West Ham duo to challenge charges
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Your support makes all the difference.West Ham duo Joe Cole and Rufus Brevett are "likely to appeal" against a Football Association misconduct charge for incidents during and after the match at Bolton on 19 April. Cole was charged with improper conduct for his involvement in the mass confrontation on the pitch and for confronting the fourth official on leaving the field of play, and using abusive and/or insulting words in the same incident.
Brevett was charged with three counts of improper conduct for his involvement in the mass confrontation, for appearing to strike Bolton's Kevin Nolan, and for allegedly barging deliberately into a police officer on leaving the pitch.
But a statement on the club's official website read: "Both players are set to review these charges and are likely to appeal." Cole and Brevett have 14 days to respond to the charges, but will not face criminal proceedings over the incidents.
West Ham's Ian Pearce was sent off by referee Uriah Rennie for a foul on Pierre-Yves Andre in the stormy encounter and tempers later flared after the final whistle.
There was a mêlée in the centre circle and the bad feelings continued in the tunnel as the players left the field. West Ham lost the game 1-0 - the only defeat in their last 11 games as their bid to preserve their Barclaycard Premiership status ended in last-day heartbreak.
Cash-strapped Motherwell have been fined £10,000 by the Scottish Football Association after picking up 11 red cards last season.
A record number of red and yellow cards were issued by referees last season and as a result the SFA's disciplinary committee have handed out substantial punishments to the offenders.
Motherwell, who have been in administration for more than a year, have been fined £10,000, although £5,000 of that is suspended until next January to encourage an improvement in behaviour. The club was also fined £5,000 last year and warned in January that their conduct was poor.
Kilmarnock have been fined £5,000, having failed to improve on discipline following a warning in January.
A total of 682 red cards were shown to all clubs last season, beating the previous record of 660 in 1998-99. There were 7,343 yellow cards, which is also a record. An SFA spokesman said: "On-field indiscipline is costing clubs dearly, as their players missed a total of 1,361 matches last season because of suspension. There is a clear message to managers that poor behaviour is damaging their prospects of success. In fact, the statistics show a fairly close relationship between a good disciplinary record and league success."
A number of Scottish Football League clubs were handed smaller fines, but others were commended for their good on-field conduct, including Celtic and Partick.
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