Regardless of the decision i think Gayles card will now be marked by refs.
He isnt going to be getting many 50/50’s in his favour now anywhere on the pitch and i would imagine he will lose out on a few penalty appeals.
Tbe law doesnt really make sense, surely if a dive earns a free kick or penalty, the outcome of the free kick / penalty is irrelevant, a dive is a dive.
To give an example, had the keeper tipped Jrods penalty over the bar tuesday, but we then scored from the resulting corner, would Gayle not be charged?
I know its phases of play but if Gayles ‘dive’ didnt directly lead to a goal but we score from the resulting corner, then his cheating has benefitted us but by the rule hasnt it?
If the panel decide to ban him as they think he cheated then you have to respect their decision, the issue i would have is that all dives should be punished as per the above, it would be prevention action.
By only making examples of incidents that lead to say a goal, yes the player and club suffer after the event, but thats no use to the club who were cheated in the game (example, forest who if Gayle is found guilty can feel they were robbed of 2 points)
A dive, simulation whatever you want to call it anywhere on the pitch, should be punished with a x game ban if found seen at the time by the ref or after, but players and clubs have to know about it, it would prevent most players even thinking about it let alone trying it.
However it really does open a can of worms.