Davis was suspended after footage of his 27th minute clash with Caleb Okoli, unpunished at the time, was reviewed following Ipswich Town’s 1-1 home draw with Leicester City.
Blues chairman Mark Ashton said: “I am incensed by the timing, process and outcome regarding this incident. We are currently awaiting written reasons, which we expect to be full, clear and transparent, and will reserve the club’s position until that point.”
Manager Kieran McKenna, who had fumed about referee John Busby not awarding his side a potential match-winning penalty deep into stoppage time in that Leucester draw, went on to have his own strong say on the Davis ban, stating ‘I disagree with every single bit of the decision’ and broke the incident down in detail.
Having already been forced to sit out games against Sheffield Wednesday (2-0 away win) and Millwall (1-1 home draw), influential left-back Davis will also be unavailable for the Easter Monday clash with Birmingham City at Portman Road.
The FA have now released their report of the incident, which starts by revealing that referee John Busby emailed them three days after the game ‘asking that the incident be reviewed’. He wrote: “Ipswich Town no. 3 (Davis) & Leicester City no. 5 (Okoli) at the far post compete in an aerial challenge. In challenging for the ball Ipswich Town no.3 can be seen to grab the hair of Leicester City no.5… This was not witnessed on the day by any match official.”
Three former referees (Eddie Wolstenholme, Michael Mullarkey and Alan Wiley) reviewed the footage and stated that they would have dismissed Davis for violent conduct. Ipswich Town responded the next day insisting that punishment was ‘clearly excessive’.
A virtual hearing subsequently took place on Thursday, March 12.
Ipswich Town argued that it was not appropriate to ‘re-referee’ a match after it had concluded and that seeking to take retrospective action against Leif Davis was ‘unnecessary’.
Davis’ statement read: “I remember raising my left arm to propel me upwards and to put myself in a good position to compete with Okoli in the aerial challenge as he is much taller than me. At no point did I intend to be reckless with my challenge or negligent in any way.
“However, I recall making contact with Okoli’s shoulder and the back of his head with my outstretched arm. I remember that I headed the ball clear and away from our box. Having reviewed the footage sent by The FA, I accept that I did pull Okoli’s hair, however, it was never my intention to pull his hair and I don’t know why I did that.
“I want to make it clear that the contact I made with the back of Okoli’s head was completely accidental, and as set out above, I wish to apologise for my actions.
“Given the speed, physicality, and close-quarters nature of defending the box during a corner, making some form of contact is common and often unavoidable. On this occasion, because of how quickly the moment unfolded, I unintentionally caught the back of his head. I want to stress again that it was never my intention to pull Okoli’s hair and I sincerely regret that this happened.”
The Commission stood by their original decision, stating: “It was very clear from the footage that in order to gain an advantage over his opponent, LD pulled his opponent’s hair. The Commission concluded that the pull on the opponent’s hair was made with considerable force.
“The Commission also noted that there has been a growing prevalence of this type of hair pulling offence in recent seasons and the applicable punishment has consistently been a three-match suspension for a red card offence of violent conduct. This incident fell squarely into that category and, if anything, it was at the more egregious end of the spectrum relating to this type of challenge.”
Examples of three-match bans handed out for hair pulls include Michael Keane (Everton v Wolves), Alfie May (Huddersfield Town v Luton) and Jack Diamond (Stockport County v Huddersfield Town).
In a recent press conference, McKenna was asked if he felt the Davis ban was connected to him publicly stating that the PGMOL had admitted getting three penalty decisions, all against Ipswich, wrong in recent draws against Leicester and Stoke. He paused before replying: ‘No comment’.