Soccer:Newcastle midfielder Yohan Cabaye has been handed a three-match ban after being found guilty of violent conduct in Saturday's FA Cup defeat at Brighton.
Cabaye had denied deliberately kicking out at Albion defender Adam El-Abd at the Amex Stadium and contested the FA charge. But a regulatory commission found him guilty and he will now miss tonight’s Premier League game at Blackburn and the upcoming matches against Aston Villa and Tottenham.
Manager Alan Pardew had been hopeful of getting the charge dismissed, claiming he had the support of El-Abd, who had initially branded the kick deliberate.
Pardew said: “I had a call from the Brighton coaching team to suggest to me that their player wants to support our player, and I have never had that. We never instigated it, we never asked or put a phone call in to Brighton.
“We have sent our letter in, a strong letter, and we have also, after the contact from Brighton, asked the Brighton player if he would forward a letter to us, which he has kindly done.”
Pardew, who had asked to make a personal appearance at today’s hearing to present Cabaye’s case, added: “If we had 18 cameras at every game, you would be sending two or three players off at every set play because there’s contact, trust me, more intended contact than there is with Cabaye’s incident.
“I really do think they need to just take a deep breath on this one, have a good look at it.”
