A false accusation should be punished with the same ban as a genuine racial incident, only it should be Holgate getting the ban. A false accusation sets back the attempt to remove genuine racist incidents.
absolutely.
I am still unclear as to how Holgate, a kid from Doncaster, is fluent in Portuguese. This has never been explained. And if the alleged jibe was in english, amazingly nobody else seems to have heard the N word being used. I was reading about Holgate being lucky a few days earlier, in a dirty tackle from behind on United's Lingard......supposedly could easily have broken a leg...only being a booking. Someone called him a nasty piece of work - a Joey Barton junior.
On a wider scale - I have to say I was very angry at the BBC coverage of the game.
Not only was the TV producer amateurish, in his/her wrong choice of camera shots (action happening, and them still on some close-up shot of something irrelevant), but also the punditry.
Shearer and his pals now have changed their tune. A few weeks ago at the same ground, they crucified Lovren and said it was a clear penalty - you can't put your hands on the opponent in the box, was their cry.
Now some three weeks later, Shearer and his pals are adamant that "it's a contact sport" and Holgate's arms all over the Liverpool player did not constitute a penalty. Shearer has been called out on his hypocrisy in social media since the game.
I liked the way Klopp threw this back in the face of journalists after the game. i.e. he said that he was sorry three weeks earlier, and was clearly wrong....and unaware that hands on an opponent was an automatic penalty. He has learned and now tonight's was clearly a penalty too. He beat them with their own cane.
Also, the pundits never focussed on the clear foul of Matip that led to the Everton goal.
Also they were quick, at half time, to put down Firminho, referring to spitting at Holgate. They had to row back on that one. And it was as much as Shearer could do, as to suggest Holgate maybe could have been booked for his dangerous push on Firminho.
Rooney also should have got his marching orders in that first half. Again, no focus on the tackles.
Of course Murphy referring to a scouser, and his crutches, being on benefits, was the usual anti-merseyside nonsense. I'd call it racist/regionalist.
From a national public broadcaster, I felt their coverage was well below par.
I'd replace the lot of them. They seem to be a happy little club, far too smug and limited, to be employed as pundits.