England's Football Association (FA) is facing a multi-pronged attack in the wake of their announcement of possible sanctions against Manchester City's Joey Barton.
Barton cheekily dropped his shorts and bared his buttocks to Everton fans last week in a bid to silence their jeers after he had handed his shirt to a disabled fan following his goal in the 1-1 draw.
The FA have stepped in and now Barton is expected to be fined when an FA disciplinary commission hears the case on Tuesday.
However, after Merseyside Police decided against taking action against Barton, City hoped the FA would follow suit.
Club spokesman Paul Tyrrell said: "It is deeply disappointing that the Football Association have decided to charge Joey Barton with improper conduct. The player accepts that some elements of his behavior following the game with Everton were ill advised and he apologizes to anybody who may have felt offended."
"He has been reminded of his responsibilities as a custodian of this football club but we do not believe his actions warrant any further investigation," Tyrell said. "We believe the FA should have taken into account the context of the incident and noted he behaved without any malice, and in a light-hearted manner."
Now the Player's Union chief Gordon Taylor has lent his support, claiming the FA were wrong to target Barton, especially when failing to act on Tottenham's Didier Zokora -- whose spectacular dive which won a penalty for Spurs the same weekend has been unofficially voted this season's most blatant act of cheating.
"I have to wonder why the FA have chosen to pursue this one, and not the case of Zokora, given that diving is one of the things the game is supposed to be going after," Taylor said in the Daily Mail. "I think they have been a bit high handed. They could have just sent him [Barton] a letter in private. This was clearly a bit of fun that had been preceded by him going over to a disabled fan and handing him his shirt. How many players do you see doing that?"
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