Harry wants FA to ban mad Mario for ‘stamp’
The Italian, a second-half substitute, had already been booked for a foul on Benoit Assou-Ekotto when he tangled with Parker in the 84th minute. Balotelli twice caught the prone Parker, the second time square in the head as he seemed to lose his balance and fall over.
Balotelli appeared to have a strong case for a claim that his collision with the England international was accidental and the match officials, led by referee Howard Webb, gave him the benefit of the doubt, although Redknapp believes the striker could still face retrospective action from the FA.
“Yes, I do think that,” said Redknapp when asked if Balotelli should have been sent off. “It’s not the first time he’s done that is it? I’m sure it won’t be the last.
“I’m the last person to talk about getting people sent off, but it’s blatantly obvious if you see that, he reacts like that at times to challenges.
“Scott has a lovely cut on his head. I’m not sure if he’s had stitches, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I’m surprised the linesman hasn’t seen it. The first [stamp] could be an accident, but the second one? He’s back-heeled him straight in the head.
“I don’t like talking about people kicking players in the head, but when you see that, it’s wrong.
“It’s not something I understand, how you can back-heel somebody in the head when they are lying on the floor.”
However, Redknapp did add that he would not be surpised if the FA act where referee Webb chose not to. “I don’t know. It’s done. I’m sure they will look at it. They must do mustn’t they,” he added. “It’s not a nice thing to do and it has no place in football.”
Balotelli, whose on- and off-field indiscretions led to him wearing the famous “Why is it always me?” T-shirt which he displayed after scoring against Manchester United this season, has already been dismissed this season and would face a four-match suspension if the FA handed him a red card for this incident.
City coach David Platt claimed not to have seen a replay of the incident when he addressed the post-match press conference.
“I haven’t seen video of it,” said Platt. “So I can’t really comment on it. Live, I never saw anything, and I never saw any kind of reaction from the players. If somebody has seen something, I can comment on it once I have seen the video from different angles.”
The victory brought City a commanding eight-point lead over Redknapp’s side in the Premier League but Platt insisted: “The title race is still wide open.
“People will talk about Tottenham being out of the title race but that’s not the place. There are plenty of games left, plenty of points left.”
HARRY REDKNAPP’S trial on charges of tax evasion will begin at London’s Southwark Crown Court today.
The Tottenham boss is accused of two counts of cheating the public revenue between specific dates in 2002 and 2007 when he was manager of Portsmouth FC. He is accused alongside then chairman Milan Mandaric.
The pair face charges relating to payments of $145,000 and $150,000 alleged to have been made by Mandaric to Redknapp.
The pair are accused of concealing the payments from the taxman. Both men vehemently deny any wrongdoing.
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