Wolves chief charged by FA after Newcastle United incident

Wolves’ sporting director Matt Hobbs has been charged by the FA following their draw with Newcastle United at Molineux on Saturday. A second-half equaliser from Hwang Hee-chan secured a point for the hosts after they went into the break 2-1 behind courtesy of two strikes from Callum Wilson.

Although VAR checked his first for a foul on Jose Sa, it was Wilson’s second strike that caused the most controversy post-match. Anthony Taylor’s decision to point to the spot and award the Magpies a penalty after a foul on Fabian Schar was labelled as ‘scandalous’ by Gary O’Neil post-match - despite a lengthy VAR check agreeing with the referee’s initial decision.

Frustrations threatened to boil over as the Molineux crowd vocalised their disagreement with the decision and the FA have charged Hobbs for allegedly directing ‘improper’, ‘abusive’ or ‘insulting’ language at an official post-match. An FA Spokesperson said: “Wolverhampton Wanderers' sporting director, Matt Hobbs, has been charged with misconduct following their Premier League game against Newcastle United on Saturday, 28 October. It's alleged that his language towards a match official in the tunnel after the final whistle was improper and/or abusive and/or insulting. Matt Hobbs has until Monday, 6 November, to provide a response.”

Earlier this week, former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher revealed that he didn’t think a penalty should have been awarded on that occasion - a view that is shared by former Newcastle United duo Alan Shearer and Shay Given. Speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch, Gallagher said: “Not a penalty for me. But when you look at it again, you only need to see one replay to see that it wasn’t a foul.”