Simple solution to card shame: stay away from trouble

RED CARD: Robbie Simpson (far left) is sent off against Yeovil on December 22.

ATHLETIC have collected yellow and red cards with reckless abandon this season.

To date, 63 cautions and five dismissals have been racked up - four of the latter for violent conduct.

To add to Connor Brown’s wrestling match at Portsmouth, Jean-Yves Mvoto’s shove and shove again at Crawley, Dean Bouzanis’s sprint-and-push at Doncaster, James Wesolowski was the latest, for allegedly kicking at Damien Mozika at Scunthorpe.

The other red card was picked up for Robbie Simpson’s lunge at Yeovil goalkeeper Marek Stech.

It is a horrible record.

Counter claims have been made about opposing players playing to the gallery and exaggerating their injuries. But Athletic’s players are no different from anyone else in this regard. Exaggerating contact to gain refereeing decisions is rife.

It doesn’t make the job any easier for the man in the middle.

The solution to Athletic’s poor red-card record is simple: find the self-control not to get involved in flare-ups of the kind that result in red cards. That way, gamesmanship drops out of the equation.

Then the manager can make plans in training without the headache of having to deal with suspensions.




Red cards . . .



Connor Brown v Portsmouth (A): Violent conduct (originally shown in error to Cliff Byrne), 3 matches

Jean-Yves Mvoto v Crawley (A): Violent conduct, 3 matches

Dean Bouzanis v Doncaster (A): Violent conduct, 3 matches

Robbie Simpson v Yeovil (A): Serious foul play, 3 matches

James Wesolowski v Scunthorpe (A): Serious foul play, 3 matches




Suspended after five cautions . . .



Dean Furman, James Wesolowski, Jonathan Grounds, Cristian Montano, Jose Baxter, Cliff Byrne, Jean-Yves Mvoto






Total number of

suspensions: 12

Total matches missed through suspension: 22