Butler faces tunnel charge

Mark Pierson
Wednesday 19 November 2003 01:00 GMT
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The Wolverhampton Wand-erers defender, Paul Butler, has been charged with misconduct by the Football Association over incidents which followed the club's 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough earlier this month.

Butler is alleged to have used "aggressive behaviour constituting improper conduct" after the referee Steve Dunn and other match officials submitted their reports to the FA.

The Wolves captain Paul Ince has been asked to explain his post-match comments regarding Danny Mills and the refereeing of the game.

Mills' actions during the game prompted an angry response from Wolves, notably when he initially disputed the award of a free-kick following his clash with the Wanderers full-back Lee Naylor.

The free-kick had actually been awarded to Boro, and some Wolves players were still involved in a mêlée with Mills when Gaizka Mendieta lashed in the first goal.

The Wolves midfielder Alex Rae was sent off towards the end of a bad-tempered match at the Riverside - and the visitors' manager Dave Jones subsequently confirmed there was an incident in the players' tunnel after the game.

Butler, who is expected to request a personal hearing to answer the charges, could face a fine or a three-match ban if he is found guilty of misconduct.

The Wolves club secretary Richard Skirrow said on the club's official website: "We have received official notification from the FA that Paul Butler has been charged relating to alleged events that followed Wolves' match with Middlesbrough.

"The player has now been notified and will have to submit his response to the charge within the next fortnight.

"We feel that it will be essential to both the player and club to have a personal hearing to answer the charge and to discuss not only the alleged post-match events but also certain incidents within the game that we feel contributed significantly to those events."

Ince has seven days to respond to a request for further information about the incident.

The midfielder said: "Danny Mills is an idiot - he always goes around trying to wind people up. He is known for it. The free-kick should not have been allowed because Mills was trying to have a fight at the time.

"In my book that is crap refereeing - I don't know what the referee was on out there."

Jones revealed after the match: "I was stuck in the middle of the trouble in the tunnel. The referee will be reporting what he saw - and so will I. We know who the culprit is and his name will be in our report."

The Middlesbrough manager Steve McClaren claimed he did not see the tunnel incident.

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