By Dave Smith
Southampton midfielder David Prutton's plea for leniency after being hit with a double charge of improper conduct fell on deaf ears at an FA hearing yesterday, despite the best efforts of the PFA.
The charges related to incidents which followed his sending off for a foul on Arsenal's Robert Pires on Saturday, indiscretions for which the player had already publicly apologised on a couple of occasions.
Prutton, who was charged with failing to leave the field promptly and pushing referee Alan Wiley, and using threatening words and/or behaviour, was represented by PFA Deputy Chief Executive Mick McGuire who was disappointed with the whopping ten-match ban handed out.
The player was also fined £6,000 and Mick McGuire said after the disciplinary hearing in London: "The punishment was extremely harsh, particularly when one considers there was clearly no intent for the player to push the referee.
"However, tempered with that, is the understanding that it's a difficult call for the commission, who clearly felt the need to send a strong message on what is really a very sensitive area.
"We cannot, though, condone players laying their hands on match officials, and therefore can understand the severity of the sanction. It was a fair hearing, and it is very unlikely we will be appealing against it."
Earlier this week, the Saints star went on record as saying: "It's an horrendous situation and I apologise to the ref and the linesman, who were only doing their job. I've also seen what happened to Pires' leg and I'm sorry for that too. I thought Pires made a meal of it at the time, but in hindsight he obviously didn't."
After the hearing, Prutton bravely faced the cameras to say: "It is a hefty ban but I have put myself in that position by doing what I did. It is something I have got to get on with.
"I regretted it as soon as I did it, in the dressing room afterwards. I knew I had let myself, my teammates and the manager down. I have portrayed an image of myself which is not me. It is not an example I want people to follow."
Saints boss Harry Redknapp, who joined Prutton and Mick McGuire at the hearing, had said after the incident: "David has made a big mistake and he knows it. I can't condone what he's done. He was out of order but he knows that.
"He's a decent lad. He over-reacted badly for some reason - he had a rush of blood from somewhere. Off the pitch you couldn't meet a nicer lad. - and he's embarrassed by what he's done."
Redknapp will now be out a key player for the rest of the season, but he ruled out an appeal against the suspension. "There's nothing we can do and there's no point in appealing - he'll take his punishment," said Harry. "He had no grounds for arguing and is sorry for the way he reacted. He didn't set a good example to anyone.
"We'll obviously miss him he's a big loss on the pitch. He's played every match for me since I came here but we'll just have to move on."
* Prutton's ten-match ban is one less than that famously handed out to Paolo di Canio when he pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground in January 1999.
