Newcastle United manager is to launch an inquest to the Football Association to query why he was fined for his comments about referee Andre Marriner when managerial rival Pep Guardiola only received an official warning, according to the Daily Mail.
The newspaper claim on their website that the Magpies boss, who was charged with a £60,000 fine as a result of what he said about the official, will be asking the FA why he was handed the punishment after an official statement revealed Guardiola had simply been given a warning for speaking about Anthony Taylor.
Benitez’s quotes included comments on Marriner’s record when officiating the Magpies, while the Manchester City manager had spoken about Taylor coming from Manchester ahead of refereeing the Manchester derby.
Opinion
While this might not be a major issue to most fans, Newcastle supporters will be feeling they, in the form of Benitez, are being unfairly treated in comparison to other teams in the Premier League. It is not too different to the way Leeds fans were up in arms after Pontus Jansson’s one game ban after criticising the referee, while Southampton’s Charlie Austin was simply warned for his outburst. Benitez has every right to complain about his punishment compared to Guardiola’s, for they were both found guilty of speaking about officials before their respective games. There needs to be clarity and transparency over such issues and why these sort of decisions are made. If there cannot be consistency over punishments then teams, managers and players are always going to be fearing what might happen to them should they cross the line. It will be interesting to see if the FA do respond to Benitez’s questions, for there certainly seems to be some discrepancies.