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Brendan Rodgers charged over comments

By on January 3, 2014

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has been charged by the English FA over post-match comments he made questioning the appointment of referee Lee Mason after Liverpool’s 2-1 loss to Manchester City on Boxing Day.

In his post-match media conference Rodgers hinted at Mason being biased toward City due to the referee’s lifelong residency in in Bolton, Greater Manchester only a half-hour drive from City’s home at the Etihad Stadium, saying: “Hopefully we won’t have a Greater Manchester referee with Liverpool-Manchester games in future.”

Rodgers was clearly infuriated with the refereeing while on the touchline during the match, especially when Raheem Sterling’s goal was incorrectly called back for offside and Mason ignored Luis Suarez’s dramatic fall after having his shirt pulled by City defender Joleon Lescott inside the penalty area.  The loss resulted in Liverpool falling off the top of the Premier League down into fourth place, but

such an experienced manager as Rodgers clearly should not have gotten carried away in his comments.  The 40-year-old will have until 6pm on 8 January 2014 to respond to the charges as of a statement released on the FA’s official website, which read: “It is alleged the comments by Rodgers called into question the integrity of the match referee, and/or implied that the match referee was motivated by bias; and/or brought the game into disrepute; and/or amounted to a failure to act in the best interests of the game.

“Rodgers has until 6pm on 8 January 2014 to respond to the charge.”

Rodgers has quickly attempted to cover up his tracks, claiming he wasn’t questioning Mason’s integrity and was only speaking out of honesty.

“In terms of geography, I certainly wasn’t questioning the integrity of referees,” Rodgers said. “It was more than logical (as a comment) in terms of having a referee from that part of the world refereeing a game in Manchester.

“I wouldn’t suspect that Mike Dean, from the Wirral, has refereed many games for Liverpool over the years.

“I was only speaking honestly after the game. I think the FA and the Referees’ Association know perfectly well I am someone who engages in supporting the referees.”

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.