Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper has been charged by the Football Association over alleged “improper conduct”.
The Welshman’s comments about referee Thomas Bramall after his team’s 1-0 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this month are said to “imply bias and/or question the integrity of the referee and/or bring the game into disrepute”. The match at Molineux was decided by a Ruben Neves penalty and wasn’t without controversy.
Wolves’ spot kick was awarded after Bramall went to his pitchside monitor, following a lengthy VAR check, with Harry Toffolo penalised for a handball. A similar incident in the first half, however, saw nothing given when a Neco Williams shot was blocked.
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The Reds did get a penalty late on, after another considerable stoppage for VAR, when Matheus Nunes was punished for a foul on Ryan Yates. But Brennan Johnson’s effort was saved by Jose Sa.
Announcing the charge, the FA said in a statement: “Nottingham Forest FC’s Steve Cooper has been charged with a breach of FA Rule E3.1 following their Premier League game against Wolverhampton Wanderers FC on Saturday 15 October 2022. It is alleged that the manager’s comments during post-match interviews constitute improper conduct in that they imply bias and/or question the integrity of the referee and/or bring the game into disrepute. Steve Cooper has until Thursday 27 October 22 to provide a response.”
After the match, Cooper admitted he was left “biting his tongue” over the referee’s performance. “We know the referee well from last season. We had him in the Championship,” he said at the time. “We know the differences of what you can get with him. So we knew that was part of what we had to deal with today.
“I haven’t looked at them back absolutely clearly. The fact of the matter is they’ve had one (penalty) and scored, and we’ve had one and missed.”
Asked if he felt the visitors should have had a penalty from Williams’ effort, Cooper said: “We know the ref well from last year, particularly when you get him at home. I better leave that there.”
And he added about the length of time it took for the referee to make a decision: “The first one, I think, especially. That’s why I’m biting my tongue, really, on how I feel about it, because if it’s taking that long and it’s not given in the first place, then it tells you something. But then there’s obviously influence and surroundings, and all that sort of stuff. As soon as that happened, because we knew who was there today, then I knew we were in trouble in that moment.”
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