The West Bromwich Albion forward is suspended for two Championship games but the Whites and Canaries should not be feeling too pleased.
At first glance it seems like Dwight Gayle being hit with a two-match ban for simulation is a good thing, but scratch the surface and it could actually spell bad news for the likes of Leeds United, Norwich City and the Championship’s other promotion-chasers.
The 28-year-old is now suspended after accepting a Football Association charge of “successful deception of a match official” following his side’s 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest on Tuesday night.
The charge was about Gayle, who is on loan at West Brom from Newcastle United, being alleged to have dived to win a penalty in the 89th minute of the Championship game at The Hawthorns.
Gayle went down in the box, supposedly under a challenge from Alexander Milosevic, and referee Lee Mason awarded a spot kick to the hosts, although replays showed there was no contact between the two players, and Jay Rodriguez converted for a point.
The forward – who has 16 goals in 27 games so far for Albion this term – will now miss league games against Aston Villa and Queens Park Rangers, before becoming available again against Sheffield United on Saturday, 23 February.
The first reason why this isn’t as good news as first thought is because, out of four crucial matches in a row for West Brom – Villa away, QPR away, Sheffield United at home and Leeds away – Gayle will still be eligible to feature in two, and were he to play a key role against Marcelo Bielsa’s side, obviously that will have a big say in the promotion race.
The second is that Gayle not only gets a mandatory rest, thus leaving him even fresher against the Blades, the Whites and beyond, but the ban appears to have fostered a siege mentality among the Albion camp, judging by the club statement in which they support him and by the many fans on Twitter also defending him.
As a result, Gayle, his teammates and the fans could well be buoyed by this ‘heel turn’ and the adoption of a ‘no-one-likes-us-we-don’t-care’ attitude, as well as a strengthening desire to go for promotion not only for their own sake, but to prove everyone else wrong.
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