Manchester United have been fined heavily by the FA after being found guilty on two counts.
The Red Devils were accused of failing to control their players in draws against Chelsea and Newcastle.
In the Newcastle draw, United were apparently at the end of bad refereeing and saw a Cristiano Ronaldo goal perfectly disallowed by Craig Pawson.
Ronaldo’s predatory instincts kicked in and he caught the ball from Nick Pope before it found the back of the net. The referee disallowed the goal, but video evidence after the equalizer showed that the goal was legal and therefore should have stood.
The United players charged the referee and surrounded him, led by a furious Ronaldo who insisted he had done nothing wrong.
Against Chelsea, the United stars again surrounded the referee who awarded a controversial penalty after considering that Scott McTominay had brought down Armando Broja inside the area.
Jorginho dispatched the ensuing penalty before a late Casemiro header ensured Erik ten Hag’s men took a share of the points.
The two incidents were not welcomed by the FA, which issued a statement saying: “Manchester United FC have been fined £82,000 in total for breaching FA rule E20.1 during their Premier League matches against Manchester United FC. Newcastle United FC on Sunday October 16 and Chelsea. FC on Saturday October 22.”
“Manchester United FC admitted that they failed to ensure their players behaved in an orderly manner during the 49th minute of the Newcastle United FC match and the 84th minute of the Chelsea FC match.”
“The independent regulatory commissions imposed fines of £45,000 and £37,000 for the respective offenses at the Newcastle United FC and Chelsea FC matches during separate hearings.”
???? ONLY IN:
Manchester United are fined a total of £82,000 for player behavior in matches against Newcastle and Chelsea. @FAspokesperson #MUFC pic.twitter.com/lJAetmjNbB
— UtdPlug (@UtdPlug) November 9, 2022
The football authorities promised to make the reasons for their verdict known in writing in due course. The fact that both decisions seemed highly contentious and could have cost United four points is no excuse for upsetting the referee, but still, given the circumstances, both fines seem very harsh.
Hopefully the team overcomes these incidents when they take on Aston Villa tomorrow in the Carabao Cup.
