Appeal against Keane’s red card dismissed | OneFootball

An FA panel have rejected Everton’s appeal of the ‘ridiculous’ red card shown to Michael Keane against Wolves when the VAR accused him of 'violent conduct' in appearing to pull the ponytail of Tolu Arokodare as they both went for an aerial ball. 

The most galling aspect of the whole affair is that Michael Keane misses the next three fixtures — a totally disproportionate punishment.

David Moyes says he's hugely disappointed and hugely surprised and has said he is “embarrassed” for VAR.

He says he knows who the three of them are on the FA panel and that's made him even more angry that they've come to that conclusion.

Moyes says he was more embarrassed for the VAR looking for "the smallest things" when there was a young referee in charge.

In a statement, Everton said they were 'disappointed' with the decision, while a frustrated Moyes did not think the punishment fitted the crime.

Reader Comments (30)

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Should we be surprised, Michael.

It's not the incident in itself but the sheer inconsistency and bias towards some clubs that's disgusting. VAR was supposed to be to help both referees and players where a clear and obvious error has occurred and as far as I recall nothing else.

It has taken over every aspect of the game and spoilt the whole watching experience for me. I no longer enjoy watching now after 65 years as an Evertonian. The spontaneity and excitement has gone out of the game and makes for a very sterile and boring spectacle.

I believe in the near future they will even do away with referees and linesmen (linesmen... do you remember them!) and the game will be purely run by dickheads who have never kicked a ball in their lives, we are already half way there! Having been a season ticket holder since 1968, I think this will be my last season. I'm not happy with aspects of the new ground, mainly the lack of atmosphere, the togetherness that has been lost since leaving Goodison Park.

And getting to and from the ground is a nightmare, even worse with me now living in North Wales whereby going to every game is like travelling to an away game for me. No, time to leave the whole mess to younger fans... and God help them.

If a yellow had been given on field, no one could complain. The fact is it's a really stupid foul from an experienced player.

Grab the shirt, lean in with a folded arm or flat of hand, even place a hand on the shoulder... but grabbing the ponytail was just wrong and VAR meant it escalated to violent conduct.

And as for Jack Grealish... he just compounded a really difficult time for the squad... two pros, two daft cards, two players down.

Time for the squad to dig deep and find something then!

O'Brien and Tarkowski to go centre, Armstrong starts (and stays here as long as we need him). Right-back is still a coin toss, but because we need Garner central, I'd go for Patterson with Dibling in front, coach them to work together.

McNeil has to continue one more game, but on the left; make Beto and Barry fight for the place and give them more to feed on.

Tim Iroegbunam has to keep working on his game, more composure needed. The full team tomorrow will depend on injuries, but I would expect to see some younger players on the bench.

This month was always going to be hard; time to show some mettle... COYB

John Williams 3 Posted 09/01/2026 at 11:55:36

When you consider what Martinelli did last night after Bradley went down injured. First, he deliberately dropped the ball on his head, then tried to drag him off the pitch.

While watching it, I still don't know whether he received any punishment. If not, i'ts a disgrace and far worse than the Keane incident.

Minik Hansen 4 Posted 09/01/2026 at 12:00:28

Not an ideal way, but now O'Brien is going to play as a centre-back. Happy days.

Though the right-back slot still needs to be sorted.

John Pickles 5 Posted 09/01/2026 at 12:05:31

A 3-game ban for handling a ponytail, just another offence that will only ever be given to one club, ours. Add it to the ever-increasing list of offences that only Everton have been penalised for.

I'm still waiting for Man City's and Chelsea's three-figure points deductions...

Paul Clements 6 Posted 09/01/2026 at 12:06:32

John. Completely agree with you and there is no punishment for that disgusting Martinelli incident.

How Michael Keane playing hairdressers is worse than that blows your mind.

Ian Bennett 7 Posted 09/01/2026 at 12:28:13

That was terrible. Threw a ball at him, and then rolled him off the pitch.

The kid done his knee, going off on a stretcher.

Christy Ring 9 Posted 09/01/2026 at 14:09:21

Watching ref watch and Gallagher would turn your stomach, said totally red card and Armstrong incident a deserved yellow card, of course Boothroyd completely disagreed, yellow for Keane and definitely a red card for Armstrong challenge. Good to see Vinny O”Connor discuss all the evidence of the incidents on Sky and also how VanDick got no yellow for clapping referee, and Grealish treated differently. The club should be highlighting everything to the Premier League body in charge

Ian Wilkins 10 Posted 09/01/2026 at 14:36:29

You can see lots of two tier refereeing every weekend akin to the Grealish / Dick van Dyke comparison.

Pundits refs will say the DVD incident is common sense reffing ( I agree).

Pundits refs will say Grealish is following the laws of game, which it is.

But which one is it? You can’t have it both ways, unless it’s Everton of course.

Martin Farrington 11 Posted 09/01/2026 at 14:45:37

Sadly, pulling hair is a red and a three game ban. No get out the end.

Its enshrined. You can only go through due process to get that law changed.

There is no other way.

So yet again Moyes makes a dick of himself appealing the unappealable.

As for the Bradley incident,

No red for Martinelli no suprise. Disgraceful.Arsenal fans booed the kid as he was stretchered off.

Nasty bunch.

Yup two tier reffing indeed. VanDyk no yellow. Scanalous

Don Wright 12 Posted 09/01/2026 at 14:57:17

I am not standing up for him far from it martinelli should not have thrown the ball at the red shite feller, but watch the incident again twice the near fatally injured player rolled back on the pitch to stop play not one but twice if your injury is that bad you don't move end of, I only watched the incident because my brother in law told me (arsenal fan) although it is a Keane post the Grealish second booking is biased as we know during last nights game a player from each side was quite clearly seen telling the ref to fuck off after a throw in went against them and some red shit applauding the lino after getting a offside decision what happened fuck all, and while I am on a rant anything that breaks the rules of the game should be sorted why then when most teams take a corner especially from the side with out a lino the ball most of the time is not within or touching the line are they aloud to take it VAR get the same view we see but they don't interfere but can spot a hair pull both braking the laws of the game prem league and their sky masters corrupt as fuck.

Brendan McLaughlin 13 Posted 09/01/2026 at 15:09:31

Don #12

On corners... it's sufficient for the ball to simply "overhang" the line.

Nicolas Piñon 14 Posted 09/01/2026 at 16:06:36

Clearly

Don Wright 15 Posted 09/01/2026 at 17:28:18

Yes, Brendan, thanks but I am aware but it still happens quite a lot (one of my pet hates), so as to give them a couple inches it leaves too much to interpretation.

Why change the rule in the first place? No need now it's a rulebreaker which is not enforced except when it's the linesman's side of the pitch if they change the laws then enforce them.

VAR has plenty of time to inform the ref because it takes forever to take a corner with all the argy bargy. This still goes on after they have had a right good talking to by whoever happens to be the dick in middle.

I don't think I have ever seen VAR call a shirt pull which is another rule ignored. Sorry, I'm off on one again.

Brendan McLaughlin 17 Posted 09/01/2026 at 18:59:42

Don #15,

VAR doesn't look at everything. They only concern themselves with goals, straight red cards, penalties and a fourth which escapes me now.

Obviously offside as well.

So a shirt pull or an illegitimate corner kick wouldn't be looked at by VAR unless either resulted in one of the outcomes I've listed above.

Les Callan 18 Posted 09/01/2026 at 19:01:51

It always makes me smile, Don, to think the these players think they can be so accurate that a couple of inches makes a difference!

Most of them hit the first man anyway.

Tony Heron 19 Posted 09/01/2026 at 19:07:59

I see Arteta finally got booked for leaving the technical area last night. Something he does all the time, even though the Arsenal technical area is massive.

Moyes got booked for the same "offence" against Wolves. The area at the Hill Dickinson Stadium is one of the smallest in the Premier League and a fraction of Arsenal's. What's the rule regarding the dimensions... is there a standard or do clubs just decide for themselves?

Mal van Schaick 20 Posted 09/01/2026 at 21:35:45

The Panel has set a precedent now. All forwards grow long hair and dangle in front of defenders when heading a ball. This needs a rule review.

Tony Abrahams 21 Posted 09/01/2026 at 21:48:16

The fourth must surely be pulling the goal back for a foul, that happened a little bit earlier in the build up to the goal Brendan, because this was something we were punished for against Spurs, a couple of seasons ago.

Christy, the only solution is to not watch that totally embarrassing programme, fronted by Dermott Fucking Gallagher. His opinion means about as much as anyone else’s now (absolutely zilch) he his no longer a full time referee, and yet he takes so much heat away from Howard Webb, and his inept bunch of referees, because people watch his show, listen to what he says and then start getting angry at Gallagher, instead of the real culprits.

Mike Price 22 Posted 09/01/2026 at 21:58:31

The amount of times we have been blatantly, unjustly penalised by referees and VAR is well known by us all.

I’ve wanted the manager to highlight these injustices and blatant favouritism towards other teams on many occasions when everyone would have to agree.

Picking a clear hair pull and calling it accidental was not the time to do this. It discredits Moyes and Everton and makes us look stupid. It actually makes the situation worse because no-one will listen to any legitimate complaints we have in the future.

Tony Abrahams 23 Posted 09/01/2026 at 22:23:26

Just been reading what David Moyes has had to say about the decisions to send off both Keane and Grealish, and I think he has chosen his words very well.

Embarrassed for the experienced VAR, who sent a rookie to the screen, and whilst he thought Grealish was stupid, he has since been shown a few videos of other players doing something similar, with the only difference being that they never got the same punishment.

Two wrongs don't make a right, so David carried on and mentioned how we seem to have been on the receiving end of a few handball decisions as well. Punished for handball, yet watching our opponents getting away with similar decisions against us at both ends of the pitch.

I think the day of a manager coming out and using the word 'corruption' to describe a very subjective decision might actually not be far away...

24 Posted 09/01/2026 at 22:47:28

No Tony #21

I've already covered that. Pullbacks aren't looked at by VAR unless they happen in a move which leads to a goal.

The fourth actually came to me not long after I had posted. VAR also gets involved in the case of mistaken identities where the ref books the wrong player for example.

FFS... dry January for me, Everton are playing shite, I'm talking VAR... we're got to win tomorrow!!!

John Cook (1): what magnificent support mate. I hope it’s not your last season, but everything you say I have heard from others. Personally, I find the images before the game of little groups of Evertonians walking along the Dock Road a tad sad. Yep, the great new stadium looms over the horizon but Goodison Road it is not.

John W (3): he got a yellow didn’t he? Not sure that the card matched the offence, but I did take note of Slot’s generous (?) post-match comments.

Which brings me to another point. We are talking on a thread about Keane, but maybe half of the posters are talking about Martinelli and other incidents, as if that somehow paints OUR player’s antics in a better light and detracts from the incident. This is typical Moyes.

Paul Clements (6) plummets the depths or perhaps rises to great heights in the eyes of others in his comment that Michael Keane was ‘playing hairdressers’. I do find this remark flippant, smug, and misconceived from someone who I think thinks that he is being dead funny and smart. It doesn’t help or progress anything.

I do think that a three-match-ban can be seen as excessive, but the point Mr. Clements is that Keane did pull Tolu Arokodare’s hair and that was fucking stupid and an invitation to bloodsucker Chris Kavanagh to leap in with gusto.

Martin Berry 28 Posted 10/01/2026 at 10:13:24

Regardless of other "offences" that could have warranted more serious actions, Keanes offence by the rules is a red as it is seen as violent conduct.

Hold you hand up, admit guilt and take your punishment, move on

Tony Abrahams 29 Posted 10/01/2026 at 10:43:56

Fair enough Brendan, but I haven’t seen many teams punished for scoring a goal and then the VAR ref, getting involved to say there was a very subjective foul, about fifteen seconds earlier.

Off the top of my head, I think I remember Man Utd, getting away with one against Liverpool, because when I close my eyes I can still hear the screams, but no such luck with Everton, especially when certain officials are involved, and other than us getting a goal chalked off against Spurs, I can’t remember another?

A lot of us have been saying they make it up as they go along, for quite a while now, moving the goalposts 5CM, so to speak.

Just imagine if Keane would have been given a hearing? With it being fresh on everyone’s mind, I think all’s he would have had to do to get the red card rescinded, was take a video of what happened at the Emerites, the following night.

Two wrongs don’t make a right, I said in an earlier post, unless of course it’s got anything to do with premier league officials and the very subjective way they use VAR.

John Keating 30 Posted 10/01/2026 at 10:49:40

Martin,

It's not that Keane was sent off as per the laws — it's more the inconsistencies

VAR gets involved, VAR does not get involved. One ref says one thing, another says something else.

Shirt pulling in the penalty area at free kicks and corners is ignored, yet demed a foul or yellow card outfield.

The game has become a joke and yet the halfwits running it continue to introduce more laws open to misinterpretation

Surely VAR has been going long enough to have been ironed out yet we're still arguing about it!

Footy as we know it has long gone, never to return. Soon it'll be a non-contact sport and finally run by AI with us all sitting watching it on the telly.

Thankfully I'll be long gone by then. Mind you, I'd love to see Bobby Collins's avatar...