Chris Sutton has reacted to Blackburn Rovers v Ipswich Town outcome - He’s not happy | OneFootball

The former Blackburn striker turned media pundit Chris Sutton has spoken on the decision to replay Rovers match against Ipswich and he's unimpressed.

Former Blackburn Rovers striker Chris Sutton has spoken out on the subject of the EFL's decision to replay their match against Ipswich Town, in a topic that has caused much debate since the events of last Saturday.

The fallout from the abandonment of the Championship match between Rovers and the Tractor Boys continues. The match, played at Ewood Park on September 20, was abandoned after 79 minutes had been played with Blackburn leading 1-0, with Ipswich having already had Jacob Greaves sent off, after torrential rain rendered the pitch unplayable.

Referee Stephen Martin originally suspended play, but after a pitch inspection found the surface to be unplayable and the match was abandoned, the matter was referred back to the EFL who, following submissions from both clubs, confirmed this week that it would have to be replayed in full.

This has prompted an unhappy reaction from Rovers, who subsequently issued a statement in which they concluded by saying that "the club is now seeking further clarity from the EFL and will consider all options, including the right to appeal the decision".

Chris Sutton is unhappy over the EFL's decision to replay the Blackburn vs Ipswich match in full

Posting to the social media platform X, the former Blackburn striker turned media pundit Chris Sutton has commented on the matter, and he's less than happy at the EFL's decision.

"How is it fair to replay a whole game?", Sutton claimed.

"The fairest thing to do would be to play the game from where it left off??", the ex-Premier League striker added.

Sutton was mirroring Blackburn's stance over the issue. Rovers had been at least pushing to play the last 10 minutes of the match only, which is in a sense understandable, considering that they were leading 1-0 at the time that play was stopped, but they were hoping to be awarded the three points with little time left in the match to play.

Of course, the fact that Blackburn are one of Sutton's former clubs while Ipswich are the local rivals of Norwich City, the club at which he started his career, means that he might not be the most unbiased commentator on this particular matter.

However, it's a view point shared by many, although it is a divisive topic and plenty also believe that the full replay is the fairest way to resolve the matter - the EFL included.

There are no solutions to the Blackburn Rovers, Ipswich Town abandonment which would have pleased all parties

It is only natural that Blackburn should feel short-changed over the EFL's decision to replay this match in full.

Ipswich Town have a strong squad this season but have been in surprisingly poor form so far. There are no guarantees that they still would be by the time this match gets to be replayed.

But the statement issued by the EFL to confirm the decision made did explain their thinking behind it.

"The decision follows recent precedents relating to abandoned fixtures and is intended to uphold the integrity of the League competition which should, wherever possible, be based on a complete set of fixtures played to a conclusion on the day," the EFL claimed.

Speaking this week, Blackburn's manager Valerien Ismael said that he felt it "fair" that his team should be awarded all three points for the match, in particular because Ipswich had already been reduced to ten players.

But what's fair on Ipswich also had to be taken into account over a situation that they, as the away team, had no control over whatsoever.

With ten minutes left to play and a player short, the odds were heavily stacked in favour of a Blackburn win, but this couldn't be guaranteed and Ipswich had a right to play out at least the closing ten minutes on a playable pitch.

This was a highly unfortunate situation from which there could be no outcome that satisfied everybody, but there is nothing to indicate that the EFL didn't give full attention to all sides of the argument before reaching a decision. Giving all three points to Blackburn wouldn't have been fair on Ipswich.

Playing the last ten minutes only would have been a logistical nightmare. Would fans have been in attendance? Would the teams playing it need to be the same 21 players, and what would happen if someone got injured in the meantime?

The simple fact is that the entire dynamic of those missing ten minutes would have been very different, had it been played at a later date.

Blackburn Rovers are entitled to feel hard done-by over this. They were close to what would have been an excellent win. If they do appeal but are unsuccessful with it, the best revenge they could take would be by channeling that frustration into winning any re-match.