Fleetwood manager Joey Barton has been fined £2,000 by the Football Association for comments he made about referee Brett Huxtable.
Barton branded the performance of Huxtable and his fellow officials as the worst he had seen in his entire career following a 2-1 defeat at Bristol Rovers.
The FA last week handed Barton a two-match touchline ban after the former Manchester City, Newcastle and England midfielder was sent to the stands at the Sky Bet League One game on December 22.
"Joseph Barton has been fined £2,000 after accepting an FA charge for commenting on the match referee after Fleetwood Town's match versus Bristol Rovers," said a statement on the FA Spokesperson Twitter account.
"His comments made during a post-match interview on Saturday 22 December 2018 were abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute."
Barton criticised Devon official Huxtable following a Memorial Stadium clash that saw Fleetwood striker Ched Evans sent off and 11 players booked.
"Brett needs to have a serious look at his decision-making process," Barton said after the match.
"The Bristol Rovers staff we spoke to before the game were concerned because he has been here before and caused havoc.
"We needed a good referee to control what was a very good game of football and unfortunately we didn't get it."
ga('create', 'UA-72310761-1', 'auto', {'name': 'pacontentapi'});
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'referrer', location.origin);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension1', 'By Press Association Sport staff');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension2', '96ccf98d-b4e9-432d-b418-4138d6b125f4');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension3', 'paservice:sport,paservice:sport:club-news,paservice:sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension6', 'story');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension7', 'composite');
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension8', null);
ga('pacontentapi.set', 'dimension9', 'sport:football');
ga('pacontentapi.send', 'pageview', { 'location': location.href, 'page': (location.pathname + location.search + location.hash), 'title': 'Fleetwood manager Joey Barton fined by FA over referee comments'});
