Tony Gale admits his FA Cup semi-final sending-off still rankles, exactly 27 years on!
The West Ham United defender was given his marching orders during the first half of the Hammers’ last-four clash with Nottingham Forest at Villa Park on 14 April 1991, with the game still goalless.
However, the decision by manager Keith Hackett to send Gale for an early bath for his challenge on Forest midfielder Gary Crosby has become infamous, as it was the first occurrence of a player being red carded for a so-called ‘professional foul’ for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Now 58, the Hammers favourite still believes the decision was the wrong one and that it has overshadowed an otherwise fine career in Claret and Blue that included 368 appearances and a record-high third-place top-flight finish in 1985/86.
If it had happened today, it would have been overturned by the VAR straight away
Tony Gale
“I know it’s boring, as everyone has asked me about it and I’ve spoken about it a million times, but I’m going to talk about the 1991 FA Cup semi-final, when I was sent-off against Nottingham Forest,” he told whufc.com.
“When I look back, if you’re talking about a fans’ impact on a game, there could not have been one in the history of football when the supporters made more noise when their team was losing.
“To be losing 4-0 and still be singing and all you could hear was ‘Billy Bonds’ Claret and Blue Army’ was incredible.
“As for my red card, it was not a sending-off. It was the only time I was sent-off in my whole career and if it had happened today, it would have been overturned by the VAR straight away.
“The rules have changed since then, but that ‘professional foul’ rule had only been implemented earlier that week to change how it was to be interpreted by referees, who were to send-off players deemed to be denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
“The game was live on TV and it was ruined when I fouled Gary Crosby and Keith Hackett sent me off.
“Keith has admitted since that, if the incident had happened the weekend before, he probably wouldn’t even have booked me!
“It does rankle me as people remember this incident, rather than me having played 368 games, being part of our record-high league finish and the goals I scored…”