The FA have “offered” Jermaine Beckford a three match after his little indiscretion against Millwall.

The FA confirmed today that it will charge Beckford over his clash with Millwall goalkeeper David Forde. It was originally assumed that Beckford would escape further punishment after receiving a yellow card over the incident, but the FA have now announced that they will charge him with violent conduct after receiving “further information” in referee Alan Wiley’s match report.

The matter has been fast-tracked by the governing body and Beckford has been offered the chance to accept a three-match ban, and runs the risk of a longer suspension if he unsuccessfully contests the charge. The striker has been given until 6pm on Thursday to admit or deny the charge, but if the 3 match ban stands, Beckford will miss Saturday's match at Huddersfield and the next two games against Hereford United and Cheltenham Town.

We have to admit that Beckford deserves some sort of punishment for the elbow, as Forde might have to miss Millwall’s next game due to the damage to his jaw, but there is no doubt that the FA have fiddled their own rules to come up with this decision.

Wiley is now claiming that the yellow card was not for the elbow, but for Beckford’s part in the pushing that preceded his striking the goalkeeper. This cleared the way for the FA to charge him, as the referee hadn’t seen the incident at the time. Sorry, but this doesn’t make sense. It’s nonsense to say that Beckford got the yellow card for pushing, as before the elbow he simply hadn’t committed a bookable offence, and if anything he was on the receiving end of some rough treatment from Forde and one of the defenders.

I presume that what really happened was that Wiley realised that something had happened when Forde collapsed in a heap, and decided to book Beckford just to be on the safe side. So effectively he was already punished for the elbowing at the time, and the way the rules currently stand, he shouldn’t be punished again for the same offence. It would help if the FA showed some consistency and didn’t just make it up as they went along.

How Beckford’s absence will affect Leeds in the next three games remains to be seen.

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