ALAN Pardew had no complaints about either the red card Ryan Taylor picked up on Saturday, or the directive behind it.
Taylor’s first Premier League start of the season lasted just 54 minutes before he was dismissed for a two-footed tackle on Bolton Wanderers striker John Elmander.
While accepting referee Chris Foy made the right decision in showing Taylor a straight red card, former Crystal Palace midfielder Pardew argued that “ten years ago he might not even have got a booking” for the challenge. That was not the same as saying the game’s law-makers had been wrong to change their emphasis, however. “I think there is a directive on two-footed challenges off the ground,” he said. “They call it ‘launched’ and I am not arguing against the red card. I think in the speed of play you have to send him off. But when you look on the replay it doesn’t look that bad.
“Whether it is a good or bad thing it is probably the right way to go with the players we have in the world now, and how important they are to the TV and entertainment of the game and their clubs. We need those players, so perhaps it is the right thing.”
Opposite number Owen Coyle seemed to broadly be in agreement.
“The thing we all crave is consistency,” he stressed. “If a red card is given for a certain offence, it has to be given every week and not because one is as bad as another one. I am a great believer in trying to keep 11 v 11 on the pitch. I just want the best team to win on any given day.
“But if something is naughty or endangering players, in the big scheme of things it only takes one of those challenges to hurt someone seriously and we certainly do not want that. We have to try and stamp out anything reckless or dangerous.”
Elmander – who was the victim in offences which saw Fabricio Coloccini sent off at the Reebok Stadium in November and Mike Williamson retrospectively banned – took evasive action and was able to complete the game.
Taylor, who only started because Joey Barton felt a thigh injury in the warm-up, will now miss Saturday’s visit of Everton.
