The question is, will Patrick really have to sit out our Worthington Cup matches? As most people understand it, bans picked up in FA Cup or League matches apply only to those competitions, and NOT to the League Cup. A few correspondents have cited our 4th round Coke Cup win over Coventry back in the double season 1997-98, when Dennis Bergkamp played (and scored the winner) despite being in the middle of a suspension.

Well, that match is a particularly good example. Bergkamp and Bould both played despite being suspended from League and FA Cup matches, but Emmanuel Petit was forced to sit out. Manu was serving a ban for being run into by referee Paul Durkin in our match against Villa in the league. The explanation at the time was that there were different levels of ban. Petit's was for "violent conduct" whereas Bergkamp's was just for picking up a vast number of yellow cards (see Palace report: the game where he crossed the threshold), and that's why Manu's applied to all domestic competitions but Dennis's didn't.

Other sources appear to agree with Simon's list (eg The Guardian, and the Mirror), although we can't rule out the possibility that they just got it from us!

So until further notice, we are assuming that because they are both French (and perhaps also because of the "special" nature of their indiscretions), Vieira's ban will be like Petit's was, and not like Bergkamp's. AFCi's reporting of Vieira's ban states explicitly that it will apply to the League Cup, but with no explanation.

Having said all that, Derek informs me that at the start of last season the rules were changed so that all domestic suspensions count for all domestic matches. This is backed up by AFCi's disciplinary rules page. If anyone can provide definitive evidence we'd love to hear from you! Sorry if I've been wasting your time, still, it's been an interesting history lesson, eh? ;->

Of course it's only good news, as we'd all rather that Paddy missed Worthless Cup games than league games!

One little-mentioned additional fact: because Vieira's ban starts on 11th November, he is eligible not only for the North London derby on the 7th, but also for Lee Dixon's testimonial on the 8th. How about that for a weird rule? Suspensions count for testimonials!