Manchester City’s Rodri has escaped a suspension despite admitting the FA charge against him for his recent comments in the media.
Following Rodri’s post-match comments after Manchester City’s draw with Tottenham Hotspur, the midfielder was charged by the FA.
It was alleged Rodri “acted in an improper manner during a post-match media interview by making comments that imply bias and/or question the integrity of a match official and/or match officials, contrary to FA Rule E3.1”.
Rodri admitted the charge against him, but The FA have now confirmed he’s avoided a suspension. The Regulatory Commission instead decided simply to fine him £80,000 and warn him as to future conduct.
Rodri opted not to attend a Commission for a personal hearing, agreeing instead to have the charge dealt with at a paper hearing.
The allegation was that Rodri had implied bias on the part of the match officials when saying: “It’s not today, its two, three games in a row. And I don’t know why honestly.
“We won too much and the people, they don’t want us to win, but the referee has to be neutral. And for me, honestly, it’s not fair, it’s not fair.”
The FA suggested Rodri should have been aware that the comments he made were not permissible, and that they went beyond criticism of the individual decisions to imply the officials weren’t acting neutrally.
Rodri insisted his words had been “misunderstood and misinterpreted” in his initial letter, but then submitted a second letter in which he accepted that his words “were inappropriate and fell below the standard expected of me as a professional player”.
He added: “Upon reflection, I recognise that the words I used were poorly chosen and capable of being interpreted in a way that I did not intend”.
Manchester City argued that previous cases showed the Regulatory Commission usually imposes financial penalties in these cases, rather than sporting sanctions, unless there’s a significant aggravating factor.
The Commission believed there were some limited aggravating factors, such as Rodri being one of City’s captains and the fact he’s received media training and FA guidance on media comments. But they ultimately agreed that a financial punishment and a formal warning was sufficient.