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Sunderland boss claims Jayden Stockley headbutted Tom Flanagan in Charlton win

Sunderland boss Lee Johnson claims Jayden Stockley headbutted Tom Flanagan in the Charlton Athletic win on Saturday afternoon.

The furious manager went as far to feel that Stockley shouldn’t have been on the field when he scored the only goal at the Stadium of Light – as he should have been sent off for a first half coming together with Flanagan.

Stockley inflicted Sunderland’s first home League One defeat of the season when he headed home Jonathan Leko’s second half cross, and while he feels the goal was debatable because of a possible foul on Flanagan, Johnson claims a much clearer-cut infringement went unpunished before the break.

Referee Darren Drysdale failed to see anything wrong when Stockley clashed with Flanagan, but Johnson is adamant the Charlton forward head-butted the Sunderland centre-half.

As a result, he has called on the FA to investigate the incident, and expects Stockley to be on the receiving end of a lengthy ban.

Johnson said: “Jayden Stockley won’t be available for the next three games because he’s head-butted Tom Flanagan flush in the face. That will have to go to the FA.

“It’s an absolute stonewall red card, and he’s then gone on to score the goal so that’s part of the decision making. There’s eight sets of eyes who should be able to see that but for whatever reason, they haven’t.

“I felt that there was a penalty for us in terms of their centre-half making a brilliant save. It’s outside the line of the body. Is it a bit close to the body? That might be a mitigating factor but not when you speak to the referee and he says the arm is behind his body.

“Was it a foul (on Flanagan for the goal)? I don’t know, there’s two hands on him. It would have maybe been a bit soft, considering the level of contact he’d allowed through the game.

“It was like a judo game at times and he’s set himself a precedent by allowing that. And then I felt Lynden Gooch was in on goal and he allowed contact which could have been a red card.”

Johnson intends to seek clarification over the degree of physical contact that will be allowed to go unpunished this season, with Drysdale’s leniency infuriating him to the extent that he received a yellow card during the second half.


He added: “The frustration is, are we coaching our players to wrestle, scrap, elbow, headbutt, whatever? Or will there be protection from the referees? I don’t mind a bit of rough and tumble but I need to know what I can tell my players.

“You have to give them (Charlton) credit, we’ve had six wins on the spin at home and they’ve come out with three points in the bag.”

While Johnson was unhappy with the performance of the referee, he also accepted that his own players had not hit the standards they have set in the majority of their performances this season.

He said: “I didn’t feel we deserved to lose the game, necessarily. Did we deserve to win it? Maybe not. If we’d come in 0-0, 1-1, I think that would have been a fair result.

“There were some key match decisions went against us today, which were unbelievable really. But we didn’t have enough quality in the final third. We’ve been blessed with some wonderful play and deliveries in the final third (in other games this season).”

Fans reacted as the Sunderland boss claims Jayden Stockley headbutted Tom Flanagan in the Charlton win…

@JakeFG90: Clutching at straws

@PhilipGibbs73: @efl has to look at this

@mrdemeanors: Not condoning head butting but seeing a side of Jayden that screams fighter is exactly what we need from him. Defo catches him with something here but not the head.

@PlannerMarj: Agreed, looks like a shoulder. How Stockley didn’t get a booking for persistent fouling during the game is another matter, however…

@Grummy1976: The fact there is no reaction from any Sunderland player suggests Johnson is talking out of his ass (again) #CAFC

@ShoreRobert: Not sure Lee Johnson knows the difference between a head and a shoulder #cafc

@crimp_it: Johnson always salty and always losing to Charlton

@spennjy66: If you can’t take it don’t give it , stockley done nothing wrong #cafc

@ElliottSAFC: Just noticed he does stick the nut on him at the 3rd attempt that with the other 2 attempts possibly enough to get banned. But again like Pompey & Burton we didnt do enough to take the officials at the equation. Fair play to Charlton never gave us a second & deserved a result

@Confettilady: Just the normal shoving and barging that goes on but defo no head butting!!

@AlCAFC1905: Shocking, hope the lads okay?

@TelMc1: Probably a bit far for little Lee to see up that high, but those were shoulder to shoulder. Facts don’t usually stop him running his mouth off though

@LewisStubbs1302: Take the defeat and move on Lee.

@t0mweeks: Pathetic little man syndrome.

@SwanseaNathan: Yawn, yawn. Johnson cry a bit more you big baby. Outfought. outhought and beaten on the day by better team. It happens. I went yesterday and your fans thought you just had to turn up and we would roll over. Not to be and now your whinging.

@jbennett1997: That’s a push no?

@PhilDun16442388: How many times during a game do you see clashes like this between players? Practically at every corner I’d suggest. I can see no head contact & Lee should learn to count to 10 before making such irresponsible comments.

@maccalad10: Where’s the head butt then? All i see is a shoulder going in 🤷🏻‍♂️

@frankmcollins: Haha that’s not a head butt. Johnson is full of shit.

@Addickt3d: A headbutt without clashing heads… Jayden can do it all

@rikofold: Aside from the obvious – there was no headbutt – no reaction from Flanagan to hold his face, which he’d be doing if he’d just been headbutted there. Nothing but the usual jostling.

@Matthew_Ring: So bad it generated a massive reaction from their players…

@SamSamcarter11: 😂😂 what is LJ on about – just a barge, nothing more

@Alexnelson2004: If he gets the 3 game ban for this then the game really has gone.

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