Ex-Blue Downes Banned For Saints' Next Three
Thursday, 23rd Apr 2026 11:56

Former Blues midfielder Flynn Downes will miss Southampton’s final three games of the regular season after admitting an FA charge of violent conduct.

Downes will be unavailable for the Saints’ FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday, the Blues’ visit to St Mary’s next Tuesday and the final-day match at Preston North End following an incident in the 2-1 win at Swansea on Saturday.

An FA statement reads: “The midfielder’s actions around the 23rd minute wasn’t seen by the match officials, but was caught on video, and it was subsequently alleged that this constitutes violent conduct.

“Flynn Downes admitted the charge against him and accepted the standard three-match penalty.”

Photo: Matchday Images

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Tractorboy58 added 12:02 - Apr 23 Always a bit of a naughty boy !
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Bazza8564 added 12:05 - Apr 23 I remember going to Cambridge for a pre-season friendly circa 2019, his second half headbutt of a cambridge player was a thing of beauty is an otherwise poor game :)
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PortmanTerrorist added 12:10 - Apr 23

Always played on the edge, and cannot help but think we could do with some of that in our team, since Morsy left....and he is a really good footballer these days too. Him being missing for 3 games might help us a bit, not necessarily because of his ability, but it does limit their ability to rotate and fully expect Man City to run them ragged for us, esp in midfield.

Freddies_Ears added 12:15 - Apr 23 Yes, Bazza, that head-butt v Cambridge was a great moment. I'd swear I heard it, from the opposite stand! I think it was very late on. He got tackled, maybe even fouled, stood up, and... bang!
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johnwarksshorts added 13:01 - Apr 23 Good player, but bit of a liability.
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MaySixth added 13:25 - Apr 23 Family big ICF lunatics.
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RetroBlue added 13:44 - Apr 23 Portman Terrorist : Havent you noticed Taylor's tackles recently lol?
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RetroBlue added 13:46 - Apr 23 But Downes has always been a thug first and foremost IMHO
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Richhibb added 15:15 - Apr 23 I was in the hospitality area for the Cambridge friendly and was sitting with the Cambridge sponsors. I had sponsored Flynn and they were asking about him. At the end of me explaining how good he was, how he played on the edge but never took it too far, he headbutted that guy:-D
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Karlosfandangal added 15:40 - Apr 23 Might have done us a favour there
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poet added 16:00 - Apr 23 I watched this game, this was typical Downes, he behaved like the petulant Mum’s Boy child that he is. I very much doubt he’ll ever grow up. This ugly incident occurred in the first half. His manager kept him in the dressing room for the second.
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poet added 16:06 - Apr 23 This video doesn’t show it, but he actually grabs the player he has just fouled by the shirt and pushes him to the ground, ending up landing on top of him. This isn’t a tough challenging footballer, it’s a petulant child that reacts when things don’t go his way.
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Robert_Garrett added 17:16 - Apr 23 Well played Flynn - but avaiable for Southampton in the FA Cup Final. But not againts our COYB!
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Bert added 17:23 - Apr 23 He will not like missing our game. He is a better player than when he left us but he was always fight tough in a battle.
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Bert added 17:25 - Apr 23 .. will not was !
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PositivelyPortman added 17:55 - Apr 23 Personally, I never rated him at all. He thought he was a hard man, but it was all just show. Typical MM kind of player - poundshop quality.
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bluesnightorg added 18:08 - Apr 23 I don't want to be one of those guys on the internet, but if this had been spotted when it happened, there's no way Saints are coming back from one-nil down to win three points. Surely it would be a more appropriate sanction for Southampton, Millwall, Boro and Norwich to all be deducted thirty or forty points? Oh, and Coventry.
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Eeyore added 18:37 - Apr 23 I would try again to re-sign him. Probably a bargain. Good player.
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RetroBlue added 21:45 - Apr 23 No thanks.
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Bluespeed added 22:11 - Apr 23 @ Eeyore hopefully you are not a member of the ITFC recruitment team ! Having said that some of the recent decisions being made …. certainly in the striker department makes me wonder about our recruitment team/ strategy anyway ! Or is it deeper than that?
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WorcesterBlue added 07:40 - Apr 24 From what I’ve seen, other than the West Brom conveyor belt and Matasuiwa our effective signings all arrived prior to their existence. No genuine Number 10, no decent striker and at least two loan players on presumably big salaries ‘unable to fit into our system’. Shambles
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