I highly doubt it. The media coverage would have been nowhere near as intense for starters. They'd have been given a formal warning at worst, just like Gerrard when he stuck two fingers up at the ref for the public to see clearly.
Fergie has been banned, punished, and made an example of more times than I care to remember. The commitee that imposed the current ban even said so. They even admitted that his profile demanded greater responsibility hence greater sanctions aswell. That is nonsense, and SAF's representative Graham Bean was bang on the money in what he said about the FA...That they use the profile of MUFC to enhance their own credibility, which most would agree has been in tatters for a while now. This whole Rooney situation has yet more evidence of it, hot on the heels of them using SAF and his profile in the same way. SAF has at times in the past been the architect of his own downfall, I agree with that, but what he's been banned for this time is comparatively little and crucially, less severe than what other managers at less prestigous club's have got away scot free with.
No, the point of retrospective punishments is to clamp down on misconduct. That's fine, but when you start taking into account the individuals and the profile they have/the profile their club has, that is not a fair trial. Each case should be examined at face value without any prejudice or agenda to punish one for who they are, instead of what they did. When we start going down the road the FA are going now, we might aswell make one set of rules and sanctions for the majority and another one for the elite. It's garbage, grossly unfair, and a scandal.
Yeah, he has brought the game in disrepute. But he did the exact same thing last summer when wearing an England jersey. Where on earth was the pedantic watchdog that is the FA then eh? The whole point of regulations is to implement them each time they aren't adhered to, the fact is that the FA didn't because it suited them not to, and now it suits them to take action. That is inconsistent, hypocritical, and quite frankly, a disgrace to the code of fair play. They cannot be so morally jumped up when they sold their morals down the river last summer for the sake of their national team and potential to earn more prize money to fund some of the many expensive cock-ups they've made over the years.
They are an organisation that is as bent as a roundabout and needs to be weaned from top to bottom by this government enquiry ASAP. The stench of hypocrisy and conflicting interests is overwhelming.
Wow. And in the process rid himself of another £50,000? Get real.