Publications
Partners
London - Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has accepted a charge over comments he made about a referee following his side's defeat at Manchester City last month, the Football Association announced on Wednesday.
Rodgers described the performance of referee Lee Mason and his officials during Liverpool's 2-1 loss on December 26 as "horrendous" and questioned why a referee from Greater Manchester had been appointed to oversee the match.
"Hopefully we won't have a Greater Manchester referee with Liverpool-Manchester games in future," he said.
"I was surprised we are playing in Manchester and have a referee from Greater Manchester. I am sure we won't get for Liverpool-Man City someone from the Wirral (near Liverpool)."
Rodgers was subsequently charged by the FA, which alleged that his comments questioned Mason's integrity.
The Liverpool manager is likely to be fined following a hearing, which he has decided not to attend.
Rodgers later explained that he had been trying to make a valid point about how referees are assigned to matches in the Premier League.
"In terms of geography, I certainly wasn't questioning the integrity of referees," he said.
"It was more the logic of it in terms of having a referee from that part of the world refereeing a game in Manchester.
"I wouldn't suspect that Mike Dean, from the Wirral, has refereed many games for Liverpool over the years."
