Former Premier League referee and Sky Sports pundits' verdict on Fratton incident involving Portsmouth fan and Cardiff defender
The incident took place in the 72nd minute of Saturday’s Championship game at Fratton Park.
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher believes official Ben Speedie was in a ‘no win situation’ during Saturday’s incident at Fratton Park involving a Pompey supporter and Cardiff City’s Krystian Bielik.
Meanwhile, Blues title winner Tim Sherwood is adamant the evidence is ‘obvious’ and is confident the correct punishments will be handed out in due course.
Footage on social media appears to show Bielik grabbing the youngster around his upper body, with the supporter then removed from his seat by match-day officials, while the Cardiff man was left unpunished by Speedie.
Pompey have since released a statement confirming the club and Hampshire & Isle Of Isle of Wight Constabulary are investigating the incident, which is also under review by the Football Association.
Indeed, Gallagher, who officiated more than 200 top-flight matches during his career, insisted referee Speedie did the best he could by leaving the FA to decide on a punishment.
Sky Sports pundits’ verdict on incident involving Pompey fan and Cardiff defender
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch, the former official said: ‘I have no idea (what punishment the FA could hand out to Belik) because it’s everything in that cameo slot that I don’t want to see in football and millions and millions of football supporters don’t want to see.
‘The player shouldn’t have done what he did and the fan certainly shouldn’t have done what he did.
‘The referee is in a no win situation. I think he’s done the best thing, he’s just reported it to the FA and said look you decide along with your regulations what is the best outcome here.
‘It all depends with the referee and what he saw. We don’t know where the referee was at the time and what he saw.
‘The fans are different. If you score a goal my focus as a referee is on you. That ball has gone out for a throw in, my focus might well be on I’m going to check something out or get into my next position.’
Sherwood, who appeared 33 times for Pompey during an 18-month stay between 2003 and 2004, is confident the FA will come to the correct verdict after reviewing the footage.
‘I don’t think the referee has seen everything so he hasn’t got all the information to hand. But I think it’s quite obvious.
‘There’s a full screen there for anyone to analyse now if there is any retrospective punishment coming to anyone then I’m sure we’ll find out in due course.
‘I think he (the referee) just wants to get on with it. I’ve played there. The crowd are on you, that’s why it’s such a great place to play football.
‘I’m not saying anything nasty about Fratton Park but that’s the beauty of being a Portsmouth player. They’re on you, they’re all part of the action.
Meanwhile, former Cardiff City striker Jay Bothroyd, who joined Gallagher and Sherwood in the Sky Sports studio, was surprised Bielik escaped a yellow card, which would’ve resulted in him being sent off.
‘The one thing I would say, though, is the player has got involved with the fan anyway.
‘I’m surprised he didn’t get a yellow card for that because we always get told when you’re on the pitch, don’t get involved with the fans. You’ve got to be professional in that sense.
‘The fact he got involved, I’m surprised he didn’t get a yellow.
‘We obviously can’t see exactly what happened and you have to wait for a report but it is surprising that he didn’t get a yellow card anyway.’