• Premier League

AVB defends decision not to attend FA hearing

ESPN staff
November 19, 2011
Andre Villas-Boas: "The charge implicates that I was calling him biased or questioning his integrity. I was not." © PA Photos
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Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has claimed he has "other things to do" after revealing he will not attend a Football Association hearing after being charged with improper conduct.

The Blues boss this week denied a charge over the comments he made about referee Chris Foy during last month's defeat at Queens Park Rangers.

Villas-Boas accused Foy of failing to treat both sides equally but has insisted that did not mean he had branded the official biased.

He said: "The charge implicates that I was calling him biased or questioning his integrity. I was not."

Asked why he will not appear at the hearing, he replied: "Because I have other things to do.

"I'm not worried. I understand that a charge cannot be taken lightly.

"It's the maximum body of English football, and I respect that, but it doesn't mean I agree with it and it doesn't mean I have to defend it to death. I think I am defending it to death with you, publicly.

"It's not for me to go in front of a panel to talk about it. I don't have to do that."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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