Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic gets eight-game ban but FA want stiffer punishment

The Football Association intends to appeal for Aleksandar Mitrovic to receive a stronger punishment than the eight-game ban the Fulham striker received on Tuesday for behaviour that included shoving the referee Chris Kavanagh.

An independent regulatory commission decided that was an appropriate penalty for Mitrovic for his conduct in an FA Cup tie at Manchester United. It extended the standard three-game ban for violent conduct by another three matches for the player making contact with Kavanagh and gave him another two-match suspension for language that was “improper, abusive, insulting and threatening”.

The commission also handed the Fulham manager, Marco Silva, a two-game touchline ban and a fine for his behaviour. An FA statement read: “Our current intention is to appeal both sanctions, however we will await the written reasons before confirming our final position.”

Explaining the commission’s decisions, the FA said in a separate statement: “We claimed the standard punishment which would otherwise apply to Aleksandar Mitrovic for the sending-off offence of violent conduct that he committed towards the match referee around the 72nd minute was clearly insufficient. The forward denied this, but it was upheld by the regulatory commission, and a three-match ban was imposed. This is in addition to the three-match ban he had already received for the red card offence.

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“The forward separately admitted that his behaviour and language after being sent off was improper, abusive, insulting and threatening, and the regulatory commission imposed an additional two-match ban and £75,000 fine. In total, the regulatory commission has suspended Aleksandar Mitrovic for eight matches. One of these has already been served, and therefore the forward will be unavailable for Fulham FC’s next seven matches.”

Silva admitted using abusive and insulting words or behaviour towards Kavanagh and the fourth official but denied throwing a water bottle towards the assistant referee.

The charge was nevertheless upheld, with a £20,000 fine, and another fine of the same amount was imposed for questioning the integrity of the referee during his post-match press conference.