The Football Association has charged Southampton’s David Prutton with two counts of improper conduct after his dismissal against Arsenal.
The first charge relates to his failure to leave the field after being shown the red card, pushing referee Alan Wiley and remonstrating with assistant referee Paul Norman. The second charge is for using threatening words and/or behaviour to a match official during the 1-1 draw.
Prutton has until 1800 GMT on Tuesday to respond to the charges.
The player has already apologised for his actions.
“It’s an horrendous situation,” he said. “I apologise to the ref and linesman, who were only doing their job.
“I’ve also seen what happened to Pires’ leg and I’m sorry for that as well.
“I thought Pires made a meal of it at the time, but in hindsight he obviously didn’t.
“I apologise for the people who saw it. I know you get lots of kids going to the match now and they don’t pay money to see that sort of thing.
“I haven’t got a leg to stand on and the manager Harry Redknapp can say what he wants about it because I was so silly.
“It’s not a cop-out, but it was all a bit of a blur. Sometimes you react and it’s beyond your control.
“Hopefully in the future it won’t be beyond my control and I can curb it.
“I was a little bit frustrated because the feeling is one of utter hopelessness. I had let my team-mates down and everyone in the ground.”
Prutton was castigated by his manager Harry Redknapp.
Redknapp said: “I cannot stand here and defend him, he committed an act of stupidity that cost us dearly.
“We’re going to be without him for a long time, there’s no doubt.
“The first booking of the game was his ninth of the season so it’s not as if you can say how unlucky is that.
“The only surprise for me is that without the linesman the referee was not going to send him off.”
