Blackburn Rovers vs Leeds United: Micky Gray cannot believe ‘ridiculous’ touchline rule enforced at Ewood Park
Micky Gray has questioned a “ridiculous” FA rule imposed after the Championship clash between Blackburn Rovers and Leeds United.
Due to serving a one-game touchline ban for his sending-off against Sheffield Wednesday, Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson had to watch Saturday’s (9 December) contest from the Ewood Park stands.
Commentator Nigel Adderley explained during talkSPORT’s live coverage of the game that, as per FA guidelines, he could not interview Tomasson on the touchline at full-time.
“We’ve got to do it further down the tunnel,” Adderley said [9 December, 13:20]. “I think, what difference does it make? I’m not going to tell anyone.”
Gray, working as a co-commentator alongside Adderley, interjected with: “It’s ridiculous.”
Strange
This seems like an utterly bizarre rule on the face of it. Tomasson was banned for the match, so it is right that he was unable to be anywhere near the touchline during the 90 minutes.
As Adderley pointed out, though, what difference does it make once the full-time whistle has sounded? The game is literally over, and he cannot have any influence on the result.
It would be interesting to see exactly what would have happened had Tomasson gone ahead with his interview on the side of the pitch.
If you are going to ban a manager from speaking on the sidelines, surely they should just be banned from speaking after the game full stop? It’s Tomasson’s assistant who oversaw the match, after all.
This is a minor grievance, of course, but it does just seem like another law for law’s sake.
In other Leeds United news, journalist Graham Smyth has speculated over an “unlikely” Daniel Farke call over the Christmas period.