Francis fined and warned for 'cuffing' Kolinko
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Your support makes all the difference.Trevor Francis, the Crystal Palace manager, has been fined £1,000 and warned over his future conduct at a Football Association disciplinary hearing for hitting his club's goalkeeper Alex Kolinko during the 1-1 draw with Bradford City in August.
Francis took exception when Kolinko appeared to laugh after Andy Tod had opened the scoring for Bradford, and gave the Latvian international a "cuff round the ear", as the Palace manager described it.
Palace had already fined Francis for the incident, a fact the hearing took into account on delivering its verdict. Francis said he was "glad" to have the chance to tell his side of the story at the hearing.
Norwich City's manager, Nigel Worthington, has been fined £500 and given a one-match touchline ban after being sent from the dug-out during a 3-2 defeat to Sheffield United in September. He will have to watch the home game against Walsall on 21 December from the stands.
Keith Gillespie's Blackburn Rovers career is in doubt after a row with Graeme Souness's coach, Alan Murray, on the team bus. Gillespie was fined two weeks' wages – about £30,000 – and suspended for a fortnight after words were exchanged with the former Hartlepool manager on the way home from a defeat at Charlton.
The Northern Ireland international reacted to a remark made by Murray, and the pair had to be split up in front of team-mates and staff. The row had blown up over days off and Gillespie took exception to Murray stepping into the dispute and mocking the former Manchester United player by calling him "Bestie", after George Best.
Gillespie, who has fought his way back into Souness's plans after a dip in his career, is likely to be sold when the transfer window opens.
The Middlesbrough striker Joseph-Désiré Job suffered a cracked skull in his clash of heads with the West Bromwich defender Darren Moore. Scans have revealed that the Cameroon international, who was 25 on Sunday, sustained a slight crack to the base of his skull in the incident, which happened late in his side's 1-0 defeat at The Hawthorns on Saturday as the pair challenged for a high ball.
The Everton defender Joseph Yobo, who was voted the Professional Footballers' Association Fans' Player of the Month for November, has agreed a permanent deal to stay at Goodison Park following his good start to the season.
Yobo has been on loan from Marseilles and, having agreed terms with the French club, Everton have now settled personal terms with the 22-year-old centre-back. The move will cost Everton £3.5 m, in addition to the £1m Everton paid Marseilles for his initial one-year loan.
The three-year Everton career of the United States striker Joe-Max Moore looks to be over. Moore's work permit expired on 1 December and Everton have not applied for a new one, even though he would probably meet the qualifying criteria.
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