Monday 18 November 2019 17:46, UK
The FA panel which overturned Heung-Min Son’s sending off at Everton earlier this month failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
Detailing a rare majority verdict, the FA's Independent Regulatory Commission voted two to one to overturn Martin Atkinson's sending off, after Son's tackle led to Andre Gomes suffering a fractured dislocation of his right ankle.
Controversially the commission chose not to consider the injury suffered by Gomes when reviewing Atkinson's decision.
Publishing the written reasons for what they described as "a very challenging case" the commission said: "Having viewed the available footage of the incident on numerous occasions and in great detail, the regulatory commission agreed by majority decision that the referee had erred in his interpretation of the incident."
That view of Son's tackle was not shared by one member of the three-man panel who interpreted it "as a late slide followed by a secondary movement which tripped Gomes and caused the awkward fall and subsequent collision.
"This secondary movement of Son's left leg served ultimately to endanger the safety of his opponent pursuant to Law 12. Based on all the considerations the minority view was not satisfied that a dismissal was outside the reasonable range of actions for the referee to meet the obvious error test."
The report suggests the two other members disagreed: "The majority decision was that in this instance, there was the absence of excessive force, brutality and the challenge itself did not endanger the safety of the opponent as stipulated in law.
"The majority noted the speed with which the challenge was made, that the player had not been airborne and interpreted the challenge as a sliding tackle as opposed to a lunge.
"It was concluded that Son had made a challenge on Gomes which would warrant no more than a caution rather than a straight red card."
