Time to lay off Thatcher

Yesterday's fantastic victory over the Gooners was just the tonic City needed after what has been a bit of a traumatic week for the club.

Now before everyone gets even more hot under the collar and shoots me down, let me just say:

1) What Thatcher did to Mendes is indefensible and one of the worst incidents I've seen on a pitch and he deserves the book to be thrown at him, which it no doubt will

2) There is no place in football for this sort of behaviour and we at the City Vitalfootball network were one of the first to publicly condemn Thatcher's behaviour.

What needs to happen now is for a quick resolution, so that the player and club can move on; something I'm sure Mendes himself would welcome.

Some of the stuff I've read and heard recently has been out of all proportion, which is why this issue needs to be dealt with quickly now. I can't understand why the FA hearing will not take place until September 12th - why can't it be done on Tuesday morning?

Our own poll indicated that two thirds of you want to see his contract terminated with the remainder satisfied with a fine and ban. But, how much worse was Thatcher's tackle than Michael Brown's on Giggsy this week? I It was worse without doubt, but not by much; lucky for Brown that Thatcher has defected the spotlight away from himself.

I'd like to see City put and end to it early this week and announce a hefty fine and a ban that would see Thatcher not play again for the Club in 2006. Football needs aggression, but not violence and nothing but a severe punishment will do in this instance.

Finally, let's not forget the victim here and wish Mendes a speedy recovery, but let's also not lose sight of the fact that a big loser in all this has been Manchester City and once again our club's name has been dragged through the mud as a result of individuals who should know better. I want to be writing articles about football and not this sort of stuff..... roll on our next game against Reading and let the football do the talking!

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