KENNY Jackett hopes the authorities will take into consideration all of the circumstances surrounding Saturday’s mass brawl at Wycombe when the Lions appear before the FA next month.
Both clubs were charged with failing to control their players after an ugly challenge by Gareth Ainsworth on Tony Craig resulted in a huge melee involving both sets of players.
Ainsworth was sent off but it wasn’t the first time the pair have had a run in as Craig suffered a broken cheekbone after a clash with the Wycombe midfielder at The Den last November.
The incident resulted in an inevitable charge this week, but Lions boss Jackett is urging the FA to look at all of the history before passing sentence.
He said: “Any mass confrontation is a charge now, so if you get a big group of players, whether it is in the tunnel or after a tackle, then both clubs get charged.
“With the Tony Craig and Gareth Ainsworth situation, there was a lot of bad feeling from what happened in the first game from my players.
“As they see it, they are backing their mates and Tony is a very popular figure.”
Jackett added: “The situation where you all run over can result in an FA charge.
“It happens all the way through the leagues where all the players are there but very little that happens.
“We have to get the balance right.
“The FA are dead against those confrontations as they think it is not good for the image of the game.
“From out point of view, I would want our players to back each other up but we have to find some way of doing that without them all getting involved.
“The players were backing up Tony Craig because of what had happened at The Den.”
Despite accepting the FA’s intervention, Jackett is determined Millwall will make their case heard when the hearing finally takes place.
“I don't think we will contest it because we can't say it didn't happen as it did,” he said.
“But there are circumstances there, so we will certainly be putting our case across.”
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