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Sheffield Utd boss Chris Wilder learns punishment for sandwich rant at linesman

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Chris Wilder has been fined £11,500 for his rant at
Chris Wilder has been fined £11,500 for his rant at 'biased' referees (Image: Getty Images)

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has been fined £11,500 for his rant at referees following his side's 3-2 defeat against Crystal Palace last month.

Wilder slammed referee Tony Harrington's performance as "ridiculous" and also took aim at a linesman for eating a sandwich in a post-match meeting. The 56-year-old was vivid after Blades goalkeeper Iro Grbic was forced to go off with concussion after colliding with Palace forward Jean Phillipe-Mateta.

Speaking after the match, Wilder said: "It's yet another ridiculous performance from the referee. I was told by a Premier League referee, who's as honest as the day is long, 'Get ready, because every tight decision will go against you, every 50-50 will go against you'.

"But I’m not just going to go under the radar and not say anything. I’ve been to see the referee and I’ve told him that. One of his assistants was eating a sandwich at the time, which I thought was a complete lack of respect. Hopefully he enjoyed his sandwich while he was talking to a Premier League manager.”

"Their boy takes our keeper out, we had to change keepers. It makes no odds if it's an accident or not, it's a yellow card. Every tight decision goes against us.

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"I'm not looking back over the last ten games, it's over a longer period, before I was here as well. Maybe the thought process is that, 'They won't be long in this division and I might be refereeing the other team next year, so I don’t want to upset too many people.'"

An investigation took place into Wilder and he has now subsequently been charged by the FA for breaching rule E3.1 in relation to media comments.

In a statement, the FA confirmed: "Chris Wilder has been fined £11,500 for media comments that came after Sheffield United's game against Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Tuesday 30 January.

Sheffield Utd boss Chris Wilder learns punishment for sandwich rant at linesmanChris Wilder is under growing pressure at Sheffield United (Getty Images)

"It was alleged that the manager's comments constitute improper conduct in that they imply bias and/or bring the game into disrepute. Chris Wilder accepted this charge, and an independent Regulatory Commission imposed his fine following a hearing."

Sheffield United suffered another damaging defeat in their hopes of staying in the Premier League on Sunday, as they were thrashed 5-0 by Brighton at Bramall Lane. Mason Holgate was sent off in the 12th minute to give Brighton a huge advantage and they took that with both hands, recording their biggest ever away top-flight win.

Holgate clattered into Kaoru Mitoma with a horrific challenge during the first half and Wilder had no complaints about the decision. "It was a mistimed tackle and the correct decision was made," Wilder told BBC Match of the Day when asked about Holgate's tackle. "Mason has to take the responsibility that his decision has hurt us and the gameplan goes out of the window after that."

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Kieran King

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