FA Actually Gets Something Right

By: Martin | June 24th, 2009

Remember when we came back to beat Hull in the FA Cup quarterfinal? And Hull boss/tanning bed enthusiast accused Cesc Fabregas of spitting at a Hull coach after the game? First he claimed that it happened on the pitch, and that his assistant had told him what happened. Then, when he realized that there was video of the pitch after the game, and loads of still photographers taking pictures, none of which showed anything approaching Cesc spitting at someone, he changed his story and said that it had actually happened in the tunnel after the game, and he had seen it itself. He also attacked Arsene Wenger, saying Wenger hadn’t shaken his hand, which was funny, because post-game video offered convincing truth to the contrary. Then, going completely off the deep end, Brown accused Fabregas of wearing inappropriate clothing on the pitch since he was wearing jeans and a shirt–like Cesc is going to start taking fashion advice from a guy with a horrible fake permatan and a telemarketer’s headset. I covered all this for the site here.

Brown then filed a complaint with the FA, who wasted the time of Arsene Wenger and Cesc Fabregas with an investigation when our season was jam-packed with important fixtures. Of course, since the allegations were obviously fabricated and not supported by evidence, the charges against Fabregas were dismissed.

But lost in all that was that Brown himself had been charged by the FA for his postgame criticism of referee Mike Riley. And today, the FA returned a verdict and fined Brown. Granted, it’s only £2,500 + a warning about future conduct, but I still find it oddly satisfying. Perhaps Brown should spend less time making up accusations about players from other clubs, laying in the tanning bed, and worrying about Cesc’s pants and more time worrying about his own team. In fairness, he is a quality manager, and I do think it’s quite a feat that he kept that Hull side up last season, but he really showed no class at all in the aftermath of the FA Cup game, and was transparently desperate to do whatever it took to deflect criticism from his own management and the fact that his team couldn’t hold a lead late. I would say this fine was well and truly deserved.