The FA have suspended and fined West Ham manager Avram Grant for his post-match comments after the FA Cup semi-final defeat to Stoke City last month.
Grant has been given a touchline ban for two matches and has also been fined a total of £6,000 by the FA. The ban will commence with immediate effect meaning that he will be in the stands for the crunch games away to Bolton and home against Aston Villa.
After the Stoke game, Grant had this to say about the referee Mike Jones:
“I think maybe this is the reason the referee started the second half very strange. Until they scored [the second] goal he gave fouls, a penalty, everything for them. It was a penalty for us at the end which he didn’t give. What happened with Tomkins was more bushido [the Japanese code of conduct for samurai warriors]. Maybe he felt a little bit guilty. I think it was the effect of the first goal for us.”
Grant should consider himself lucky to only get a two game ban, considering that Man United boss Alex Ferguson got a three game ban for saying:
“You want a fair referee, or a strong referee anyway – and we didn’t get that. I must say, when I saw who the referee was I feared it. I feared the worst.”
Nevertheless with only seven games left in the season, to not be on the touchline for two of those games could really hurt West Ham as they battle to get out of the relegation zone.
