Stoke's Charlie Adam Charged for Improper Conduct.

Charlie Adam had been charged by the FA for improper conduct in Saturday's game against Arsenal. This came after the midfielder treaded Olivier Giroud, leaving him in pain without referee Mike Jones being aware.

The unacceptable act captured by TV cameras at the Britania Stadium had been looked into by a three-man panel made up of ex-referees. According to the association's regulations, if all the member agree it was an offence then the player in question would be sanctioned accordingly. In this case, everyone in the panel were of the view it was a punishable offence.

A statement issued by the FA  read:

'Under a new pilot project in Premier League matches this season, if an incident has not been seen by the match officials, a three-man panel of former elite referees will be asked by The FA to review it and advise what, if any action, they believe the match referee should have taken had it been witnessed at the time.

'For an FA charge to follow, all three panel members must agree it is a sending-off offence.

'In this instance, the panel were of the unanimous decision that it was an act of violent conduct.'

The Potters revealed on their website that they and Charlie are shocked and disappointed with the charge as they do not think the player did anything wrong. They are already on the verge of forwarding an appeal.

Charlie Adams is expected to respond to the charge not later than 6.00 pm on Tuesday, March 4, 2014.

The incident didn't come as a surprise to me. What else do you expect from a rugby football team? Even the management of Stoke City FC think it was normal for a player to do such. Thank God none of them at that club is a match referee because they will only issue yellow cards when someone dies on the pitch as a result of a bad tackle.