Chelsea boss Conte fined £8,000 for Swansea dismissal

Dom Farrell

Chelsea boss Conte fined £8,000 for Swansea dismissal image

Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte has been fined £8,000 by the Football Association (FA) after being sent off during last week's 1-0 Premier League win over Swansea City.

Conte was asked to leave the dugout by referee Neil Swarbrick after a prolonged remonstration with fourth official Lee Mason with regards to perceived time-wasting by Paul Clement's struggling Swansea.

The former Juventus and Italy boss apologised immediately after the match, in which Antonio Rudiger headed the decisive goal, saying he expected to be fined and that he would leave complaining to the match officials in the hands of his players from now on.

"I think it's right to accept [the misconduct charge] and to pay the fine," he told a news conference ahead of the weekend victory over Newcastle United.

"As I said after the game, if the referee took this decision I have to respect it. I want to respect his decision and pay the fine.

"They were wasting time and I think the referee has to protect the team that wants to win and play football. I was angry because, despite it happening twice, I said to the fourth official 'look, they are wasting time'.

"In the future I will tell my players on the pitch to try to tell the referee. I'll try to avoid suggesting things to the fourth official."

Premier League champions Chelsea lie third in the table and travel to West Ham on Saturday.

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.