Darren Fletcher Will Miss UEFA Champions League Final

Congratulations to Man Utd who in fairness were worthy winners over the two legs.

The purpose of this post is to highlight the apparent injustice that still exists in our football appeals process.

In real life, away from football and at law in the UK and in many countries in the world, the absence of an appeals process against judicial and executive rulings is sometimes held up as an example of how backwards or oppressive a regime is.

There may be an argument that the referee's opinion should be final, but put yourself in Darren Fletcher's boots tonight and ask yourself if you think it is fair that he is now banned from a potentially career and life defining cup final for a tackle that was fairly executed and legal under the rule of football.

It sounded from the post match interview that Man Utd are resigned to accepting that in line with the existing UEFA appeals process that Fletcher will miss the final. I think that is a shame and it is not unreasonable in the circumstances that UEFA review. If it was a World Cup Semi-Final and a more high profile player, I suspect FIFA would intervene.