LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) – Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira was involved in an altercation with a fan in the wake of Thursday’s 3-2 Premier League defeat at Everton and could face a Football Association investigation into the incident.
Vieira was walking towards the away dressing room after the final whistle having seen his side let a two-goal lead slip, and amid a throng of supporters who had invaded the pitch as Everton secured their Premier League survival with the win.
One fan appeared to provoke the former France international with hand gestures, after which Vieira kicked him to the ground and had to be led away by other supporters.
“I’ve got nothing to say on that,” Vieira told reporters after the incident.
The pitch invasion was the second of the match, the first coming after Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s 85th minute winner.
“We don’t want to see it at all,” former Aston Villa striker Dion Dublin said on Sky Sports. “We know how overjoyed the Everton fans are but you can’t be doing that – pushing managers, pushing players, shouting at players in their face.
“We know it’s the minority, we know it’s only one or two who spoil it for everyone else but having fans on the pitch is not the way forward.
“We have to stop letting fans get on the pitch, it’s too dangerous.”
A Nottingham Forest supporter who head-butted Sheffield United captain Billy Sharp during a pitch invasion on Tuesday was jailed for 24 weeks and handed a 10-year football banning order.
(Reporting by Nick Said; Editing by Ken Ferris)
