Championship key man handed second four-game ban as Leeds United Junior Firpo gripe repeated
Leeds United’s Junior Firpo was banned in similar circumstances last month.
Norwich City midfielder Kenny McLean has received a second four-game ban of the season after retrospective action was taken - a process Leeds United manager Daniel Farke has taken issue with in recent weeks.
The FA confirmed on Tuesday that McLean would serve a four-match suspension after being punished for ‘violent conduct’ during his side’s 3-0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday. The midfielder clashed with Hoops winger Kieran Morgan in the first-half at Loftus Road, with the 18-year-old falling to the floor.
Referee Anthony Backhouse missed the incident but a retrospective review deemed it worthy of a ban, which has been increased from three to four due to McLean having already been banned for violent conduct and abusive language. The decision comes just over a month after Junior Firpo was handed a three-game suspension in similar circumstances.
A statement read: “An independent Regulatory Commission has suspended Norwich City’s Kenny McLean for four matches following violent conduct in their EFL Championship match against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday 7 December. The midfielder’s behaviour during the 24th minute of the game wasn’t seen by match officials at the time, but it was caught on camera, and the FA subsequently alleged that it constitutes violent conduct.
“Kenny McLean denied this charge against him and submitted that the automatic penalty is excessive if found proven. The independent Regulatory Commission found it to be proven and imposed his sanction following a hearing. Its written reasons will be published in due course. The sanction is four matches rather than three as it is Kenny McLean’s second dismissal this season.”
Saturday’s defeat at QPR was only McLean’s third game back after his first punishment, with the 32-year-old banned for four matches in October following Norwich’s 3-3 draw against Middlesbrough. The midfielder was shown a straight red card and subsequently handed a three-match ban, which was increased to four after he was found guilty of using "abusive and/or insulting words" towards a match official.
The use of retrospective analysis to punish players was something that irked Leeds boss Farke in recent weeks, following Firpo’s ban. The left-back missed three games after being found guilty of violent conduct during last month’s 1-0 defeat at Millwall, having gone head-to-head with Danny McNamara who subsequently went to ground.
"I'm struggling with a few things," Farke said following news of Firpo’s ban. "We don't use VAR in this league to make the decisions better, like disallowed goals, red cards, offside. Probably to save some money or whatever, so we play without it. But then we use the TV pictures to find something out, what no one has realised during the game and to investigate if someone has behaved in a difficult way.
“I'm struggling a bit with this. Especially, where does it start and end? No one realised it. Then when you have the camera on each corner there are five or six fouls and we would finish with five red cards, there is always a foul. We allow TV pictures to investigate."