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The English Football Association have charged, West Ham manager Slaven Bilic with misconduct following an incident at Saturday’s 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion at London Stadium.
Tempers flared in the fixture as West Ham dominated the match, only to suffer an injury-time equalizer from Gareth McAuley's header. Bilic and his assistant, Nikola Jurcevic are at risk of receiving a touchline ban as a result.
Bilic was sent off by referee, Michael Oliver for his reaction to the 94th minute goal, where the manager grabbed a TV microphone and slammed it into the ground. While this might be an acceptable way for the Croatian to act on-stage in his infamous punk bad, the FA tend to frown on this sort of behavior.
Slaven Bilic slams down the TV microphone, after West Brom scored the late equalizer. Fitting #WHUWBA pic.twitter.com/l23Ww3HwUo
— Brace The Hammer (@BraceTheHammer) February 11, 2017
Jurcevic was sent from the touchline in the 19th minute of the match, as he left the technical area to complain to the referee about Sofiane Feghouli's strike that was disallowed for offside.
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The decision comes today as the FA have studied Oliver’s post-match report; Bilic and his assistant are likely to receive a one-match ban, plus a fine.
Bilic was scathing in his post-match interview and heavily criticised the refereeing, in a game where many key decisions went against the Hammers:
“I can’t get over this, I can’t get over this. I really rate Michael Oliver. I really rate him. He knows that. I tell him that privately.
Last few years I calmed myself down and all of this, but I can’t get over this. The referee was, sorry for the words, nothing personal, but the referee today was awful.”
He knows that I rate him big time. He knows that. I enjoy watching him. So that’s why I don’t understand what happened today."
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West Ham are next in action a week on Saturday, against Watford. While it might hold the team back to lose Bilic on the touchline; it was refreshing to see the manager react in a way that supporters can relate to. As fans were frustrated by several bad refereeing decisions going against the Hammers on Saturday.
Bilic and Jurcevic have until 18:00 GMT on Thursday 16 February to respond to the FA