English FA Premiership: Duncan Ferguson has been banned for seven matches, fined £5,000 and warned as to his future behaviour after a disciplinary commission found him guilty of violent conduct for his part in a melee that erupted after he was sent off at Wigan last month.
The 34-year-old was already serving a three-match suspension for punching Paul Scharner, but will now serve a further four for striking Pascal Chimbonda after the original red card.
The referee Mike Dean had no jurisdiction given that he had already dismissed Ferguson, but he reported the clash with the French defender to the English Football Association and the commission based yesterday's decision on his evidence.
Ferguson, who will sit out the third match of the ban this afternoon against Blackburn, had originally denied the charge concerning Chimbonda and requested a personal hearing though he subsequently admitted the offence. The additional four matches include three games for the push in Chimbonda's face, plus a further match as this constitutes his second red card of the season - albeit effectively from the same match - with the ban ruling him out until the derby at Liverpool on March 25th.
The sanction has been greeted with grim acceptance by Everton, whose manager, David Moyes, is already struggling with depleted resources up front. James Beattie will require a fitness test on a calf injury today, while Moyes will make a decision over whether to sign the former Tottenham forward Steffen Iversen, a free agent following his release from Viking Stavanger, in the next few days.
Birmingham City striker Emile Heskey was banned for a further match by a disciplinary commission and fined £5,000 after being found guilty of improper conduct for refusing to leave the pitch promptly following his dismissal against Arsenal last weekend. The ban is in addition to the one-game suspension he has already served for the sending off, and he will miss Monday's game at West Ham.
In an unintentionally damning appraisal of Graeme Souness's management at Newcastle United, his interim successor, Glenn Roeder, yesterday said he had spent two coaching sessions this week with Newcastle's heavily criticised back four - "and I think they appreciated it".
After last Saturday' s 2-0 victory over Portsmouth Roeder said his priority was to work on the much-maligned central pairing of Titus Bramble and Jean-Alain Boumsong.
"The way I got brought up, if you admit there is a problem, you are halfway to solving it," Roeder said of Bramble and Boumsong, something Souness never came close to saying. "If you get someone who says there isn't a problem, they will never improve. I got the IT man to put our goals conceded together. Say no more. We have given goals to the opposition."
Meanwhile, Wolves manager Glenn Hoddle has dismissed speculation linking him with the Newcastle vacancy as "a pie-in-the-sky story".
The former England boss is second favourite to replace Souness, according to bookmakers who reported heavy betting on Hoddle. But Hoddle (48) claims he has not been contacted by Newcastle.
"Maybe it's the betting people getting people to put their money on it, but put it this way, my wife won't be putting money on it," Hoddle said. "There's no story here. There's no foundation to it whatsoever. The bottom line is it's a pie-in-the-sky story."
Cameroon midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba faces a fine from Aston Villa after failing to report back for duty following his country's exit from the African Cup of Nations, manager David O'Leary said.
Hernan Crespo has told Chelsea he is willing to stay at the club despite feeling homesick. Crespo, who spent last season on loan at AC Milan because he failed to settle in England, says he misses Italy.
"I have another two years on my contract and I think I will stay here. But what I said was I don't know because the last four summers I changed teams and I had contracts then as well," he said.
Guardian Service
