FA fines Brown £2,500 and then look into his 'cheated' comments

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Phil Brown, the Hull City manager, was yesterday fined £2,500 and "warned as to his future conduct" after the Football Association passed judgement on his touchline row with Newcastle United's Joe Kinnear in January.

Obviously he will now watch his step. Except Brown was also "warned as to his future conduct" in November. Then he was fined £1,000. That followed a touchline rant, which included kicking a water bottle that hit the fourth official, during the match with Wigan in August.

Given that the Hull manager earns about £750,000 a year the £1,500 rise in his fine for ignoring the warning "as to his future conduct" seems somewhat lenient.

Certainly the knowledge that he was due before the FA yesterday did not have much impact on Brown after the tempestuous FA Cup tie at the Emirates on Tuesday. Then he nodded in agreement when asked if he felt "cheated" following Arsenal's offside winner, before going on to criticise referee Mike Riley.

The FA said yesterday they were studying his comments.