Fulham and Cole in dock
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Your support makes all the difference.Fulham face the prospect of severe punishment by the Football Association following Saturday's stormy match against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns. Charges have been brought against the club and their striker Andy Cole. The FA has also charged West Bromwich's Neil Clement.
Fulham face the prospect of severe punishment by the Football Association following Saturday's stormy match against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns. Charges have been brought against the club and their striker Andy Cole. The FA has also charged West Bromwich's Neil Clement.
The Fulham manager, Chris Coleman, also faces a charge of bringing the game into disrepute over comments about the referee, Mark Halsey, after the match against Arsenal on 11 September.
Fulham face a fine of up to £250,000 for allegedly failing to ensure their players conducted themselves properly at The Hawthorns after the referee, Mike Dean, reported them for harassment.
Cole could face a six-match ban for his sending-off for fighting and subsequent remarks to Dean. The club's leading scorer will have an automatic three-match ban for the dismissal and faces an additional charge of violent conduct - because of the seriousness of the offence - plus further punishment for abusing a match official.
Fulham have also been accused of failing to ensure that Papa Bouba Diop vacated the field of play and technical area after his sending-off for violent conduct. The Senegal international watched the rest of the match from behind the dug-out.
West Bromwich's Clement has also been charged with violent conduct for the incident involving Cole, which followed his sending-off for denying a goalscoring opportunity, and faces a ban of four matches.
Both Fulham and Cole have 14 days to respond and their cases will be heard on 6 October. Clement's case will be dealt with under the new fast-track system as an incident outside the referee's jurisdiction but reported to the FA. Clement has two days to respond. The FA brought the charges after receiving Dean's report and officials from the compliance unit had studied video footage of the match, which ended 1-1.
Dean said: "It seemed to me that they went purposely every time I gave a decision to harass me throughout the game and that will be reported."
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