Sky Sports pundit suspicious as Cristiano Ronaldo is charged months slower than Everton star
We’re delighted to welcome former Everton striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week the former Toffees captain will be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Goodison Park…
It is “ridiculous” that is has taken the FA over five months to charge Cristiano Ronaldo for the incident against Everton last season says Kevin Campbell.
The Portuguese star was charged last week (23 September) with “improper and/or violent conduct” stemming from an incident after the Toffees’ 1-0 win at Goodison Park on 9 April, where he slapped a phone from a young fan’s hand after the final whistle.
Considering the speed with which the governing body moved to charge then-Everton star Richarlison for throwing a blue smoke canister in the win over Chelsea a month later, Sky Sports pundit Campbell is baffled and suspicious at how the two situations can be dealt with such a differing sense of urgency.
“Funny eh? Funny isn’t it?” he said, speaking exclusively to Goodison News.
“Funny old thing. Richarlison gets charged early and Ronaldo it looks like it was forgotten. It’s like it’s been forgotten even within the Premier League.
“It’s ridiculous.
“So again, you can asks the questions but there’s no point because you won’t get any answers [from the authorities].
“I don’t have an answer. The paperwork must have been put in a drawer somewhere and then found after a while.
“Because as high profile as Cristiano Ronaldo is, how does that get neglected? It doesn’t make sense to me.”
No doubt there will be no answers forthcoming from the FA on this, and frankly if there were they would probably only invite more questions.
There is a growing feeling that the Toffees are on the receiving end of rough and unequal treatment from the footballing authorities in a number of areas over the last year or so, and this sort of thing only adds to it.
Unfortunately it will be little surprise to supporters who are becoming increasingly used to it, but how Richarlison could have been charged and banned – one small mercy being that it was after he had moved to Tottenham – and forgotten about for an incident where there was no evidence of harm to anyone is illogical when compared to the lax response to the Ronaldo situation.