Liverpool Manager Brendan Rodgers Fined By FA For His Post-Match Manchester City Comments

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has been fined £8,000 by The FA and given a warning after the manager accepted the charge of bringing the game into disrepute for his post-match comments after the Manchester City-Liverpool match.

Rodgers got into trouble after he mentioned that referee Lee Mason was from the Greater Manchester area, suggesting inherent bias, and asked whether we would ever see a match official from the Wirral refereeing a Liverpool match on Merseyside.

The FA announced today that Rodgers has been warned to his future conduct.

According to The FA,

“Rodgers was charged for a breach of FA Rule E3 in that his post-match comments following Liverpool’s game at Manchester City on 26 December 2013 constituted improper conduct in that they called into question the integrity of the match referee, and/or implied that the match referee was motivated by bias; and/or brought the game into disrepute; and/or amounted to a failure to act in the best interests of the game.”

Brendan Rodgers in his post-match interview had this to say about referee Lee Mason:

“We had no help from the officials. They were horrendous. We never got any decision for us. The linesman for the offside one – they’re not even on the same cut of grass. It is not even a difficult one.

“It is a perfectly timed run when he was through on goal, the kind of move we have worked hard on. You can’t get a decision like that wrong at this level. They are big moments in a big game.

“There was another incident where Luis didn’t get a free-kick when Joleon Lescott comes through and it was waved play on. It is arguable it is a penalty at the end. But it was throughout the game.

“Hopefully we don’t have a Greater Manchester referee again on a Liverpool-Manchester game. I was surprised we were playing in Manchester and have a referee from Greater Manchester.

“I never speak about officials but I feel the need to protect the players this evening. They were outstanding and got nothing.

“Come the end of the game, the next day or two, I will get a call from an assessor and be asked for my opinion of the performance. I would ask the question. I am sure we won’t get Liverpool-Man City [refereed by] someone from the Wirral.”

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