West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis has described an incident in which Chris Brunt had a coin thrown at him during an FA Cup clash with Reading as "one of the worst things" he has seen in football.
Brunt appeared to be approaching a group of West Brom supporters in an attempt to hand over his shirt following his side's 3-1 defeat and consequent exit from the competition at the hands of their Championship opponents.
However, while doing so he was struck by a coin thrown from the away fans at the Madejski, and Pulis pulled no punches in his scathing criticism of whoever was responsible.
"We have seen an incident where a lad who has played over 300 games for this club could have had his eye out. He has a cut and it's not too far away from his eye - it's an inch away from striking him in his eye and if that happens we're talking a very, very serious problem," he told reporters.
"It's barbaric. That's not acceptable. West Bromwich Albion is a fantastic football club, a famous club, but you can't condone that. I think the police have to get involved in this. I don't think you can allow that to go by. That's criminal, and I mean criminal.
"This has got to be one of the worst things I have seen, for Chris to have a coin thrown at him from his own supporters having been at the club for such a long time. Every decent supporter of the club will be absolutely devastated it has happened to their football club. It's the way the game is going. Social media and everything else builds up an anti-feeling if things are not going well at football clubs. We have to be very careful with it."
Both the Thames Valley Police and the Football Association have already announced that they will look into the incident.
Barney Corkhill
