Aston Villa owner Tony Xia fined for referee tweet

Aston Villa chairman and owner Tony Xia has been fined for a tweet he posted during his side's 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers in the Championship.

The Football Association ordered the businessman to pay £4,000 for insinuating that the match official was biased towards his team.

"Is the ref a AV hater?" Xia wrote on the social network after referee Jeremy Simpson sent off Villa defender Neil Taylor.

The FA said that the Villa chairman's comment "questioned the integrity of the match official and/or alleged and/or implied bias on the part of the match official, and/or brought the game into disrepute, contrary to FA Rule E3(1)".

Xia, who was also warned about his future conduct, accepted the governing body's fine.