Has been issued with notice of complaint. http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2566&newsCategoryID=1&newsID=14365 If accepted then red card should be rescinded.

As Warren retaliated, won't his red card stand anyway?  I hope I'm wrong on this!

Provoked by a cheat I say

Aye but he retaliated which was wrong so no chance of the red card being rescinded.

Jim Goodwin would have felt aggrieved if the notice had not been served. I actually felt Cifti's aggressive push on Shinnie into Meekings in the first half was potentially very dangerous too. There again, grabbing Shinnie by the neck and assaulting a linesman was deemed a minor offence in the League Cup. It is tempting to say he will get what he deserves but his Manager needs to take a long hard look at his coaching and management skills and approach too.

If the ban stands (and it clearly should), I think that'll be a big blow to United in the run-in. Time will tell whether we'll suffer more for the loss of Warren, but I suspect not.

LOFECKINL

Forget "Where's Wally", let's play "Where's Ciftci?"

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=923&q=nadia+cifti&oq=nadia+cifti&gs_l=img.12...2935.7057.0.8842.11.9.0.2.0.0.136.1069.0j9.9.0.msedr...0...1ac.1.62.img..3.8.954.kLEMu_00G9c#imgdii=fDaz4m_91I11pM%3A%3B1Y1nXpMuKjEKzM%3BfDaz4m_91I11pM%3A&imgrc=fDaz4m_91I11pM%253A%3BIHU3vVDBzDWKPM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.bbcimg.co.uk%252Fmedia%252Fimages%252F70830000%252Fjpg%252F_70830724_8943655.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.bbc.co.uk%252Fsport%252F0%252Ffootball%252F24763516%3B624%3B351

The ban doesn't really help us in the league it helps Celtic unless we can squeeze in our match with them

http://dufc.co/news/nadir-ciftci-fixed-suspension-offer-refused/

Hope he gets even more than the 2 game ban. Good footballer but not a good guy.

He's an extremely poor mans Diego Costa.

I'm actually rather disappointed with the notice of complaint.  It only makes reference to the Warren incident and offers a 2 game ban if accepted.  Ciftci's actions deserve a far more severe punishment and having been able to view the footage at leisure, the SFA should be able to see Ciftci's premeditated and dangerously violent conduct for what it is.

 

The shove on Shinnie was a forceful one which sent Shinnie sprawling.  It was a deliberate, malicious act and seemed designed to send him hard into the path of Meekings.  Fortunately they did not collide but they could easily have clashed heads with serious consequences.  It was worthy of a red card and how the referee failed to give even a foul simply beggars belief.  It also beggars belief that the SFA who will now have seen the incident also feel that no punishment is warranted.

 

The 2nd incident was even worse.  This was way off the ball and whilst Warren was watching the play, Ciftci launched into him from behind and sent him sprawling.  That was not a foul in the course of play, it was an unprovoked assault and if you or I did that to someone  in the street we'd get arrested.  Warren obviously retaliated in some manner and whilst I am not defending him, a reaction is entirely understandable.  Surely the original offence (which the SFA have seen) is a far more serious offence than Warren's reaction so how can they only slap on the same punishment as Warren will get?

 

Players get suspended following red cards when they bring down a player in a goal scoring position even when genuinely going for the ball.  They get suspended for badly timed timed tackles again where there is no malicious intent and they get sent off for raising an arm to push away an opponent who has fouled them or who is threatening them.  Fair enough.  But Ciftci's behaviour is far worse than that.  It isn't spur of the moment, it isn't accidental and it isn't in reaction to being fouled.  It is deliberate, malicious behaviour designed to harm an opponent - and on Tuesday night he indulged in at least two such acts of unprovoked thuggery.  If the SFA had any balls about them they would be banning Ciftci for the rest of the season.

 

What also disgusts me is the news that Dundee Utd are appealing the notice of complaint.  They should consider themselves extremely fortunate that the offered ban is only 2 matches.  What they should be doing is apologising for Ciftci's behaviour and announcing that internal disciplinary measures are being taken against him.

 

I would hope that behind the scenes our club has complained to the SFA.and will do so again in the light of the leniency of the offer.  By appealing the notice one can only assume that Dundee Utd condone such behaviour.  The SFA's response should be to significantly lengthen the ban and perhaps Dundee Utd should also be fined as condoning such behaviour surely brings the game into disrepute.

 

I know this is a bit of a rant but there is a really important principle here.  Football is a hard game and we know that when players are giving 100% there will be times when players are hurt by mis-timed tackles and in the heat of the moment players will over-react to incidents.  Players will get sent off and take their punishment and that is simply an inevitable part of the game.  What is not an inevitable or acceptable part of the game is when players deliberately try to harm opponents.  If the powers that be are not prepared to distinguish such thuggery from the normal inevitable consequences of committed competitive play  then we have no chance of ever addressing some of the more innocuous forms of cheating such as holding and shirt pulling at set pieces.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with your rant D D. 

Incidentally if you look at the recent performances of D U and some of there ex players you will notice that they are all quite adept at committing subtle and not so subtle techniques of fouling and diving, almost as if they had been schooled or at least encouraged  in this diabolical aspect of the game................definitely worthy of investigation!! 

DD you are right with your post.  I have said it in a previous post that Dundee used to be a good footballing side and always gave us a good game but in the last year they have gone downhill as far as football goes and will foul and cheat to win a game and they seem to get away with it!

D D is absolutely right - cheating is cheating, and I would like to see the SFA focus on what Ciftci does for an entire game - trying to get players sent off, elbows, short-arm jabs to the back of the head etc. etc.  If they did, they would take the view that a ban to the end of the season wouldn't be long enough.  The fact that the management seem to condone it, tells you everything you need to know about Dundee Utd.

Notice how Ciftci was wearing gloves? It's not because of the cold, it's to avoid leaving fingerprints.

Notice how Ciftci was wearing gloves? It's not because of the cold, it's to avoid leaving fingerprints.

and to hide the knuckle-dusters

And the steel wool in his linings to scratch his face to activate  blood streaming so he can then con the ref again...and again.

I don't understand why they are trying to appeal this.

If the appeal fails, which is likely, he will receive a 3 game ban which I believe will rule him out of the Scottish Cup game and League Cup final against celtic.  This is Utd's best opportunity of a trophy.

Just take the 2 games and get them out of the way then have him available for the cup games.

He's already banned for the LC Final

After my earlier rant on here I thought it would be more constructive to rant to the SFA as they are, after, all, the governing body of football in Scotland.  So I wrote to the compliance officer saying that I thought the premeditated and dangerous nature of Ciftci's actions, which appeared to have been made with the intent to harm, warranted a much more serious penalty than the standard red card offences which occur in the heat of the game.  I also pointed out that if they fail to distinguish between this type of incident and the more usual type of incident then they will be failing in their duty of upholding "the dignity and reputation" of the the game in Scotland.

 

I don't suppose it will make any difference although if enough people from all clubs took the time to write to request more robust action in stamping down on the worst aspects of cheating in the game, we might just get somewhere. 

Well said DD whilst on the subject of complaining we could start a petition on line to regionalise round 1 & 2 of the Europa league. With 14 days notice, arranging travel and work visas for players it takes the gloss off the achievement slightly. If fans in all teams in all countries signed up surely it would reach 1M

Charge not proven Grrrrrr

Exactly what proof is needed - if that happened in the street it would be GBH. Shambles.

I really hope some Celtic player does him good and proper on Sunday.