English teams rack up £1MILLION in fines for misbehaviour as Virgil van Dijk slapped with highest punishment

ENGLISH clubs have clocked up a shameful £1MILLION in fines for player, manager and official misbehaviour this season.

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany’s £10,000 penalty for losing his rag at ref Darren England after Lorenz Assignon’s contentious red card in the 2-2 draw at Chelsea took this term’s fines across the four divisions over the seven-figure mark.

Reuters

The FA have dished out £1million in fines this term, with Virgil van Dijk getting the largest individual sum[/caption]

Burnley boss Vincent Kompany became the latest person to be punishedRex

It was the second successive season in which out of control players and bosses have seen fines spiralling over the £1m mark.

Prem clubs have coughed up the most money – £193,500 for manager and coaching staff outbursts and £665,000 for player misconduct.

The biggest single fine was the £180,000 levied against Aston Villa for the player bust-up in their win at Brentford, with the Bees ordered to pay £175,000.

Liverpool skipper Virgil van Dijk was hit by the highest individual punishment, when he was fined £100,000 for branding ref John Brooks “an absolute f****** joke” after he was sent off at Newcastle in August.

In total, more than half of the 20 Prem sides – 11 of them – have been hit by FA disciplinary beaks over players, managers or coaching staff members losing control and either abusing officials or confronting opponents.

That included the £90,000 punishment for Chelsea and England star Reece James for a tunnel ruck with ref Jarred Gillett after the defeat against Villa he MISSED through injury.

But the situation appears to be even worse in League One and League Two.

While only eight of the 24 Championship clubs have been fined so far this season, the FA has punished 17 teams in BOTH of the lower two divisions.

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Wigan have been the EFL’s bad boys, with FOUR separate fines – three for mass confrontations and one for surrounding an official – adding up to £29,500.

And Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens has picked up three fines, totalling £5,900, for losing his temper with officials and opposing players.

Across the season so far, fines have been paid by 53 of the 92 clubs in the Prem and EFL.

It comes after the FA, in tandem with the two leagues, launched a pre-season clampdown.

That was a response to last season’s catalogue of carnage which brought fines totalling more than £2m across the four divisions.

The FA pledged to enforce tougher sanctions against players and their bosses and while this season’s fine total is large, it does appear the warning had some effect.