Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill accuses ref of lunacy amid Ashley Young cheat jibes
Jan 2 2010 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail
MARTIN O’Neill has leaped to the defence of Ashley Young after he was accused of diving, insisting that Villa’s wing wonder would not risk injury by deliberately flinging himself through the air.
Young is available for today’s FA Cup clash with Blackburn after serving a one-match ban against Liverpool, triggered by a booking for simulation at Arsenal.
But O’Neill insists the England hopeful is not a cheat and has accused the referee, Phil Dowd, of “lunacy” for putting the idea into other officials’ heads.
“So, Ashley is going to do three somersaults in the air, come down and eventually land on his head so he can have simulation?” stormed O’Neill. “The boy may or may not have touched him – nobody can be certain about that – but to book him for that was utter lunacy.
“There was a real genuine potential for Ashley Young to land on his head having tumbled over.
“He doesn’t perform acrobatics. He hasn’t got a course in it.
“I’m not sure Ashley has got that reputation, but what might happen is if some referee thinks that is a dive then, of course, it will get the notion into other people’s heads.
“This is not a case of protecting a player for the sake of protecting a player. That was a nonsense decision.”
