Newcastle United midfielder Isaac Hayden charged with five figure fine by FA following Chelsea tweet

Hayden will have to pay a fine of £19,000 for the tweet that he made which questioned the integrity of referee David Coote and VAR John Brooks.

The 27-year-old has been forced to watch the second half of the season from the sidelines after being left out of Eddie Howe’s 25-man squad following the January transfer window due to a knee injury.

But Hayden – who has played 171 times for The Magpies since 2016 – has remained active on social media despite his omission.

And after Newcastle’s late 1-0 loss at Chelsea earlier this month which saw Kai Havertz escape a red card for elbowing Dan Burn before popping up to score an 89th minute winner and Jacob Murphy denied a penalty despite being pulled and tripped inside the penalty area by Trevoh Chalobah, Hayden took to Twitter with a sly but obvious dig towards the match officials.

He posted: “Some performance from the boys against 12 men today.

"Proud to be associated with the club is an understatement.”

While players and managers are able to express their opinions regarding match officials and specific decisions within certain parameters, the wording of Hayden’s tweet was in breach of FA Rule E3.1 as it directly questioned the integrity of the referee by suggesting he was biased towards Chelsea.

Despite the charge, the tweet has still not been removed from social media and remains retweeted by Newcastle United’s official Twitter account @NUFC.

The FA confirmed Hayden’s charge with a £19,000 fine and the following statement: “Newcastle United FC’s Isaac Hayden has been fined £19,000 and warned for a breach of FA Rule E3.1 that took place after their match against Chelsea on Sunday 13 March 2022 in the Premier League.

"The midfielder admitted that his comments on social media after this match constitute improper conduct as they attack the integrity of the match official, are personally offensive, and bring the game into disrepute.

"His sanction was imposed by an independent Regulatory Commission during a subsequent hearing.”

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