It remains the worst foul of the Premier League era.
There are a few contenders when it comes to the title of worst foul in Premier League history – but most would agree that Ben Thatcher’s savage elbow on Pedro Mendes stands head and shoulders above the rest.
The shocking incident occurred during a Premier League clash between Manchester City and Portsmouth in August 2006.
Mendes attempted to clear the ball but was left poleaxed by Thatcher, who inexplicably avoided a straight red card from referee Dermot Gallagher.
VAR wasn’t around back in the mid-2000s, of course, but it’s still a baffling decision now when you look back at the footage.
The state Mendes was left in should have been all the evidence Gallagher needed to send Thatcher for an early bath. Different times, eh?
Video: Ben Thatcher’s challenge on Pedro Mendes
Watch the incident here:
Video: Ben Thatchers shocking elbow on Pedro Mendes. 8 games
You won’t see many worse fouls than that – thankfully. It was nothing short of disgraceful from Thatcher.
Greater Manchester Police received ‘a number of’ complaints from the public about the challenge, prompting an investigation, while Mendes was consulted to see if he wanted to take legal action.
What did Harry Redknapp say at the time?
Harry Redknapp, Portsmouth’s manager at the time, was quoted by the Manchester Evening News as saying: “As soon as I saw him running into the corner, I knew what was coming. I would have bet my life on it.”
On Thatcher, he added: “Off the field, you could not meet a nicer boy. Unfortunately, on the pitch he is capable of doing things like that.
“It was a horrendous challenge and totally out of order. Pedro is in hospital and won’t be coming back with us tonight.
“He suffered some kind of fit or seizure. We had to give him oxygen and he wasn’t in a great way when he left the stadium, but we will see how he is tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Portsmouth midfielder Matt Taylor said in his post-match interview: “How can that not be a sending-off? What do you have to do, kill someone?
“The FA have to look at it. It is there for all to see. I like Ben as a guy but that was wrong.”
Man City and Thatcher’s initial statement
In a statement, City wished Mendes well and said that matter had been ‘dealt with’ internally by manager Stuart Pearce.
An apologetic Thatcher added: “Immediately after the game I tried to find out how Pedro was. I have written to him today apologising for what happened.”
City reacted to the incident by suspending Thatcher indefinitely and fining him two weeks’ wages.
What did Stuart Pearce say?
Pearce admitted: “What happened on Wednesday was indefensible.
“Any form of discipline will be discussed at board level, kept internal and we will move on from there. I can assure everybody that this has hit the player very hard. There is no bravado about him. He has gone home, turned on the TV and seen the challenge. The more you watch it, the worse it gets.
“Ben is distraught but hopefully he will learn from it. He is an aggressive player but every now and then the red mist appears and he steps over the mark. I ask my team to play hard but fair but when they go over the mark it’s down to me to make sure I guide them in the right way.
“I believe this could be a massive wake-up call for Ben. It was an awful challenge and we’ve not got a leg to stand on to defend it. Hopefully this incident never occurs again because it was totally unacceptable.
“I’m not sure I’d like to see the police become involved. Football has its own rules and regulations to deal with incidents like this but other people may have other ideas.”
Fortunately for Thatcher, Mendes opted against pursuing a criminal complaint, which meant the police closed their investigation.
Pedro Mendes on the Ben Thatcher foul
The Portuguese midfielder later reflected: “The moment was terrible. After the incident, I do not remember anything after that until I was in hospital. It is the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my career.
“At first I had real fear about possible after-effects of the incident but the doctors are optimistic I will be OK. The tackle was totally unnecessary but I am not the referee and the decision from now on does not depend on me.”
What has Ben Thatcher said about his foul on Pedro Mendes?
As for Thatcher, the former Wales international was happy to admit in 2014: “That’s one moment in my life I wish I could erase.”
He said: “My dad asked me the following day, what were you thinking? And the honest truth is, I couldn’t tell you.
“I honestly can say I don’t know whether I hit him with my arm, my elbow, my head. I’ve just run at him.
“I didn’t realise the severity of it until their centre-half after the game, Linvoy Primus, said you better go and see him and apologise to him. I said ‘is it that bad?’ He said, ‘yeah, it was bad.’
“I remember going into my house after it, an evening game, and seeing my wife in bed looking at the telly. She said ‘what have you done?’. It was only then I actually saw the coverage.
“The worst thing about it was my little girl would have been four or five and the front page of the newspaper was a picture of me behind bars saying I was facing jail. My little girl could read and got herself upset. Obviously there was a police investigation and the severity of it all hit home the following morning.
“I went in to see Stuart Pearce, hadn’t slept a wink. I wanted some guidance what to do, some help. I said I need to know what to do, first and foremost the player’s safety, his wellbeing, and I was praying nothing was wrong with him in terms of his long-term football career.
“I wrote a letter to him, I thought about phoning but if it was me, would I answer the phone to him? Probably not. I apologised to him, it’s a hard one to write. I also wrote to the referee, Dermot Gallagher, who’s a really lovely fella, I’ve since had conversations with him, and I felt bad for the stick he was getting.”
Thatcher was banned for eight games and fined £80,000 (with half suspended).
He was also given a 15-match ban, suspended for two years, following an independent FA hearing.
Source: givemesport
