West Ham manager Avram Grant has been handed a two-match touchline ban and fined £6,000 for comments made about match official Mike Jones, the Football Association has confirmed.
An Independent Regulatory Commission found the former Chelsea and Portsmouth boss guilty of improper conduct relating to comments made to the media in the aftermath of the Hammers' 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Stoke on March 13.
Grant's ban will commence with immediate effect and means he will miss the vital Barclays Premier League clashes at Bolton this weekend and at home to Aston Villa the following week.
The Israeli made the comments after seeing his side crash out of the competition at the quarter-final stage and claimed that his side should have been awarded a second-half penalty.
Grant hit out at referee Jones' handling of the second half, which began with Stoke being awarded a penalty just 13 seconds after the restart.
Matthew Etherington missed the spot-kick but Grant intimated he felt that Jones had been swayed by the home fans after Frederic Piquionne appeared to handle in the lead-up to the Hammers' opener in the first half.
"I think maybe this is the reason the referee started the second half very strange," Grant said of Stoke's penalty award. "Until they scored (the second) goal he gave fouls, a penalty, everything for them. It was a penalty for us at the end which he didn't give.
What happened with (James) Tomkins was more bushido (the Japanese code of conduct for samurai warriors). Maybe he felt a little bit guilty. I think it was the effect of the first goal for us."
Grant was charged with improper conduct for the comments on the same day that Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was given a five-match touchline ban and a £30,000 fine for his verbal attack on referee Martin Atkinson at Chelsea in February.
West Ham confirmed to Press Association Sport that they will make a statement on the punishment in due course.
Source: PA
