LONDON, April 4 — Burnley manager Vincent Kompany has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association following his side’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last weekend.
Protests were sparked after referee Darren England awarded a penalty to Chelsea in the 40th minute for Lorenz Assignon’s foul on Mykhailo Mudryk.
The Burnley defender was also shown a second yellow card, leaving the struggling Clarets to play the second half with 10 men.
Kompany was sent off for arguing on the touchline and after the March 30 game the former Manchester City star lamented the standard of officiating throughout the season.
“I’ll keep saying what I think,” Kompany said.
“I’m not shying away from it and I’ve said it to the referees themselves, the officials, refereeing hasn’t been good enough this season.
“And I have said that in, I think, a constructive way, understanding as well the fact it’s not easy for them. The scrutiny is massive, the pressure is bigger than it’s ever been on the officials.
“I think the addition of VAR and more opinions and more officials doesn’t make it easy for them to do their jobs.
“I haven’t got any issues with being fined. I just want it to be right.”
England’s governing FA said yesterday the Burnley boss had been charged with improper conduct.
“It is alleged that the manager’s language and/or behaviour around the 40th minute was improper and/or abusive and/or insulting towards a match official and/or questioned their integrity,” the FA said.
Kompany has until 6.00pm (1700 GMT) on Friday to respond to the charge.
The Clarets extended their unbeaten run to four games on Tuesday but were unable to claim what could have been a key win in a 1-1 draw at home to Wolves, with Rayan Ait-Nouri cancelling out Jacob Bruun Larsen’s fine volley.
The result left Burnley six points shy of safety with seven games still to play.
But Kompany, with a match away to fellow strugglers Everton on Saturday, was optimistic about Burnley’s chances of beating the drop.
“I’m fairly confident our team is a team of improvement, we can get better and I want them to continue doing that,” he said.
“It’s not surprising at all that we are where we are but, OK, that’s in the past. It’s what the next game brings. Start the game with confidence we can do something.” — AFP
