GARY Rowett had claimed that he isn’t worried about his players picking up yellow cards with the cut-off point for a one-match ban coming up soon.
The rules state that a player will be handed a suspension if they accumulate five yellow cards in the first 16 matches of the season, which is just over a week away.
The Lions only have the injured Murray Wallace on four bookings, with Danny McNamara, Jake Cooper and Tyler Burey all on three.
“Yeah, and one manager on two,” Rowett chuckled. “I’m up there unfortunately, and mine doesn’t cancel I don’t think, mine’s all season. I’ll try not to get any more.
“My theory has always been the same,” he told NewsAtDen. “Do you leave a player out of a game so that he doesn’t pick up a booking that takes him out of the next one? You’re not really benefitting, are you?
“If it comes in to three or four-game bans then I think it has more of an impact. If it’s a one-game ban for five bookings, I think you might have to accept it. You might tell the player, you might warn him, but you don’t want to curb his natural enthusiasm, his natural aggression.
“It doesn’t really hold much sway for us. We’re aware of it, we know who’s on what and we’ve had a little quiet word in their ears. I wouldn’t want a player to change just because they’re on four yellow cards.
If you’re a defender, you’re going to have to make that last-ditch tackle regardless of the outcome or the punishment. That’s more important to us.”
Photo: Millwall FC