Revealed: How Man United used Sky Sports’ pundits to try to overturn Bruno Fernandes’ red card against Tottenham

Manchester United used the verdicts of Sky Sports pundits in their evidence to get Bruno Fernandes’ red card against Tottenham overturned.

The Manchester United captain was shown a straight red card by referee Chris Kavanagh at Old Trafford for a foul on James Maddison.

Mail Sport can now detail that in evidence presented on behalf of Fernandes to the regulatory commission in his wrongful dismissal case Manchester United included two video clips, one of which was an extract from Sky Sports’ ‘Ref Watch’ programme.

The segment of the show featured former referee Dermot Gallagher, as well as former players Sue Smith and Dean Ashton, with United using their opinions to back up their case that the red card was unfair.

Gallagher’s verdict was that Kavanagh was not in a position to see the challenge in its entirety and it was a ‘glancing blow’ rather than a red card offence.

Fernandes was a shown a straight red card for a foul on James Maddison in the first half

The Red Devils skipper appeared to catch Maddison high up on his leg but replays showed that contact was made on the Englishman’s shin with the side of Fernandes’ boot

He added that the referee had an ‘optical illusion’ and a more ‘palatable’ punishment was a yellow card.

Despite presenting two video clips, the other showing the incident in real time as well as a slow motion replay from various angles, the independent commission did not consider the views of the pundits when it came to making the decision.

The majority view of the Commission, while split, was that it was an ‘obvious error’ by Kavanagh, with the panel coming to the agreement that Fernandes ‘didn’t lead or make contact with studs’.

‘The majority view was that there was obviously no malice, brutality or excessive force,’ written reasons behind the overturning of the card read.

United, who also submitted a letter from club secretary Rebecca Britain detailing, in the club’s opinion, why they felt the punishment was excessive, were successful by a 2:1 majority, allowing Fernandes to feature in the 0-0 draw at Aston Villa on Sunday.