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Ian Evatt will put his case to the Football Association after his red card against Shrewsbury Town – but admits he “went too far” in his post-match altercation with defender Morgan Feeney.
The Bolton Wanderers manager was sent off by referee Declan Bourne after an angry exchange with the Shrews captain, having initially walked on to the pitch at the final whistle to confront the officials over the lack of stoppage time played during the dramatic 2-2 draw.
A disciplinary hearing is now underway with the club preparing its case but speaking ahead of his side’s Bristol Street Motors Trophy game against Aston Villa’s Under-21s Evatt said there was “context” to his reaction.
He said: “Obviously I am not going to say too much because I am part of a process with the FA but what I will say is that I am disappointed. I am not happy with the way things turned out.
“There wasn’t an issue with the referee at all, we were discussing the timing situation, and there was context to my actions. Their player grabbed me, said some not very nice things, and I reacted in a way I shouldn’t have done.
“Whether it was emotion, frustration, passion, whatever you want to call it, it probably went too far. But as I say, there is context behind the way I reacted and I will be discussing that with the FA.”
Wanderers are waiting to learn the exact charge faced by their manager but there are fears the suspension could exceed the regulation single game, meaning he would not only miss the next home fixture against Burton Albion but potentially the following ones against Birmingham City or Peterborough United.
Evatt did not want to speculate on what punishment he could face but accepts the incident with Feeney was avoidable.
“I can’t say the length of ban, I have to take whatever punishment comes my way. But from my perspective I don’t think it was violent, it was aggressive, I didn’t headbutt, there was no physical contact, it was just a coming together.
"If it is two players it is probably two yellow cards but obviously I have an obligation being a manager that I probably shouldn’t react like that. It is hard, I’m human, and someone is saying unsavoury things like that. I don’t think anyone should grab a manager like that.
“We are where we are. I am part of the process now, I apologise and I know I went too far. Like always, like everything I will learn from it.”
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