It will be interesting to see where this goes. I don’t believe that Arsenal will sue the player or Sunderland Football Club but I think that for too long the FA, UEFA and FIFA have tried to paper over the damage done by serious foul play. They have consistently pussied out of addressing the issue but will issue edicts and rules about petty, stupid things all day long. You can’t take your shirt off, you can’t run over to your fans to celebrate, you can’t kiss your badge in front of other fans, you can’t wear a t-shirt undearneath your shirt with a message to your friend who’s just had a baby, you can’t kick a ball 5 metres away when the opposition get a free kick without getting a yellow card but you can fracture and dislocate another player’s ankle and because you’ve gotten a yellow card nothing more can be done about - even if the ref has got it obviously wrong. As an example, let’s look at the case of Liverpool goalkeeper José Reina. He put his hand on Arjen Robben’s face. You can see Robben’s reaction there. So, by the letter of the law Reina can’t raise his hands and is given a straight red card with a 3 match ban. There was nothing really ‘violent’ about his conduct, the referee maybe didn’t see it at the time and gave the card on Robben theatrics, but with video evidence it can clearly be put into perspective and perhaps the ban can be lessened. We also had José Antonio Reyes banned for 3 matches for a similar incident during an FA Cup game last season. By the letter of the law it’s a 3 match ban and let’s just say we accept that. Where the problem lies is the fact that even if Dermot Gallagher had given Daniel Smith a red card the maximum punishment for him would have been three games. Which is the same as Reina got for nothing much. The same as Reyes got for nothing much. There is no distinction between conduct which, by the letter of the law, is a red card and dangerous, violent play in which the player deliberately intends to hurt his opponent. Dennis Bergkamp got a three match ban for stamping on the ground against Liverpool. Yes, his challenge was reckless and I’m glad he didn’t connect, but the bottom line is he didn’t touch the player and still got the same ban as he would have if he’d landed on his leg or foot. Now, if the FA want to discourage this kind of behaviour then they really need to introduce retrospective punishments whether the referee has seen and dealt with the incident during the game or not. They should be able to look at a tape of the Diaby incident and say “The referee has got it wrong. It is our opinion that Smith’s challenge was designed to injure his opponent and he should serve a 10 match ban”. They also need to be able to look at behaviour like Arjen Robben’s during the Reina incident and say “You were acting to get a fellow player sent off. You get a two or three match ban.”