David Gold has confirmed the club will appeal the red card handed out to Mark Noble at Liverpool this afternoon.
Manager Slaven Bilic and the two bosses have viewed the incident and are convinced they will win an appeal after referee Kevin Friend decided that a ‘nutmeg’ represented reckless behaviour.
The captain had stayed on his feet after avoiding a wicked lunge and then stretched out a boot to stick the ball through an opponent’s legs.
If anything it was a brilliantly determined piece of skill but the referee immediately reached for red to bemuse virtually every player within distance of the event.
Gold told ClaretandHugh exclusively: “We’ve all watched it and it’s not a red. We will definitely appeal it – there’s no doubt about that.”
Manager Slaven Bilic added: ““I watched it after and for me the very simple answer is not a red card, nowhere near a red card.”
This was the one blot on a perfect day. I saw the game live and the replay of this incident . To hand out any punishment for Noble’s move would have been ridiculous. To hand out a red was insane.
My only conclusion was the usual…a ref balancing his calls, a grossly unfair tactic but one that does surface fairly regularly during the season
At least we will not qualify for Europa Cup and it will be a blessing in disguise if Noble is out for 3 games