian Muslim Ali Benarbia and Israeli Eyal Berkovic in perfect sync (albeit briefly). That team was City through and through.

How times change. Few City fans have recovered from Ben Thatcher's grotesque elbowing of Portsmouth's Pedro Mendes last week. Unfortunately the assault was all of a piece. His list of previous is as long as the offending arm: the elbowing of Sunderland's Nicky Summerbee playing for Wimbledon (this "challenge" was said to have cost him a call-up to the England squad and turned him towards Wales); the stamp on Poland's Kamil Kosowski while playing for Wales that resulted in another ban; the "tackle" in China during the close season that led to an opponent suffering a punctured lung.
The first time I saw him in City colours was at a friendly at Reading. My mate Bricey G thought I had flipped in that match, and perhaps he was right. I'd never badmouthed City players for the hell of it, but then again I'd never seen anybody like Thatcher. After one tackle left a Reading player lucky his leg was still in one piece, I started screaming abuse. "Get off the pitch, you are not a City player, you are scum." I lost it. Not only was he useless and called Thatcher, he was a reckless yob.

The worst thing about today's Manchester City is that Thatcher is not alone. Danny Mills has an appalling disciplinary record. Niggling Paul Dickov, whom City recently re-signed, is regularly cited in fan polls of the most hated footballers. As for Joey Barton, his charge sheet includes stubbing a cigar out in his team-mate Jamie Tandy's eye, beating up a 15-year-old Everton fan, biting the current captain Richard Dunne after he tried to break up a fight, and starting a 10-man-brawl after a wild tackle in another "friendly".

Somehow the naive Stuart "Psycho" Pearce thinks these are all players in his mould. They are not. Pearce was hard but fair. Last time Barton got in trouble, Pearce decided what he needed was another chance and therapy. Apparently he had low self-esteem. Barton returned to the team a few weeks later with a Messiah complex, demanding a transfer because none of his team-mates matched up to him. Now City insiders are suggesting Thatcher needs the same. Will he return to the team convinced he is Roberto Carlos and demand a transfer to Real Madrid? We can but hope.

These days Psycho appears to think he is social worker first, football manager second. Obviously Mendes is the main victim and he has identified that. But the fans have also been left with post-traumatic stress from the incident, and rather than worrying about the rehabilitation of Thatcher (he should have sacked him on the spot) he must now turn his attention to them.

What happens when you despise the individuals who make up your team? I'm beginning to find out, and it's not pleasant. It's unsustainable and leads to a form of psychosis. "Good ball, Barton, you :censored:

!" "Well in, Thatcher, you cretin!" The relationship between fan and team is one of the most intimate in life. You give unquestioning love, you cheer for them, you defend their misdemeanours. And when they betray you, and when you disown them, there is nothing quite as painful.

There is a contradiction at the heart of City. This week the club said it wanted to be more inclusive and announced it had signed up to a scheme to help it attract more gay fans and staff. Which is great in principle, but what chance is there of it working when it continues to hire players who conform to the worst loutish, laddish stereotypes?

Four days post-Thatcher, we beat Arsenal 1-0. I had been waiting 15 years for this result, but I felt nothing. In the end, supporting a football team is an act of faith. We forgive them their failings, so long as they are true to us. But when our heroes reveal themselves to be cheats, thugs and scumsters, what are we left to believe in?

by **48-1119859832** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:24 pm

davo_LFC wrote:come on though, you have to admit he's not half as bad as his name-sake margaret

I don't believe she assualted anyone. :;):

by **davo_LFC** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:43 pm

Oasis wrote:
davo_LFC wrote:come on though, you have to admit he's not half as bad as his name-sake margaret

I don't believe she assualted anyone.

Nar but shes a bitch :nod

by **48-1119859832** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:50 pm

Yeah there is that. :laugh:

She made me laugh though, how she'd walk into a room and everyone would go from being happy and social to being silent and grim.

by **davo_LFC** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:57 pm

When that cow came into power liverpool got the sh.itty end of the stick i must say

by **48-1119859832** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:00 am

So did parts of scotland, Manchester, Newcastle and Wales, all major mining areas suffered. She wanted revenge on the miners for the strikes they did under Ted Heath in the 70's and I must say she won. :no

Still Liverpool can't complain, from what I've heard they're getting £2billion pumped into the city for the European capital of culture 2008 title.

by **adamnbarrett** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 12:38 am

Manchester City defender Ben Thatcher has been suspended by the club for six games after his horror challenge on Pedro Mendes, as well as being fined six weeks' wages.

The City left back has been widely condemned for the forearm smash that sent Mendes to hospital last week, and the Premiership club have now imposed their own punishment on the Wales international.

Thatcher has been handed a six-game ban by Stuart Pearce's side, two of which are suspended, meaning he will miss the upcoming ties against Reading, Blackburn Rovers and Chesterfield after also being left out of the squad for the 1-0 win over Arsenal last Saturday.

As for the fine dished out by City, two weeks of the six will also be suspended, as they look to take a stance against the ugly challenge which was condemned by Pearce following the game.

City chief executive Alistair Mackintosh confirmed that the Eastlands club felt compelled to act with haste after Portsmouth midfielder Mendes suffered a seizure and was left unconscious in the ugly incident.

"As custodians of the club and football in general, the board and the manager felt it was important to act as soon as possible," Mackintosh told City's official website.

Thatcher has also been charged with serious foul play by the Football Association, despite being shown a yellow card at the time of the incident, with Greater Manchester Police also conducting an investigation.

by **Judge** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 7:27 am

thoroughly deserved imo

by **SouthCoastShankly** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:32 am

And that is only a club fine and ban, bring on the FA. Be nice if they matched it.

by **48-1119859832** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:34 am

I'll be surprised if they did, they'll probably come out with the fact that Man City have punished him as an excuse not to punish Thatcher.

by **account deleted by request** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 9:35 am

Stuart Pearce and Man City deserve credit for the stance they have taken, Thatcher deserves everything he gets and more!

by **Lando_Griffin** » Fri Sep 01, 2006 4:12 am

IMHO the Police should not be consulted over this unless Mendes himself requests it.

The elbow was totally wrong and he should be punished within the game for it, not made into a criminal.

I'd say 10-match ban and a box of Milk Tray to Mendes as a loving apology.
As a comparison, I used to play Rugby, and my elder brother still does. We were both in the same club, I in the U14's, and he was in the first team. (He'd have been about 26 then.)

Anyhoo - they played against a Police team, and a fight ensued, with these cops against a normal club. My brother actually knocked one bobbie out cold, and rightly so as the fecker had just stamped on one of our lads.

There were no legal repercussions from that, and while I accept that Mendes didn't stamp on anyone, I'd expect the same from the Portsmouth man, lest he be a complete girl.

If he wants revenge he should smack him next time they are in a tunnel together.

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