OPINION
Derby player Tom Lawrence will face no retrospective action from the FA over his alleged dive in the game against West Brom, and Leeds fans are furious.
Footage showed minimal to no contact but he went over in the box and got a penalty, which secured Derby’s 3-1 win over West Brom.
That win secured them a play-off spot against Leeds, with the first leg to take place at Pride Park on Saturday. Lawrence will be free to play in the game after the FA’s decision.
Leeds striker Patrick Bamford, on the other hand, will be missing after getting a two-match ban for deception of a referee in the Championship game against Aston Villa.
The two cases might be slightly different but the FA’s decision seems utterly bizarre and will only fuel Leeds’ fans view that there is an agenda against them.
Fans want consistency and that’s not too much to ask for. From the video footage we’ve seen it seems pretty clear that Lawrence dived but the FA obviously think differently.
If he goes on to do anything significant in the match, it will be yet another controversy between the two sides.
Phil Hay made the claim on his personal Twitter page on Tuesday lunchtime.
Tom Lawrence will face no action from the Football Association over an alleged dive against West Brom. He's available for the play-off semi-final between Leeds United and Derby County. #lufc
— Phil Hay (@PhilHay_) May 7, 2019
Here are the best reactions from furious Leeds fans:
Disgusting.
One rule for Leeds, another for everyone else.
Football League's corrupt.
I was at the Derby game, great view of the "incident", it was a dive.#lufe #dcfc
— Rate My Sausage (@RateMySausage) May 7, 2019
I didn’t used to buy into this before this season but it’s a joke how differently Leeds are treated. Corrupt
— Jamie White (@JamieWhite84) May 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/BarneyStuart21/status/1125734777313734656
?Jesus even Mr Anti-LUFC Goodman said it was a dive…unbelievable Jeff
— C Bielsa 007 ???? (@BielsasLB) May 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/batesylufc2/status/1125732993363009537
Corrupt. It stinks of biased. Then again it is the @fa and lampard is manager of derby. I'm sure they are dreaming of a lampard terry final.
— scott bates (@bates_scott88) May 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/martinmorley18/status/1125743244342640640
This was always going to happen. The ban would have favoured Leeds and that could not be allowed by the corrupt league
— #F1 #LUFC #MOT (@F1_Andy_LUFC) May 7, 2019
Are we supposed to be shocked? The @fa and @EFL strike again. It's always been a bigger deal when it's a leeds incident.
— scott bates (@bates_scott88) May 7, 2019
Beyond a joke. Can Radz take legal action?
— Dale Nicholson (@Ciderman666) May 7, 2019