EXETER City manager Gary Caldwell has been hit with a two-match touchline ban and £2,750 fine for his antics at the end fo the Grecians’ league One defeat at Wycombe Wanderers on new Year’s Day.

The City chief had not been happy with the performance of match referee Scott Simpson throughout the 90 minutes, culminating in the award of a controversial penalty against his side in the final minute.

Caldwell is believed to have said to fourth official Alan Dale that the decision was “f***ing terrible” and a “f***ing disgrace” which led to Dale calling Simpson over to brandish a red card, which he duly did. Caldwell then told Simpson he was a “f***ing disgrace,” according to the report of the match referee, which was used as evidence against the City boss at the regulatory commission on Monday.

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Caldwell, who did not appear at the hearing, instead supplied a written statement in which he accepted the charge and apologised for his actions. Within his evidence, Caldwell touched upon incidents within the game where he considered the match officials had not treated his side fairly, including feedback from PGMOL relating to a disallowed goal for his team.

Whilst not trying to justify his behaviour, Caldwell said his actions were the culmination of those decisions and while he faced two charges of misconduct – one to the fourth official and one to the referee – only a single change should be considered. However, the commission rejected that notion, stating video evidence showed a full ten seconds had elapsed between the referee being notified by the fourth official and the referee reaching the touchline to dismiss him, which was when Caldwell is accused of abusing him.

The commission felt those ten seconds were sufficient time for Caldwell to reflect on what had happened and make an “informed choice” as to whether he abused the referee and his begaviour was “persistent” and showed “a lack of self discipline.”

As Caldwell accepted the charge and no details were forthcoming when the commission sought details of Caldwell’s disciplinary record over the past five years, so he was hit with the standard penalty of a one match ban for abuse of the fourth official and £1,000 fine. But because of the second charge and it was deemed a “repeat offence” with no mitigating factors, an additional one-match ban and fine of £1,750 was imposed to reflect the repeat offence.