Arsenal and Chelsea have each been fined £100,000 following
the brawl at the end of the Carling Cup final. The clubs have also
been reprimanded by the Football Association after the incident at
the Millennium Stadium. The melee involved players and officials
from both clubs and led to three red cards.
The FA's disciplinary commission described the incident as
"serious, unacceptable and damaging to the image of the game".
Arsenal duo Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure and Chelsea's Mikel
Jon Obi saw red after 90 minutes of the final, which Chelsea won
2-1. And the commission concluded Arsenal had been "marginally more
involved in the incident, but that Chelsea had past proven cases in
recent years regarding the general behaviour of their players where
warnings had been issued".
Both teams admitted the charge of failing to ensure their players
and/or officials conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or
refrained from provocative and/or violent behaviour. The fines
follow an FA disciplinary commission hearing.
As well as receiving a three-match ban for his sending off,
Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor was banned for an additional game and
fined £7,500 for his reaction after being shown a red card. The
striker had to be hauled off the pitch after being dismissed for
aiming a punch at Chelsea's Frank Lampard.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is facing an FA disrepute hearing after
he was charged with improper conduct. The charges relate to
comments Wenger made after the Carling Cup final fracas.
He has been asked to explain his claim "the whole system is not
honest", a reference to FA disciplinary rules. Wenger also
suggested the assistant whom referee Howard Webb consulted before
sending off Adebayor was a "liar".