Vieira hit with two-match ban for insulting official

Patrick Vieira was yesterday handed a two-match ban and fined £25,000 by the Football Association after being found guilty of using insulting language towards referee Andy D'Urso last month.

The Arsenal captain, who was cleared of using abusive language, had been charged with misconduct following his sending-off against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 1 September. That dismissal was the eighth of the French midfielder's Highbury career.

Vieira's ban will see him miss the north London derby at home to Tottenham Hotspur on 16 November and the trip to Southampton on 23 November.

"We are naturally very disappointed with this decision and will be thinking about an appeal," Arsenal's manager, Arsène Wenger, said after the verdict.

The 26-year-old Vieira is the first high-profile casualty of the FA's policy, announced at the start of the season, to clamp down on foul and abusive language directed at match officials. It has not been made public how the FA differentiates between insulting language and abusive language, nor whether it makes a difference in what tongue the offending language is spoken.

Vieira, who has already served a one-match ban for the sending-off, was dismissed in the 50th minute against Chelsea after receiving his second yellow card. He exchanged words with the referee before leaving the pitch.

The ban handed out yesterday is not Vieira's first in England. He was suspended for six matches in October 1999 after spitting at the West Ham United defender Neil Ruddock and confronting a police officer.

In February 2001 he was again punished by the FA after an altercation with two Leeds midfielders, but was cleared of another misconduct charge in March this year after he was accused of elbowing Chelsea's Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

The Bayern Munich president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has reprimanded Owen Hargreaves following the midfielder's admission that he may be tempted to play in England.

The Canadian-born England international has stalled on a two-year contract extension and suggested that he would feel "more at home" in England.

"I don't like his remarks," Rummenigge said. "We are under the impression that during the World Cup his English team-mates have worked very hard on him to play in England."

Newcastle United fear that Criag Bellamy may have suffered a recurrence of his knee injury after the player complained of discomfort earlier this week. Newcastle have already contacted the American surgeon Richard Steadman – who operated on the Welsh international at the end of the last campaign. Bellamy is now a major doubt for tomorrow's match at home to Charlton.

Wayne Rooney has admitted he is frustrated at not being able to sign a professional contract for Everton to mark his 17th birthday yesterday. Instead he faces a delay as his current advisors have refused to release him until December when he joins the Proactive Sports Group.

"I will sign my contract with Everton as soon as is possible," he said. "The problem is that my current agent has not agreed to terminate our agreement even though it runs out in December."

Warren Barton yesterday revealed that players at Derby County are prepared to accept a 25 per cent pay cut to help ease the club's financial problems. The East Midlands club are believed to be £30m in debt.