IN A baffling interpretation of the word “deliberate”, the FA decided yesterday that there was “insufficient evidence” to charge David Beckham over his premeditated yellow card against Wales. Notwithstanding the England captain’s admission that his foul on Ben Thatcher was intentional, the FA has not penalised its most famous player Leaving themselves open to claims of a whitewash, as well as the damaging accusation that the organisation is rudderless after the departure of Mark Palios as chief executive, the English game’s governing body restricted their punishment of Beckham to sending him a formal letter. In it, he was “reminded of his responsibilities and the rules of conduct he is expected to adhere to, both as an England player and as captain”.

It was a development that left even representatives of the Real Madrid midfield player “relieved and surprised”. A misconduct charge, a one-match suspension and a hefty fine had been predicted, but few had considered the possibility of Beckham escaping scot-free. In terms of head-scratching, it sits alongside Paul Gascoigne’s confessed determination to change his name to G8.

By manipulating the rules to serve a ban while recovering from broken ribs, the 29-year-old brought an element of shadiness to football’s reputation, one which the FA has not cleared. What would have happened if Thatcher was seriously hurt by Beckham’s forthright challenge during England’s 2-0 victory against Wales at Old Trafford this month? What if, in Beckham’s absence, Azerbaijan had eked out a draw with England?

Would other countries in England’s World Cup qualifying group have had just cause to complain to Fifa? In the aftermath of the Wales game, Beckham was brutally honest. “It was deliberate,” he said of his foul. “I am sure some people think that I have not got the brains to be that clever, but I do have the brains. I could feel the injury. So I fouled Thatcher. It was deliberate. I knew straight away I had broken my ribs. I knew I will be out for a few weeks, so I thought, ‘Let’s get the yellow card out of the way.’ ”

His statement brought condemnation from most commentators and many called for him to be stripped of the England captaincy. Beckham’s cause was doubtless assisted by his subsequent apology — “on this occasion, I made a mistake,” he said — but with Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, monitoring the issue thoroughly, it was not thought sufficient to prevent disciplinary action.

Yet officials at Soho Square, “following due process under the FA’s disciplinary regulations”, reached a different verdict. Jonathan Hall is the FA’s new director of governance and head of their compliance unit, and he has stepped into a storm. Meanwhile, Geoff Thompson, the hapless chairman, is on holiday.

The organisation now “considers this matter to be closed” and in one sense at least, that conclusion may be correct, if only because attention will switch away from Beckham and towards the FA, where leadership has been absent since Palios’s resignation over the Faria Alam scandal.

There were no complaints from Northern Ireland, whom England meet in their next competitive fixture in March. “I want to face their best players,” Lawrie Sanchez, their manager, said. “If we then beat England, they would have no excuses.” While the sentiment was a noble one, it paid scant regard to the enduring capacity of the England team and their employers to attract controversy.

On the pitch, however, the situation is healthy and Sven- Göran Eriksson had words of encouragement for Stewart Downing, the Middlesbrough left winger who scored the winner against Egaleo in the Uefa Cup last night. “We haven’t had that natural, left-sided midfielder for a long time, like a Beckham on the right side or a Shaun Wright-Phillips,” he said, “so of course I look for that.”

Unbelievably, Beckham stays on the right and in the right.

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