IF Wanderers had picked the phone up and asked if they should appeal Prince-Desire Gouano’s red card on Saturday, I’d have said: “Yes!”

Newcastle United asked me my opinion on a very similar incident involving Fabricio Coloccini and after reviewing the footage I advised them to make a case saying he hadn’t denied a clear and obvious goalscoring opportunity.

Yesterday afternoon, shortly after I’d landed back in the country after a busman’s holiday in Doha on the Keys and Gray show, I got a text saying the Toon defender had got off his ban.

There’s very little difference between the two situations, yet Neil Lennon will be the one who’s missing a defender next weekend.

I said immediately at the time ‘that isn’t a red card’ because the number 20, Jose Manuel Casado, got across to make the challenge.

I know the club didn’t make a lot of the decision, I don’t know why, but I’m pretty sure if they had contested it they were on solid ground. There is no way it would have been deemed frivolous.

In Newcastle’s case you simply could not guarantee that Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher was going to get the ball when Coloccini made the foul, therefore you can’t say for sure whether it was an obvious goalscoring opportunity.

Referees, in this case Robert Madley, are all too eager to show a red card. It’s too easy to send a player from the field but the benefit of the doubt should go to the defender if he’s going to give a penalty anyway.

The double punishment law is something I’d like to see gone from the game. It serves no purpose.

When you look at Prince’s challenge on Mirco Antenucci it’s a bit clumsy – maybe he didn’t even need to make it, so fine, give Leeds United the spot-kick. An equaliser in this case was punishment enough because Steve Evans’ side would have fancied their chances in the final stages.

It’s the old cliché about Rule 18: Common Sense. It seems to have disappeared from the referee’s handbook.

Bolton are now without a key defender for this weekend’s game against Preston North End, and it’s not as if they have a squad that can easily cover it. This could come back to haunt them on Halloween.

It’s a shame, because I think he would have escaped punishment in this case and Neil might have been able to name an unchanged back four for once.

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PICKING on Chelsea has become an art form in recent weeks – but once again I think Jose Mourinho has been hard done by after Chelsea lost Nemanja Matic at West Ham.

I have no complaint against the first yellow card issued by Jon Moss – you can fully understand why he reaches for his pocket.

But the second incident, near the touchline, is careless, clumsy, but does it stop a promising attack? By the letter of the law Jon was correct but in general referees have maybe got to start showing some empathy with players. There was no reason to send Matic off in the final minute of the half – just tell him off and let it go.

It’s no wonder managers feel a wedge has been driven between themselves and the officials. You don’t even get the chance to tell them to go away.

Tony Pulis used to be the worst – waiting for you just out of sight of the tunnel and giving you all sorts of abuse. But you knew what he was up to and I just used to tell him to go forth and multiply.

But it’s no wonder that Jose feels there are double standards at work.

Take Swansea City’s Federico Fernandez, for example, he pushed his head into Aston Villa’s Micah Richards and I fully expected him to be charged retrospectively for violent conduct, given the precedent set by Diego Costa recently.

But after reviewing the incident the FA decided not to issue a ban, and I simply can’t see why. There is no difference between the two cases.

I don’t know what was said behind the scenes, and needless to say some language was used, but Jose ended up being sent to the stands on Saturday.

Steve McClaren raced on to the pitch to confront the officials in the North East derby in front of everyone. Better or worse? You decide.