Cardiff boss Warnock fined £20,000 for comments about referees after Chelsea defeat
Bluebirds boss was seething after the officials failed to spot Cesar Azpilicueta scoring offside goal
NEIL WARNOCK has been fined £20,000 by the FA for commenting on the match officials following his side’s controversial Premier League defeat to Chelsea.
Cardiff boss Warnock, who had denied three FA charges of improper conduct, was found guilty after an independent regulatory commission hearing on Wednesday.
An FA statement said: “Neil Warnock has been fined £20,000 for commenting on the match official following the Premier League game between Cardiff City and Chelsea on March 31, 2019.
“Whilst the manager denied three breaches of FA Rule E3, they were subsequently found proven during an independent regulatory commission hearing today.
“Comments he made in a post-match interview with the BBC, and a post-match interview with Sky Sports, were found to be improper as they questioned the integrity of the match official and/or implied bias.
“In addition, comments he made in a talkSPORT radio interview on April 1, 2019 were found to constitute improper conduct and/or bring the game into disrepute.”
Warnock was seething and hit out after seeing his side squander a 1-0 lead against Chelsea with two late goals.
Cesar Azpilicueta was offside when he equalised with six minutes left and Ruben Loftus-Cheek scored a dramatic winner in injury time, with costly repercussions for the relegation-threatened Bluebirds.
My wife said to me, ‘Darling, if you had wanted to thump the referee and linesman, I wouldn’t have stopped you’. It was so unjust. It’s unbelievable. I can’t describe my feelings.
Neil Warnock
He said: “It’s the best league in the world but the worst officials.
“They don’t understand what is at stake. They shouldn’t make mistakes at this level.”
Warnock added: “It’s almost like not a matter of who you play, but who you get in the middle and who has a flag.
“It’s all right making genuine mistakes but, at this level, it shouldn’t happen. Not when you put so much into a game. It’s a sickener.”
The following day, Warnock went a step further in an interview on talkSPORT when he said: “When I came home, my wife said to me, ‘Darling, if you had wanted to thump the referee and linesman, I wouldn’t have stopped you’.
“It was so unjust. It’s unbelievable. I can’t describe my feelings.”
Warnock, 70, also felt that Antonio Rudiger should have been sent off and that Cardiff deserved two penalties.
He marched on to the pitch and stared angrily, but crucially silently, at referee Craig Pawson and his assistants after the full-time whistle.
Cardiff are on the brink of relegation and know they must beat Crystal Palace and Manchester United in their final two matches to have any chance of staying up at the expense of Brighton.