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Featured Image Credit: Premier League
Topics: Manchester City, Portsmouth
Josh Lawless
Fans are still mystified as to how a former Manchester City player avoided a lifetime ban for one of the worst challenges in football history.
Back in 2006, City hosted Portsmouth at the Etihad Stadium and the game was an extremely forgettable one.
But there was one unsavoury moment in the game. In the second half, Portsmouth had just defended a corner and the ball was heading out for a throw-in on the right flank.
Pedro Mendes darted to the loose pass and cleared it up the pitch. Yet as he did, City left-back Ben Thatcher steamed into the Portuguese player with a sickening impact.
He caught the former Spurs man flush on his jaw with his elbow, leaving Mendes motionless on the floor.
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The referee for the game was Dermot Gallagher, but he only brandished a yellow card to Thatcher.
In the end, the former Spurs and Leicester City man was given an eight game ban by the FA, as well as a fifteen game suspended ban for two years.
Interestingly, City also decided to impose their own punishment, which was a six-game and a fine worth six week's wages.
But 17 years on and fans think Thatcher ought to be have been banned for life.
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One stated: "He should've gone to jail."
A second added: "I was there.Awful challenge. Should have been banned for life."
A third opined: "Couldn't argue with jail time for that tbh."
Another agreed: "Still one of the most disgraceful things I've seen on a football pitch. Remember it well! He should've been prosecuted, not just banned."
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Greater Manchester Police did receive ‘a number of’ complaints from the public over the offence and chose to investigate.
There was scope for Mendes, who was knocked unconscious and suffered a seizure on the way to hospital, to seek legal action but he chose not to.
Thatcher was criticised by both Harry Redknapp and his own manager Stuart Pearce and issued a public apology.
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When the two met on the pitch again, Mendes and Thatcher shook hands despite the former stating he would not.