FA charges Birmingham over derby pitch invasion

Birmingham City have been charged by the Football Association over the behaviour of their supporters during the Premiership derby with Aston Villa on 16 September.

The Blues won the St Andrews contest 3-0 but supporters invaded the field of play after all three goals, prompting the FA to act.

An FA statement released yesterday read: "We can confirm the FA have charged Birmingham City with breach of Rules E21a and E21b, which respectively deal with the failure to ensure the proper conduct of spectators and to ensure that no spectators encroach onto the field of play.

"The charges relate to the behaviour of Birmingham fans during the derby with Aston Villa at St Andrew's on 15 September. The club have 14 days to respond."

Home supporters ran onto the pitch after Clinton Morrison had given Birmingham a 31st-minute lead.

Peter Enckelman's blunder for the home side's second goal after the break brought a repeat, with some home fans taunting the Villa goalkeeper at close range.

Geoff Horsfield rounded off the win seven minutes from time, sparking more jubilant scenes in the first top-flight meeting of the two teams for 16 years.

Across the city, the Aston Villa manager, Graham Taylor, is breathing a sigh of relief after a scan revealed that the club's record signing Juan Pablo Angel is not suffering from any serious knee damage.

Angel has been struggling for full fitness since suffering the injury during a tackle from Darren Purse during the match against Birmingham City.

He had to pull out of training in the latter part of last week and was not fit enough to be included in the squad for Saturday's game with Sunderland. But a scan on Monday revealed that Angel had nothing more than severe bruising and the Colombian international is expected to return sooner rather than later.

Taylor said: "Juan felt that he could train on after the game with Birmingham but he felt this reaction so we felt that it was best to pull him out of the Sunderland game.

"He went to see the specialist and had a scan and it is been confirmed that there is some deep bruising in the knee and nothing more than that.

"In that respect we are happy and it's a question of waiting for the knee to ease now. The good thing is it is one of those things that clears up with not too many problems."

Angel had been struggling to find his form even prior to the injury and had not scored in five Premiership games. The player had thought he would be leaving Villa in the summer after admitting to being unsettled but the club received no concrete offers for his services.

The Ipswich Town chairman, David Sheepshanks, insists he is not about to appoint a coach to work alongside George Burley. Speculation mounted this week that an experienced coach was being lined up to assist the Ipswich manager.

Burley is under pressure with the Suffolk club fourth from bottom of the First Division and with an important Uefa Cup first round, second-leg tie against FK Sartid in Yugoslavia tomorrow.

But Sheepshanks said: "I have read and heard of the reports in the press about rumours of action that we are apparently taking. There is no truth whatsoever in the idea that we are appointing a senior coach.

"I have always believed managers must appoint their own staff and the notion that a chairman or a board can appoint a coach to work under a manager is a ridiculous one."