Football above the law?

However, the [Manchester] City manager, Stuart Pearce, does not believe Greater Manchester Police should become involved (re. the assault / tackle by Ben Thatcher on Portsmouth's Paulo Mendes).

"Anything that happens on a football pitch should be governed by the FA and Fifa," Pearce said.

"Once you start involving the police, the floodgates can open and you could end up with a situation where players are arrested during a game."

Couldn't agree more, Stuart. Fancy that. Footballers being required to play 90mins of football without breaking the law of the land. Since when did the referees whistle or the white lines on a football pitch secure immunity from the law.

Any pitchside policeman who witnessed that assault on Wednesday night, should have walked onto the pitch and arrested Mr Thatcher there and then.