Fulham forward Aleksandar Mitrovic has been banned for eight matches, head coach Marco Silva will a serve a two-match touchline suspension and the club have been fined £40,000 following the FA Cup defeat at Manchester United after an independent regulatory commission hearing yesterday.
The Serbian striker was sent off at Old Trafford after remonstrating with and then touching referee Chris Kavanagh following the decision to award a penalty to United and send off Willian and Marco Silva. Mitrovic, who served the first game of his suspension in the defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday, has also been fined £75,000.
In addition to his two-match touchline ban, Silva has been fined £20,000 for his conduct that saw him sent off – the Fulham boss exited his technical area to complain and threw a water bottle in the direction of the assistant referee – and a further £20,000 for his post-match comments about Kavanagh. Fulham have been fined another £40,000 for their failure to control their players following the award of the penalty.
UPDATE: The Football Association have issued a statement that suggests they intend to appeal the sanctions – but will first study the written report of the regulatory commission.
So does Fernandez get the same?i hope Fulham are going. To get their Legal team on this the FA created a precident by not banning Fernandez or Maquire for swearing so it’s either a ban for both or no ban this again Stinks of Bias
Absolute garbage if you think it’s acceptable to man handle a referee then the game has gone. What do think would happen up and down the country in junior football if he had just got a 3 match ban. Fernandez should have got a longer ban. Take your Fulham glasses off and think of the good of the game. If I were a Fulham fan I would not want to wear the shirt again
I absolutely support the ban and it’s length.
What I don’t support is allowing higher profile players like Fernandes to push a linesman, Maguire to abuse a linesman (in the same game!), Fernandes to swear at a ref (in the same game!) and Henderaon abuse a linesman whilst representing England. I don’t support any of those. But clearly the FA does support those behaviours.
The message the FA has sent to grassroots sport is you can’t touch a ref but you can push a linesman and swear at him unless you play for a small club. That’s the injustice
If the FA appeal then the Judge or arbitrator whatever could reduce the penalty. I don’t think they will appeal therefore and my guess is that they’re just signalling that they wanted a longer ban.
What matters now is that referees are consistent with the way they react to dissent which I’m sure they will be subject of course to the entirely justifiable big club exemption.
I’m going to look on the bright side and say that maybe Fulham are safe and this gives Vinicius a chance to have a proper run in the team and prove himself. And Mitro to have a rest and reflect. ??
What Mitro and Marco did was not correct but they shouldnt be made an example .This referee Kavanagh is really awful we saw him also at West Ham and even last weekend he lost total control with both teams in several serious incidents down to his decision making or lack of it.
Lets appeal all these fines and get our boys fired up for wins COYW
Just seen the FA is appealing and saying the bans aren’t long enough.
So if you play for Fulham 8 match ban isn’t long enough but if you play for Man U and push a linesman no sanction whatsoever is the appropriate sanction.
If you play for Fulham foul and abusive language is 2 match ban but if you play for Man U or England No sanction whatsoever is appropriate.
Thanks FA. Looks like Marco was right then. Conclusive proof…they are bias.
COYW
I agree with the lenght of bans as we have to set examples for lower leagues and grassroots levels in the game. That said the league must not be allowed to have double standards and although retrospective bans for bigger teams will not happen we should not be made scapegoats…..
On another related topic following Mitros ban why doesn’t Muniz come back from his loan at Boro as they are not playing him. He won’t there for game time and is not getting it…he could add cover for the next few games.
An eight match ban is what di Canio got for pushing Paul Alcock to the ground. Added to the three he got for the original red card made it eleven. What Mitro did was wrong but was nowhere near as bad. If the FA say that any contact with match officials regardless of the force/violence involved should have the same sanction, then where is Bruno Fernandez’s retrospective ban?
As others mentioned it’s the double standards that stings. Perfect opportunity to scapegoat a small team without upsetting the politics of the big teams threatening to break away and start their own league. The Super League was never going to happen, just a purely political move to extort power and influence over the PL.
Pickford in the referee’s face and pointing with incredibly similar body language to Mitrovic incident yelling to the ref “you’re a f*****g c**t”. Is he getting 2 games for foul and abusive language?
Multiple Nottingham Forest players putting hands all over the same referee Kavanagh. Are they going to get 3 games each for violent conduct?
The fact that this is the same length as Suarez for racism and DOUBLE the length Terry got for racism gives a disgusting perspective of what’s important to this organisation.
I fear that football continues its decline and is increasingly unattractive to parents bringing up young children and I would imagine schools. Players behaviour has a direct correlation with the behaviour of impressionable young people. Someone in authority, who is that by the way, needs to get a grip?
I totally agree with the majority of posts above, Marco and Mitro are a disgrace and I personally would get rid of both of them. They’ve dragged the name of one of the truly family friendly and sporting clubs through the mud.
Also agree that there’s a whole load of inconsistency, bias and incompetence in the refereeing firmament, something needs to be done urgently. Fans and football will be the losers, not the billionaire owners.
Feel compelled to make 3 points re some, not all, comments made above. One anybody who says they are ashamed to wear the shirt after this is not a true Fulham supporter. 2 children learn from repetition like watching players s roll over and over after a tackle, certain goal celebrations or kissing a badge not a one off event and a first red card in 5 years. Lastly Fulham are known as a friendly club because of the staff and supporters, not to mention being in London and in a picturesque setting, which make away fans feel non threatened and welcome not due to the on pitch action. So let’s not, like certain factions of society, torn this into something more than it actually is and let’s get behind the entire team and staff for the remainder of the season. COYW