Former Leicester City goalkeeper shares his opinion on Demarai Gray’s booking

Former Leicester City goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer thinks that Demarai Gray was rightly booked after celebrating his goal against Cardiff City.

The 22-year old was shown a yellow card by referee Lee Probert for taking his shirt off, a decision that was met with derision galore.

None of the Leicester fans seemed to be amused, and even a lot of former players openly criticised  Probert for what was deemed an embarrassing error of judgment.

However, Schwarzer refuses to slate the referee, and is fully in support of him. Speaking to talkSPORT, he said:

"“It’s a real hard one, because it’s the rules.“And you know what, every week something happens to someone somewhere and if we change the rules for it, it just opens the door up.“It’s really unfortunate, it’s a really difficult one, but I think the referee has to play to the rules of the game and they are the rules,” the 46-year-old continued.“It’s unfortunate, but everyone knows it and the player knows it.“I know it’s an emotional thing, but they are the rules and you have to play by them.”"

Gray didn’t do anything wrong – but the referee didn’t either. The former’s pre-planned celebration was a direct consequence of his emotions and his feelings, while the latter’s decision was part of his job. It’s what he must do. It’s what all the referees must do, because rules are rules, no matter who the person in question is, or what led to his actions.

And this shouldn’t be a discussion anyway. Any player who takes his shirt off is normally booked, and he was, too. There’s no need to bring something so trivial up, especially at a time like this.

The club has had to go through a thoroughly tough time over the last ten days, and it’s not going to get any easier when Leicester face Burnley at the King Power Stadium. The game won’t be difficult from just a footballing point of view but mental as well.

A mere booking should therefore not be a pressing matter. Not now, at least.