Valley Parade brawl provokes FA into charging City and Crawley

Three Bantams players were sent off at the end of a fracas that also saw Crawley’s Pablo Mills and Claude Davis dismissed and both clubs were widely expected to be hit with a charge of failing to control their players.

That duly arrived yesterday afternoon along with additional charges for Mills and Kyle McFadzean, the latter’s relating to violent conduct after the FA studied video footage.

Mills’s charge is on top of the violent conduct incident cited by referee Ian Williamson in his report. An FA spokesman said: “The on-field incident occurred outside the jurisdiction of the officials but was reported to the FA.

“This charge is additional to the dismissal for violent conduct which Mills received after the match.”

Mills and McFadzean have until 6pm today to respond, while the two clubs have until 4pm on Tuesday. Bradford are not expected to contest the charge.

Andrew Davies, Luke Oliver and Jon McLaughlin – the three City players red carded after the fracas – will all begin lengthy suspensions tomorrow at Plymouth Argyle.

The one plus for Bradford, however, is that no other players have been cited.

Meanwhile, City defender Marcel Seip is out for the season with a shoulder injury.

The Dutchman, whose short-term contract will be up in the summer, will undergo an operation today on the injury that was sustained in Bradford’s 1-0 defeat at Aldershot Town.

One piece of positive news for City is Simon Ramsden is fit to face Plymouth.