Manchester City fined £120,000 over Simon Hooper incident in Tottenham draw

Following multiple players’ encirclement of referee Simon Hooper during Manchester City’s 3-3 draw with Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium earlier this month, the Football Association has fined the Citizens £120,000.
For the third straight Premier League match, Pep Guardiola’s team had to settle for a mere draw after Dejan Kulusevski gave Spurs an equalizer in stoppage time little over three weeks prior.

But as the exciting game came to a close, on-field referee Hooper chose to sound the whistle for a foul on Erling Haaland just as Jack Grealish was racing through on goal, denying Man City the chance to score a winner.

After Emerson Royal fouled Haaland within the City half, Hooper took the lead. However, as the Norwegian regained his composure and sent Grealish through for Tottenham’s goal, the referee opted to stop play, much to the annoyance of the Citizens players and fans.

As other Man City players gathered around the referee, asking why he blew his whistle at that precise moment, Haaland vented his resentment squarely in Hooper’s face and was booked.

After the game, Guardiola declined to criticize his players’ behavior; nonetheless, Man City will now pay a fine to the FA for their inability to maintain player discipline.

“Manchester City FC has been fined £120,000 after their players surrounded a match official at the Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur FC on Sunday, December 3,” the Football Association said in a statement.

“Manchester City FC acknowledged that they were not vigilant enough to make sure that none of their players misbehaved in the ninetieth minute.

“An independent Regulatory Commission imposed this sanction following a hearing.”

Last week, PGMOL CEO Howard Webb said that the event had left Hooper “devastated” and that he had made a mistake.

According to Webb, who was mentioned by the Daily Mail on Match Officials Mic’d Up, “it is an officiating mistake and the VAR has no part to play in this.” “He was undoubtedly distraught. He has officiated the match admirably for ninety-three minutes, but he is aware that this will be the final talking point of the match.

I can appreciate Manchester City’s disappointment because this could have been a great advantage. He simply decided to blow right at the wrong moment.

“He appeared prepared to take advantage of the situation. He never shouted “advantage” at you. When I questioned him about the arm, he said he was doing it without even realizing it.

“Simon was disappointed because he would have loved to have taken advantage of the situation.” Afterwards, I told him to just raise his hands.

“It’s hard to express your displeasure in the moment to a man who is apologetic; he was undoubtedly experiencing it at the time. We learned from it, and hopefully he won’t do it again.

Since then, Man City has only won one in their previous three Premier League games. They are currently fifth in the standings, five points behind champions Arsenal.

The Citizens have now focused on their Club World Cup duties and arrived in Saudi Arabia in advance of their semi-final matchup with Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan on Tuesday.