Frank Lampard has been fined £30,000 by the Football Association for comments after Everton’s defeat in the Merseyside derby in April. The manager claimed Liverpool would have been awarded apenalty had Mohamed Salah gone down like Anthony Gordon did in a challenge that the referee, Stuart Attwell, did not penalise. Gordon, who had been booked for diving in the first half, fell after apparent contact from Joël Matip, but Attwell neither awarded a penalty nor issued a second yellow card. Lampard denied an FA charge which implied “bias and/or attacked the integrity of the match referee” but it was upheld in an independent hearing. The FA statement said: “The Everton FC manager made the comments after their Premier League game against Liverpool FC on Sunday 24 April 2022, and he denied that they constitute improper conduct as they imply bias and/or attack the integrity of the match referee – or referees generally – and/or bring the game into disrepute contrary to FA Rule E3.1” Everton contacted the Professional Game Match Officials Board for a second time in the season with concerns over the decision not to award the penalty. Lampard said in his post-match interview: “It is a penalty for me. You don’t get them here. If that was Mo Salah at the other end he gets a penalty. I’m not trying to create conflict; it’s just the reality of football. I have played in teams in the top half of the league – you get them. That was a penalty for sure. It’s a clear foul.”