As last Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final clash between Manchester United and Chelsea was entering into the final five frenetic minutes, Rio Ferdinand inexplicably tripped and bundled over Fernando Torres, before quickly pulling him back onto his feet with the referee’s back turned.

The FA having received referee Howard Webb’s match report, have now decided after due process that there will not be any action taken against the United defender. Webb didn’t appear to be looking in Ferdinand’s direction when he allegedly tripped Torres.

Since Webb admitted he missed the incident, The FA had the right to look at the game’s footage to determine Ferdinand’s intent and whether any disciplinary action was required.

This is the second time in a week Rio Ferdinand has been involved in a controversy after having sarcastically clapped in the face of Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir in the wake of United’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of Real Madrid. He avoided punishment from UEFA and even the club were not punished for their failure to comply with the post-match regulations.

Ex-referee Graham Poll was adamant Rio Ferdinand should have been charged by the FA speaking ahead of the FA decision and rightly suspected he would not face any action. He was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying, “The FA, you would think, must surely charge Ferdinand, even though I have no doubt he will defend his case quite vigorously. I suspect he will claim the clash was purely accidental and point to the fact he picks up Chelsea striker Torres, seemingly apologising too.”

He added, “I have little confidence the FA will do anything different this time, even though it is behind the back of the referee. They will ask Howard Webb if he had seen it – and they will ask him: ‘If you had seen it, what action would you have taken?’

The FA should say: ‘Referee, you haven’t seen it, we shall take the decision for you’ – rather than asking him to re-referee the incident.”