**FA resignations should be demanded**
Following the publication of the English Football Association’s “evidence” used and submitted against Lucas Paquetá in the yellow cards for bets failed (miserably) inquiry, reports now highlight the pathetic nature of some of the supporting content. It is truly jaw dropping that a so-called professional body can seriously try and substantiate what they themselves admitted were ‘circumstantial’ claims with documents that would surely be laughed out of court in any civil or criminal case.
Not widely reported in the UK but closer to Paquetá’s homeland, [Jamaica-gleaner.com’s](https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/sports/20250907/moms-shop-talk-led-football-stars-betting-charges) article _“Mom’s shop talk led to football star’s betting charges: CONVERSATIONS IN the hairdressing salon owned by the mother of Brazilian football player Lucas Paqueta were key to the West Ham forward being accused of spot fixing bets in the Premier League.”_
The player apparently bought his mother the salon after his transfer to Lille. Her later comments _made to customers during her normal work_ were claimed to be ‘evidence’ of a conspiracy.
_“I don’t know if anyone I have spoken to might have interpreted my normal conversations about Lucas as indicating that he was more likely to get a yellow card in a given match,_” she said in a witness statement. Apparently siezed on by FA investigators as evidence of a global match-rigging plot.
The inquiry commission said, rather than a spot-fixing operation, a more likely explanation for the betting patterns was the “_random passing of ‘hot tips’ or perceived ‘inside information’_ within Brazil.”
It said it found no support for the FA’s case regarding Paqueta’s on-field conduct when he received yellow cards – and preferred the evidence of witnesses such as former West Ham manager David Moyes.
Almost as if the inept FA were using confirmation bias to try and find some evidence – any evidence – to back up their fanciful charges that screwed up Lucas Paquetá’s-and his whole families’ life for two years. Heads should roll.