 |
Fulham manager
Chris Coleman |
Fulham Manager Chris Coleman has called for a lifetime ban for the Fulham fan who threw a bottle at an assistant referee during his side's 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa at Loftus Road.
Cottagers fans were incensed when referee Barry Knight turned down a penalty appeal with Fulham trailing. Luis Boa Morte's cross clearly struck Jlloyd Samuel's right arm.
A minute later, the game was halted when the assistant referee, just 15 yards from the incident, alerted Knight's attention to a bottle which had been thrown towards him from a section of Fulham supporters.
Coleman said: "What sort of coward throws a bottle onto the field?
"It's a disgrace. I hope they got whoever it was and threw him out.
"He should be banned forever from any football game because he's an absolute coward and we don't need idiots like that.
"Anyone who comes to Fulham will tell you it's nice and friendly. We haven't got a bad crowd and I don't know who that idiot was but I hope they find him."
Coleman, who had Carlos Bocanegra sent off after 75 minutes for a wild lunge on Mark Delaney suggested Bocanegra would not be hit by any internal disciplinary action for his tackle - which will earn him a three-match suspension.
"Carlos went and apologised to Mark Delaney so what more can I say to him?" the boss said.
"He went on to their coach afterwards to shake hands with Mark. I went to see him as well and there's no bad feeling. The most important thing is Mark's okay.
"Carlos isn't malicious or a bad boy and plays the game the right way. It was a rush of blood and a badly-mistimed challenge."
Villa boss David O'Leary told of his "outrage" at the tackle by Bocanegra.
O'Leary raced onto the pitch when the American full-back floored Delaney with one of the worst tackles of the season.
"I was angry," the Villa chief said. "It was a disgusting tackle and I was outraged by it.
"Chris Coleman and his team don't do those type of things. It was a bad tackle, Chris acknowledged that and the referee dealt with it.
"The doctors are with the lad now and we don't think he's broken his leg.
"He could be going for scans but I'm not sure because I only had time to check he hadn't broken his leg before doing my interviews."