Wolves director issued Football Association charge for behaviour during Manchester City defeat | OneFootball

The Football Association have confirmed charges have been issued on Wolves’ sporting director Matt Hobbs following issues during the 1-2 home defeat to Manchester City.

It was yet more late drama from Pep Guardiola’s side and particularly John Stones in what is becoming a stellar season for the England international defender, as he struck late to claim more points for the reigning Premier League champions.

City did find themselves behind in the game inside the opening 10 minutes at Molineux, with Jørgen Strand Larsen putting Gary O’Neil’s struggling side ahead, before Josko Gvardiol would equalise with an outstanding effort from distance.

That would then set up a pattern of play in heavy favour of Manchester City, but without a goal to move them ahead until late on in injury time when a John Stones header crashed into the back of the net and beyond a helpless Jose Sa.

However, controversy would loom over the goal with Bernardo Silva having been interpreted not to have intervened with play by standing in an offside position when John Stones met Phil Foden’s corner.

That did however spark scenes of anger and frustration from the home side as they came to terms with another difficult defeat, with Gary O’Neil’s post-match comments insinuating bias in favour of bigger teams followed by tempers boiling over among club directors.

A statement from the Football Association this week confirmed that Wolves’ director Matt Hobbs had been charged for “allegedly acting in an improper manner” as well as “using abusive words towards the match official/s around the tunnel area” at full-time.

The statement read, “Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Sporting Director has been charged with misconduct following their Premier League match against Manchester City on Sunday, 20 October.

“Matt Hobbs allegedly acted in an improper manner and/or used abusive words towards the match official/s around the tunnel area after the final whistle. He has until Monday, 28 October, to respond.”

Commenting on the situation surrounding Manchester City’s winning goal in isolation after the game, Wolves head coach Gary O’Neil – who retains the full support of key figures within the club despite a difficult start to the campaign – reviewed Bernardo Silva’s involvement.

“I knew Bernardo Silva was close to the goalkeeper. Against West Ham we were given the reason of close proximity,” O’Neil said.

“Silva is less than a yard away and I think that same reasoning should be applied to this one, but it wasn’t. I was calm about it, unfortunately there is nothing we can do.”