Boss Roy Keane says he’s glad he’s no longer playing if Jon Stead’s tackle on Crystal Palace's Freddie Sears is worthy of a four-match ban. Stead’s appeal against his red card at Palace was rejected by an independent FA Disciplinary Commission yesterday, who added an additional fourth match to his suspension as they felt the appeal was frivolous and had no chance of success.

Keane said: “We’re obviously very disappointed. If that tackle deserves four games I’m glad I’m not playing any more.

“It was only a yellow, but that’s what happens. Steady is as honest as the day is long and I’ve seen the tackle over and over again and it’s a yellow card at the most and he ends up being out for the best part of a month.”

The Blues boss says he is as sorry for the player as he is annoyed at losing his on-form frontman at a vital stage of the season: “He didn’t even deserve a three-match ban and we’re disappointed for the player. He’s never been sent off before, but I best say no more. He’s a good striker, we’re going to miss him.”

Keane says he’s yet to analyse why the FA Commission took their decision when most observers, including Palace manager Neil Warnock, felt the decision was harsh: “We got the report last night by email, I’ve not seen it yet. No doubt the words they will use will be that we were only wasting their time, as has happened with other managers. It happened to Steve Bruce recently, it happened to Gareth Southgate last year.

“If it was a bad tackle and we did chance our arm a little I could get my head round it, but I think it’s a yellow at most and nobody’s going to change my mind on that.”

The Town manager admits that the affair will make him think twice before making similar appeals in the future and says he hasn’t had too much luck with similar significant decisions having failed to go his way both on and off the field in his time as a boss: “I’ve been a manager for 100 games at Sunderland and 20 here and I don’t remember many major decisions like that going my way and I could name a few.

“I don’t mind the referee making a wrong decision but to get an extra game on top of that, it’s lucky I’m not paranoid.”

Keane says the player is upset at missing a month’s football: “The boy’s devastated. He’s a striker in a decent bit of form. Four games is a lot. I think I got five once, but four’s a lot for that tackle.”

Stead begins his ban when the Blues travel to Blackpool for the third round FA Cup tie on Saturday.

Photo: Action Images

WREXHAM_BLUE added 22:59 - Dec 31 Roosta, you're an idiot!!
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Roosta added 00:12 - Jan 1 @Jamie22 well said, agree 100% @Carsley - clearly we shouldn't have made an appeal as it cost us a player for another game (or is that too complex a concept for you to understand)? Sure that's the benefit of hindsight, but my point (if you'd bothered to ready my posts) was that the appeals system is sh*t, that it's unclear how it should be used, but that the club should know what it's doing. @wrexham_blue - wtf? Just pathetic. Look, this is clearly too adult for you morons to understand, so I'll spell it out: a) I'm not a Naaridge fan b) I think the red card was a poor mistake c) the four match ban was disproportionate punishment for the offence d) the appeals system is wrong e) because the appeals system is wrong, they had no choice but to take the action they did f) the club should know what it's doing when lodging an appeal to avoid making a bad situation worse g) Keanes commets today were immature and unhelpful h) Happy F***ing New Year, don't expect many more contributions from me next year if I'm going to get sh*t for trying to propose a reasonable argument. Stick with your banal "Keane out" and "Roy Keane for Prime Minister" brigades instead.

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AJblue added 00:13 - Jan 1 TA TA MATE!
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AJblue added 00:16 - Jan 1 To ALL true Town fans....Happy New Year!!! Here's to a successful 2010
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Churchmanschild added 01:52 - Jan 1 Clearly Roosta likes the sound of his own words!! are you sure you were not on that panel?? Keane has every right to be angry with that decision, put yourself in his position, are you telling me you would'nt be hacked off with that decision? claerly a yellow card at least. PS which club do you support?
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Roosta added 09:59 - Jan 1 @ChurchmansChild - Loyal and true Ipswich Town fan mate Sure I was disappointed by the decision, just not surprised. I'm more peeved by Keane's response, and find his attitude tiresome and disappointing @Injuredanimal - great contribution, thanks, really worthwhile.
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Kantalla added 11:37 - Jan 1 I'd have to back what Roosta is saying here. Here is an extract from FA website: http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/~/media/Files/PDF/TheFA/DisciplinaryProcess_2006.ashx "The Compliance Department plays no active part in claims for wrongful dismissal / mistaken identity other than to check that claims conform to the relevant rules and regulations." "Disciplinary Commissions may increase the penalty if they deem the claim to be frivolous, ie abusing the system." What has happened is the referee has made an excessively harsh decision under pressure from the crowd and Palace players. Our appeal probably said it was excessive, and only deserved a yellow. The committee looked at the appeal in terms of has the referee misapplyed the rules of the game (he hasn't, he has just been harsh) and correctly decided the appeal had no chance of success and added an extra game for wasting their time. That doesn't mean Roosta thinks this was a sending off, or worthy of a four match ban, but that the appeals committee has correctly followed their procedures. From what I've read it sounds a travesty that a slightly dodgy foul has got almost as long a ban as Roy Keane got for his worst offence (I'm assuming that was for admitting he intentionally went after Alf Inge Haaland for revenge). Now it's time for some of the guys who have been underperforming or on the bench to step up with the chance they will get in the next four games. Hopefully Roy will have a selection headache in four games time! We also need the club to understand that we can't appeal this kind of decision. Essentially we've lost a good player for three games from a bad call by the ref and one game for a bad call by the club in appealing it.

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AJblue added 12:10 - Jan 1 Roosta ...... just saying goodbye,thats all.Manners are important you know! Happy new year to you Roosta,lighten up and enjoy supporting the best team in the world. All i ever was doing was criticising your POV,seems you dont take criticism well,but are happy to critcise the club and its manager. We all have differing opinions,thats what makes the world go round,but to use a harsh body blow to the club, and its supporters to have a veiled "go" at RK and the club,IMO, was vey low. Once again happy new year,and if you do decide to keep putting forward your ideas on here, and not flouncing off, i look forward to agreeing/disagreeing with you in the future 12 months!

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Roosta added 18:53 - Jan 1 @Injured Animal - take your point. From my POV you seemed to be lashing out at me for raising a POV, and not debating on what I was trying to say. I don't think it's wrong to criticise the club when I think it's done something wrong - isn't that half if the point of a like minded online community? I was as upset as anyone at the decision, and really just wanted everyone to move on. RK didn't allow that by his comments. I think my annoyance with Keane on this one was that by taking the rise given to him from the press, he's kept it alive and kept it newsworthy. It's a repeated pattern that - in my opinion - is harmful to the club and its fans. I think you and I have the same pretty similar views on the club etc, but perhaps apply those views in different ways. Thanks for the lively debate and happy new year.

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TractorRoyNo1 added 01:24 - Jan 2 funny that Swansea player was 'let off' by the Welsh FA - what league do they play in?
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