Former England striker Gary Lineker has urged the FA to show more consistency after they hit Luis Suarez with a 10-match ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic on Sunday.

The governing body have handed out a number of lengthy bans in recent times, with Suarez and John Terry banned for eight and four games respectively after being found guilty of racial abuse, while Joey Barton was forced to miss 12 matches for two counts of violent conduct against Manchester City players in 2012.

Lineker now feels that England's authorities need to be consistent when dishing out their punishments.

He tweeted: "Very strong punishment. Vital now that FA are consistently strong on all issues eg racism, abusing refs etc. Also this ridiculous nonsense of 'if the ref saw it they can't punish retrospectively' has to be addressed!"

Suarez remains on a six-man shortlist for the PFA Player of the Year award.

Written by
Matt Cotton