John Carver urges action against Crystal Palace coin thrower

A furious John Carver urged the authorities to take action against the Crystal Palace fan who threw a coin at the Newcastle United captain, Fabricio Coloccini, which he said might have blinded him.


The flashpoint occurred as Newcastle’s players celebrated Papiss Cisse’s goal during Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw at Selhurst Park in front of the Holmesdale End. Coloccini was the unfortunate victim but Carver, the Newcastle manager, was relieved that the damage was not worse.

“I have seen it and it misses Colo’s eye by an inch – another inch and it could blind him,” Carver said. “You can’t have that in this game. I hope the authorities deal with it and I’m sure they will because it will be on TV every other minute and rightly so. Let’s find out who it was and sort it out.

“It just can’t happen, can it? It has got to be taken out of the game. What is disappointing from Palace’s point of view is that they have an unbelievable crowd here, an unbelievable atmosphere – it is a fanatical group of supporters in that corner. But it takes one idiot to throw a coin.”

Alan Pardew, the Palace manager, said: “I saw the referee come over to the linesman and hand him something. It would be a shame if that was an incident – a random fan acting poorly [and,] if that is the case, that is unusual for this club because we have a great record of behaviour. I am sure we will look into it.”


By David Hytner, Guardian