Soccer:Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas has been fined £12,000 (€13,900) and warned as to his future conduct by the English Football Association over his attack on referee Chris Foy after the west London derby defeat away to QPR.
Villas-Boas was found guilty of improper conduct by an independent regulatory commission for the comments made after the Blues’ controversial 1-0 Premier League defeat at Loftus Road on October 23rd.
The Chelsea manager has requested written reasons for the guilty verdict and fine before deciding whether to appeal.
The 34-year-old had denied the FA charge but elected not to plead his case in front of the regulatory commission.
Villas-Boas admitted after last month’s game he had been “very aggressive” with Foy after accosting him post-match, and accused the official who sent off two of his players of failing to treat the teams equally.
The Portuguese called referees’ chief Mike Riley to complain about the performance of the officials at Loftus Road, something he also did after September’s defeat at Manchester United.
Speaking after the QPR game, Villas-Boas said: “The ref was poor, very very poor. And it reflected in the result. I spoke to him at the end and I was very aggressive to him. I don’t care if he’s okay or not.
“Everyone can have a bad day, but this was not a bad day for us. It was a good day for us and a bad day for the referee.”
Foy had controversially sent off Jose Bosingwa for what he deemed a last-man challenge before dismissing striker Didier Drogba for a two-footed lunge.
The referee booked seven more Chelsea players, with the club fined £20,000 (€23,150) after admitting to a charge of failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion.
Villas-Boas continued in his post-match rant: “A couple of decisions are right, yellow cards for sure, but I think he lost it before and was card happy towards the team.
“I’m not happy with the difference of treatment. I don’t think the same treatment was applied. Apart from the fourth official, the other three were led by the emotions of the crowd and couldn’t deal with a game like this.
“Three of the games played by Chelsea were influenced by the referee, and this is not Premier League level. Conspiracy theories can lead to bans and lead to you calling us cry babies, and we’re not. But it keeps happening.”
