FA waste time by charging Beresford for saying what everyone else in the stadium ...

Last updated : 07 February 2005 By Peter Bulkeley
Luton shot-stopper Marlon Beresford has been charged by the FA for shouting at "referee" Mick Thorpe.

Marlon has been charged with abusive language towards the match officials, but it was abuse which was deserved after an abysmal performance by the officials. This isn't just the view of a Luton fan either - there were controversial decisions which cost both sides.

Huddersfield fans thought that Steve Howard was offside in the build up to the Hatters goal scored by Ahmet Brkovic, and the ball clearly came off a Huddersfield player in the build up to the Huddersfield goal, but the assistant gave a throw-in to Huddersfield. I can't comment on the controversy over the offside, but there were definitely decisions which favoured Luton when they shouldn't have, and vice versa.

Luton had at least one clear penalty turned down and one other suspicious push in the area, and Huddersfield also had appeals waved away by the clown refereeing the match. Sol Davis was also suspiciously booked for winning the ball, and there were occasions when Howard fouled and should have been penalised, and Beckett and Booth were clearly offside on occasions, but the linesmen gave nothing, and on other occasions they were clearly being played onside but were given offside.

It should also be considered that if any Luton player was to go justifiably mouthing off at the officials, then Beresford is the player who is the least likely. He was seen sharing a joke with the match officials at the end of the first half and hasn't picked up a reputation for verbal abuse, not even towards his own defence. You could accept the decision if certain other players were being charged, but certainly not Marlon. Anyway, what's wrong with expressing the opinions of the 13,000 other people in the impressive Galpharm Stadium? Perhaps Mick Thorpe should look at his own failings and consider why he is such a muppet and then maybe he will realise why players feel the need to shout at prats like him.

If Marlon did his job as badly as Mick Thorpe did his, then he'd have been sold by now, so maybe the FA ought to consider taking action against Thorpe before considering Marlon's charge. Maybe they should forget the whole thing altogether and just concentrate on assisting clubs like Wrexham in financial turmoil, or considering how to narrow the gap that has appeared between the Premiership and the Football League, or considering how to narrow the gap between Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United and the rest of the Premiership. So will they do this? Dream on.