Davies in plea to FA over referee remark
9:00am Thursday 11th March 2010 in Sport By Marc Iles
KEVIN Davies has asked for a personal hearing from the FA in an attempt to avoid suspension over comments he made about referee Mark Clattenburg.
The Wanderers skipper has admitted to a charge of improper conduct handed to him for comments made in the aftermath of 0-0 stalemate with Fulham on February 6.
Davies — who had seen a last-minute goal disallowed by the Tyne and Wear official — claimed Clattenburg had “something personal” against him.
But he has now held his hands up, hoping to avoid a more draconian punishment, such as the four-match ban recently handed to Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand for consistently appealing a violent conduct charge.
Davies was given until tomorrow to answer the FA, but was yesterday confident that his past disciplinary record would stand him in good stead.
“I have never been in trouble with the FA before,” he said. “I have got the label of being a dirty player but I have never had anything against me for dissent before.
“The decision was made and I said what I said and I’ve had to pay for that remark. But hopefully they will look at it and maybe warn me or fine me.
“I will have to take it on the chin and learn from it.”
No date has yet been set by the FA for the hearing, although Davies is keeping his fingers crossed that any decision will still allow him to feature in Wanderers upcoming games against Aston Villa, Everton and Manchester United.
The latest name added to Wanderers’ suspension list was that of defender Sam Ricketts, who was sent off in the 4-0 defeat against Sunderland on Tuesday night for two bookable offences.
The Wales international will miss Saturday’s game against Wigan at the Reebok — but Davies has praised the job he has done in the absence of Gary Cahill, who has been on the sidelines for more than a month with a blood clot.
“We have missed him but we’ve had clean sheets without him,” the skipper said of Cahill. “And to be honest I think Sam has done a brilliant job for us.
“He has been asked to do a job. At West Ham, he was brilliant with some last ditch tackles. He has been outstanding for us and doing a job for the boys.”
Davies has extolled the virtues of a fast start in Saturday’s local derby, given the sluggish way Wanderers started the game at the Stadium of Light in midweek.
“We gave them such encouragement with a goal after 41 seconds – it was a soft one again,” he said.
“We should have been the ones going in there and putting them on the back foot. I think we all know how important it is to start games well.
“After the goal we played okay and they didn't have too many chances. We started the second half pretty decently but they got the second goal and it pretty much killed the game off.
“Everyone was down after the game but we’ve got to put it behind us. It was a bad day at the office and we have got a massive game on Saturday.
“It felt a bit like the Blackburn game. We wanted to start well and get your game right, especially with their form and take the crowd out of it.”
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