Aston Villa Chairman Tony Xia Receives £4k FA Fine & Warning Over Referee Tweet

The chairman of Aston Villa Tony Xia has received a £4,000 fine and a warning from the Football Association after he posted a tweet asking if referee Jeremy Simpson was 'against' his club.

The Chinese businessman saw red after the Midlands club recorded a 1-0 victory over Bolton last month, in which Simpson sent off Neil Taylor.

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The official did also award Villa a penalty which Jonathan Kodjia converted to win the match, but it wasn't enough to help Xia hold his tongue.

He took to Twitter to write: "is the ref a AV hater? Not our day but 3 points only matters. Need to keep going after the break. Consistency is the key this season," and the FA were having none of it.

They have now issued Xia with a £4,000 fine after he admitted to a misconduct charge, and he has been slapped on the wrist to ensure he refrains from alleging such things again.

The governing body released a statement on the matter which read, as quoted by Sky Sports: "Tony Xia has been fined £4,000 and warned as to his future conduct after admitting an FA misconduct charge.

"The Aston Villa owner and chairman made comments via social media on Saturday 30 September 2017, which constituted improper conduct in that they questioned the integrity of the match official and/or alleged and/or implied bias on the part of the match official, and/or brought the game into disrepute, contrary to FA Rule E3 (1). The matter was heard before an Independent Regulatory Commission."