Manchester United charged with failing to control players against Newcastle

Manchester United have been charged by the Football Association after their players surrounded referee Craig Pawson during Sunday’s game against Newcastle.

The referee included the incident in his report on the match.

United “failed to ensure its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion”, according to the FA charge.

The Manchester United players surrounded Pawson when he ruled Newcastle had not taken a free-kick before Ronaldo raced up to nick possession away from goalkeeper Nick Pope and tap into an empty net, believing defender Fabian Schar had rolled it to his team-mate.

However Pawson disallowed the goal, and booked Ronaldo as he led his team-mates’ angry reaction to the decision.

Manager Erik Ten Hag also went straight to Pawson at the final whistle, and said afterwards: “I don’t have a comment. I shared that with them. Everyone has seen it.”

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, meanwhile, was certain Schar only touched the ball to Pope so he could take the kick.

“It was clear Fabian wasn’t taking the kick and he was allowing Nick to do it,” he said.

“Nick was waiting to deliver the free-kick. That would have been a very, very difficult decision to swallow.”