Not so sweet FA
February 27 2007
Cardiff City manager Dave Jones and on-loan midfielder Simon Walton have been charged by the Welsh FA for their behaviour during and after the recent victory over Leeds, and Jones must be absolutely livid.
He’s been at loggerheads with the FAW all season over the tardiness with which they have acted regarding Cardiff’s appeals against red cards, and this may well be the final straw.
Walton was hugely unlucky to be sent off against Leeds (he was sent off for two bookable offences, the second of which was a non-existent dive). The FAW have accepted that he didn’t deserve to be sent off, but as they are unable to rescind yellow cards, they have just pressed ahead and charged Walton with improper conduct for kicking the fourth official’s electronic board as he walked from the pitch. Jones will be steaming.
Cardiff are already pursuing the possibility of leaving the FAW and joining the English FA, as they’re worried that, should they qualify for the Premiership and then for Europe, the FAW could block their involvement on the grounds that they shouldn’t be allowed to represent Wales because they play in the English system.
All this suggests that the simmering tension between the Welsh FA and Wales’s biggest football club is reaching boiling point. I wouldn’t like to get in Dave Jones’s way the next time the FAW crosses him…
The Beautiful Game 
February 28 2007 at 2:03 pm
The FAW is on shaky grounds. It is being investigated in that it doesn’t represent all of it’s members (Colwyn Bay for one). In such that the FAW has no money to (mis)manage for future seasons. We have had Rhyl and Bangor fans, who have nearly switched on a number of occassions, wishing they were in the English league.
I’m not sure what the situation would be with FAW blocking Cardiff european games if it gets that far, but I’d imagine it’d be the same as with Colwyn Bay, during our period of exile. In the end we took them to court, and won. I’m sure Cardiff, with all it’s resources could do exactly the same.
The only problem (which has stopped us switching) is that we aren’t guarenteed to be accepted into the English system.
March 28 2007 at 10:42 am
[…] Wales play games at Ninian Park. Apparently all the FAW have to do is pick up the phone, so maybe that rift isn’t as serious as I thought… No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI […]