Blades boss Wilder cleared of FA misconduct charge

Chris Wilder was handed an FA misconduct charge on top of the red card he received against Southampton

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has been cleared of an FA misconduct charge following his red card against Southampton on September 30.

The Blades boss was sent off by referee Adam Herczeg at half-time after kicking a ball into the crowd at Bramall Lane, which struck a spectator.

The incident came after Saints had been awarded a penalty kick, although Adam Armstrong missed the spot-kick, leaving the Blades' 1-0 lead intact at the break.

Wilder kicked a ball back towards the dugout and it hit a fan in the stand behind, with the manager instantly going over to apologise.

Mr Herczeg showed him the red card nonetheless, citing use of "physical or aggressive behaviour" in his extraordinary incident report to the FA.

That brought an improper conduct charge, which Wilder denied and for which he requested a personal hearing.

Wilder, whose submission was backed by comments from former Fifa referee Howard Webb which said the red card was "harsh", said the ball entering the crowd was "pure accident" according to the written reasons published by the FA.

The hearing also viewed video footage which Wilder said backed up his claim.

"I just kicked it, somewhat absent-mindedly, to get it back off the field of play – and pretty much for the enjoyment of kicking a ball, in the way a player would – aiming for the side boards one sees in the camera footage, from where it could be picked up by whoever was in charge of it," Wilder said.

"There was no anger or frustration in my doing so, as one can see from my expression and body movement on the footage."

The regulatory commission, finding the charge "not proven" noted that the burden of proof was on the FA and ruled that "having watched the footage multiple times" it found Wilder had not kicked the ball "with undue force or out of anger or frustration".