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Ian Evatt should find out today whether he faces an extended touchline ban from the Football Association for his red card against Shrewsbury Town.
The Bolton boss was sent off after remonstrating with referee Declan Bourne after Saturday’s 2-2 draw over the amount of stoppage time that had been added.
During the exchange he also clashed with Shrews captain Morgan Feeney, with the two men squaring up to each other.
Feeney was shown a yellow card but Nottingham official Bourne deemed Evatt the aggressor and issued him with the third red card of his Bolton career, albeit one of them was turned over on appeal.
Wanderers have not indicated whether they plan to fight the impending suspension, which would commence in the next League One game against Burton Albion on October 19. They are also yet to confirm if internal disciplinary action will be taken.
Red cards ordinarily carry a one-game ban but there is concern that the severity of the offence could see Evatt ordered off the touchline for longer, which could put his involvement in the following games against Birmingham City and Peterborough United in doubt.
Tempers had flared after referee Bourne blew his whistle for full time almost a full minute early.
His fourth official Zac Kennard-Kettle had indicated a minimum of eight minutes of added time and, with Bolton pushing hard for a winning goal, Shrewsbury continued to delay restarts and preserve their point.
Evatt stormed on to the pitch but after his angry exchanged appeared surprised that he had been sent off, with defender Feeney given a yellow card.
The club are likely to hold a press conference this afternoon in preparation for their Bristol Street Motors Trophy game against Aston Villa Under-21s on Tuesday night, which will give the manager a chance to say his piece.
EFL rules meant assistant Pete Atherton was sent to speak to the media after the final whistle, and he confirmed it was the clash with Feeney which landed Evatt in hot water.
“We understand the predicament Shrewsbury are in that they are going to game-manage but we get frustrated with that because we were trying to help the officials along with it. Ultimately, we are an entertainment business and the fans come to watch football. Certainly, he blew the whistle before the eight minutes and the gaffer was just asking about why he hadn’t added anything on to the eight minutes, and that’s when the incident happened with one of their players.
“It’s all relative, and you can understand the frustrations, but the manager hasn’t been sent off for speaking to the referee, it is the other incident that seems to be the issue.”
Wanderers had fought back from 2-0 down at half time to level the game on the hour with goals from Kyle Dempsey and Szabi Schön.
“The players responded second half after the words we had said to them but one half of football isn’t enough, we need to be doing that from kick off, particularly at home,” Atherton added.
“They slowed the game down, and we didn’t help because we didn’t have the tempo and intensity we knew we needed to get the crowd up and make sure we had the atmosphere we needed to win the game but the second half was much improved.”
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