Boro chairman slams FA's 'silly little men'

LONDON, England -- Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson hit out at the the Football Association's "amateurs and silly little men" after the governing body increased Jeremie Aliadiere's ban to four games at a hearing on Tuesday.

The Frenchman was sent off by referee Lee Mason at Liverpool on Saturday after aiming a retaliatory slap at Javier Mascherano who had appeared to make contact with Aliadiere's face in an off-the-ball incident.

Boro appealed on the grounds that the offense did not amount to violent conduct.

However, a regulatory commission rejected the claim as "frivolous" and increased the mandatory three-match ban for the offense to four.

Gibson told the Daily Mirror: "We have amateurs in charge of the professional game. We need professional people making decisions, not these silly little men.

"It is ridiculous to call our appeal frivolous and I'm absolutely furious."

Boro's chief executive Keith Lamb said on Tuesday: "It is a disgraceful comment to suggest our claim was frivolous. We agonized over it before deciding to submit a claim for wrongful dismissal.

"The Oxford Dictionary definition of frivolous is, 'not serious, shallow, silly or trifling', while in fact we spent more than two days considering whether or not to appeal the incident.

"It seems strange that only recently Chelsea's appeal against Michael Essien's three-match ban was rejected but not considered 'frivolous'. It appears that there is one rule for the big boys and another for the rest of us."

FA spokesman Mark Hooper told BBC Sport on Wednesday: "The FA refutes any suggestion that certain clubs are treated differently to others. All cases are treated on merit.

"Under FIFA guidelines, the FA can only overturn decisions if there has been a serious and clear error by the referee.

"The vast majority of appeals are rejected on that basis. And the clubs are fully aware of the rules. If the appeal is considered to have been frivolous, then a further suspension can be added to the original ruling.

"This has happened to Burnley, Mansfield, Luton, Tranmere and Hartlepool this season -- as well as Middlesbrough," added Hooper. E-mail to a friend