Bryan King has praised the Football Association after they handed charges to Tottenham, West Ham United and Mohammed Kudus.
The ex-Spurs scout has reminded Premier League players that they are meant to be “role models”.
It comes after Kudus was sent off in West Ham’s 4-1 defeat to Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the Premier League on Saturday (19 October). Kudus appeared to strike Micky van de Ven and Pape Matar Sarr in the face as a melee ensured between both sets of players.
As a result, Kudus has been charged by the FA with violent conduct and acting in an improper manner for an incident “after the offence he was sent off for” (via BBC Sport, 22 October).
In addition, both clubs have been charged with failing to ensure their players “didn’t behave in an improper and/or provocative and/or violent way” at the time of Kudus’ sending off. All three parties have until Thursday (24 October) to respond.
And King – speaking exclusively to Tottenham News – has insisted these things shouldn’t be happening on a football pitch.
“If a player lays a hand on an opposing player, there is going to be an inquiry,” King said.
“Kudus started everything by the way he made his first challenge. From that, everybody seemed to want to get involved.
“Therefore, although Spurs never started it, I’m afraid the retaliator is always going to be brought into the situation. These players are role models, if it happens in the Premier League, it could happen at junior level. As a result, I think the FA have done the right thing.
“You don’t want to see those kinds of things on the football pitch. There are a lot of families who pay good money to go to football matches with their children. They wouldn’t want to see their children involved in something of that nature.”
Tottenham, West Ham and Mohammed Kudus charged by the Football Association
It would be hard for Kudus or either club to argue against this charge. Therefore, it is likely that the FA will punish all three parties.
However, it will come as a much bigger blow to the Hammer than Spurs. They are now likely to be without a key player in Kudus for more than three matches.
Meanwhile, Tottenham will most likely expect to receive some sort of fine. Therefore, while that is still frustrating, it certainly could’ve been much worse for Postecoglou.
As a result, he will be focused on moving on and continuing to build momentum with Spurs having won six of their last seven matches in all competitions, although a fresh concern might threaten to derail that.
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