Aston Villa and Birmingham handed FA fines
Birmingham and Aston Villa have each been fined £5,000 by the Football Association following their derby clash in the Sky Bet Championship earlier this month.
Both clubs accepted a charge for failing to ensure that their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion.
They have been punished for an incident in the fifth minute of the match at St Andrew’s on March 10 after a foul on Villa captain Jack Grealish by Blues midfielder Maikel Kieftenbeld, who received a yellow card for the challenge, sparked a melee.
Birmingham are facing a separate charge after Grealish was then attacked on the pitch by a fan shortly afterwards.
A statement from the FA read: “Birmingham City and Aston Villa have been fined £5,000 following their EFL Championship fixture on 10 March 2019.
“Both clubs accepted a charge and the standard penalty for failing to ensure that their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion during the 5th minute.”
Grealish, who scored the game’s only goal in a 1-0 win for Villa, was attacked by Birmingham supporter Paul Mitchell, who ran on to the pitch and struck the 23-year-old from behind in the side of the head.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
Mitchell was jailed for 14 weeks after admitting assault and encroachment on to the pitch. He was also ordered to pay £350 in fines and costs and banned from attending all football matches in the UK for 10 years.
Birmingham, who banned Mitchell from St Andrew’s for life, were charged by the FA over the incident for failing to control their spectators. The club has until March 22 to respond to that charge.
FourFourTwo was launched in 1994 on the back of a World Cup that England hadn’t even qualified for. It was an act of madness… but it somehow worked out. Our mission is to offer our intelligent, international audience access to the game’s biggest names, insightful analysis... and a bit of a giggle. We unashamedly love this game and we hope that our coverage reflects that.