Hasenhuttl fined £20,000 by FA over Chelsea VAR comments

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has been fined £20,000 by the Football Association after admitting a charge of improper conduct.

Hasenhuttl has been hit with the fine for his comments about a VAR decision in a post-match interview after his side’s 3-1 Premier League defeat at Chelsea earlier this month.

The Saints boss had commented on Saints skipper James Ward-Prowse’s dismissal in the 77th minute at Stamford Bridge.

The Southampton midfielder’s yellow card for his challenge on Jorginho was upgraded to a straight red after referee Martin Atkinson checked the pitchside monitor on the insistence of video assistant referee Mike Dean.

After being charged, Hasenhuttl initially suggested he may have been “misunderstood” over his comments about Dean, saying: “Maybe they misunderstood me, or the media has misunderstood me.

“What can I say? I’m in general a manager that is very respectful to the referees all the time and the way I wanted to argue about it was not in a negative way.

“I was not speaking bad about Mike Dean. But let us discuss this in total [at a hearing].”

An FA statement said: “Southampton FC’s Ralph Hasenhuttl has been fined £20,000 after admitting a breach of FA Rule E3 in relation to their Premier League match against Chelsea FC on Saturday October 2 2021.

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“The manager accepted the charge that comments made during a post-match interview constituted improper conduct in that they questioned the integrity of the VAR Match Official and/or implied bias and/or bring the game into disrepute.”