Melbourne Victory Football Club confirms it has accepted the 8-match ban handed down to Kevin Muscat by Football Federation Australia’s (FFA) Disciplinary Committee this evening.
Melbourne Victory Football Club confirms it has accepted the 8-match ban handed down to Kevin Muscat by Football Federation Australia-s (FFA) Disciplinary Committee this evening.
The 37 year-old received a straight red card for his challenge on Melbourne Heart player Adrian Zahra during the Melbourne Derby at Etihad Stadium on Saturday, January 22. As a result, Kevin is now ineligible for the remainder of the Hyundai A-League season, including any finals the club may qualify for.
Melbourne Victory Football Club is satisfied that Kevin received a fair hearing, with both club and player taking the opportunity to re-iterate their remorse over the incident which subsequently ended Adrian Zahra-s debut A-League season.
“I was prepared to accept whatever ban came my way. While I was relieved to hear Adrian-s injuries weren-t career-threatening, I-m still bitterly disappointed by my actions and I wish him a speedy recovery.” Muscat said.
The 8-match sanction has ended Kevin-s domestic season, and he will now assess his options ahead of Melbourne Victory-s AFC Champions League campaign, for which he remains eligible.
“I haven-t really given any thought to my future. My focus over recent days has been on Adrian Zahra and I was pleased to be able to personally apologise to him on Monday – which thankfully he accepted.”
“My actions warranted a lengthy suspension and that-s what has eventuated, so now I have to sit down with a variety of people and work out where we go from here.” he added.
Melbourne Victory Football Operations Manager, Gary Cole accepted of the verdict “We acknowledge that Kevin-s actions were unacceptable and deserved a lengthy suspension. We-re extremely supportive of Kevin as our captain, but we certainly don-t condone his actions in this instance.”
“We never gave any consideration whatsoever to appealing his sanction. Kevin knows he made a poor decision and now he-s going to have to accept the consequences.”
“Both Kevin-s and the club-s major concern has been the welfare of Adrian Zahra.” Cole added.
