Leicester City have been fined £20,000 after admitting to a Football Association charge relating to their players’ conduct during their 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.
The charge, issued on Tuesday, accused City of “failing to ensure their players did not behave in an improper way” after a 93rd-minute penalty appeal. Rather than contest the charge, Leicester accepted responsibility and agreed to the standard fine.
The incident in question occurred in stoppage time, when Youri Tielemans challenged Jamie Vardy on the edge of the box as both chased a Harry Winks free-kick. City players immediately appealed to referee David Coote, feeling they deserved a penalty.
Their frustration grew when Coote awarded a throw-in to Villa instead. Several Leicester players surrounded the referee, with Winks among those remonstrating. The midfielder was subsequently booked for his protests.
In total, Leicester were shown six yellow cards during the match, two of which were given to manager Steve Cooper and his assistant Alan Tate.
The penalty incident only compounded Leicester’s frustrations, having already felt aggrieved by earlier contentious decisions.
One of these came in the first half when Oli Skipp was penalised for a foul on Ollie Watkins, though replays suggested Skipp may have won the ball first. From the resulting free-kick, Villa scored their opening goal.
Further frustration followed in the second half when a Winks pass to Skipp deflected off referee Coote’s heel, causing play to be stopped just before Vardy put the ball in the net. While the decision to halt the game was technically correct, it angered Leicester players further.
After the match, Cooper voiced his frustration with the officiating. He even joked that Coote “would have booked everybody in the King Power Stadium had he had the time” before taking aim at the standard of refereeing in the Premier League.
“You see it clearly, that it’s behind the curve in the Premier League,” Cooper said. “It’s the best league in the world, without any shadow of a doubt, but the refereeing, for a number of years, has been trying to catch up with that.”