The Aston Villa chief executive, Keith Wyness, has been fined £10,000 and suspended from all football-related activity for three weeks by the Football Association for retweeting an “abusive” social media post.
The 59-year-old shared a Twitter video of Villa being denied a penalty during the final game of the Championship season against Brighton & Hove Albion last month which carried a caption questioning whether underperforming referees had “disabilities”.
“He admitted an FA charge that a comment he retweeted accompanied with a video was abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute contrary to FA Rule E3(1),” an FA statement read.
“Furthermore, the breach was “aggravated” as defined in FA Rule E3(2), as it included a reference to disability. Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing, Wyness was also fined £10,000 and ordered to complete an education course.
“His suspension will run from date of the expiry of the period that he has to appeal the decision.”
Wyness, however, felt he had been punished for an “honest mistake”. He said in the Birmingham Mail: “I am both surprised and disappointed at the severity of the punishment. I will go to my grave knowing it was an honest mistake.
“I requested a personal hearing earlier this week because it was hugely important to me to firstly apologise for my genuine mistake in person and I also wanted the opportunity to make it clear to the panel I am really remorseful and extremely disappointed in myself for making such a silly mistake.
“When my error was first brought to my attention by a supporter, I immediately deleted the retweet and issued a public apology.
“I’d like to reiterate that I have always sought to promote the interests of people with disabilities in football and I am actively rebuilding the Aston Villa Foundation with disability as one of its key pillars.”
