“Not satisfied” - Norwich City: Johannes Hoff Thorup hits out over Kenny McLean situation | OneFootball

Norwich boss Johannes Hoff Thorup has been left upset after hearing of Kenny McLean's latest ban

Norwich City boss Johannes Hoff Thorup has spoken of his disappointment at how the FA treated the club after Kenny McLean was handed a four-match ban before last week's game against Burnley.

Thorup said the club "were not satisfied" with the handling of the situation which leaves Norwich without one of their key players leading up to the busy festive period.

McLean was handed a four-match ban after an off the ball incident was missed in Norwich's 3-0 defeat to QPR in early December, clashing with R's winger Kieran Morgan that resulted in the teenager going to ground.

With the incident being missed on the day by the match officials, the FA were able to step in and review the footage to conclude that McLean should be given a three-match ban for violent conduct, which was subsequently upgraded to four as it was his second dismissal of the season.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's clash with promotion chasing Sunderland, Thorup was asked again about McLean, as the Canaries will be forced to do without him once again this weekend.

Thorup said, via Norwich's X account: "Overall we were not satisfied with the treatment of us and Kenny in that decision, it was made too late.

"That was our biggest concern about that moment, but on the other hand we are a football club playing in a league where there are rules we have to follow."

The late decision Thorup alludes to comes in the fact that the club were only notified that McLean would be banned for the Portsmouth game - kicking off at 19:45 - at 15:00 the same day.

Naturally, that has a knock-on effect on the way the team set up and the preparation of his deputy, and as it happens, City have picked up just one point out of a possible six when it comes to the matches the Scotsman has missed due to the retrospective ban.

The timing of McLean's ban certainly isn't ideal for Thorup, who will undoubtedly have been hoping to shuffle his pack a little bit before Christmas to keep his squad fresh for the festive period.

While he can still do that in other areas of the pitch, he'll be struggling to do that in midfield, where McLean is usually so instrumental, so the loss of his captain is sure to be sorely felt.

That's a sentiment backed up by the fact that Norwich haven't won a single game in which McLean has missed this season, so with this his second four-match ban of the campaign, Thorup will hope his skipper can get his discipline in check.