Swansea may face action over big-screen replays of Jack Butland lunge

The incident was replayed three times from different angles at the Liberty Stadium

Swansea could be reprimanded over showing big-screen replays of an incident involving Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland on Monday night.

Butland escaped punishment from referee Robert Madley for his 17th-minute challenge outside the area on Andre Ayew, even though he went in studs first on the Swansea striker after his bad touch had let the ball run loose.

The incident was replayed three times from different angles on the Liberty Stadium big screens and provoked an angry reaction from Swansea supporters.

Swansea could now find themselves in trouble as Barclays Premier League rules stipulate that big screens should not show controversial incidents or events which question the match officials’ judgement.

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League rule 39.4.1 says: “The screen shall not be used to show action replays of negative or controversial incidents”; and rule 39.4.2 prevents “any incident which brings into question the judgement of a match official”.

Clubs can be fined if they break these rules but the Premier League have confirmed they will wait on the referee’s match report before deciding whether any action is necessary.

“If there is something in a referee’s report we will write to the club concerned, but we will not comment on a particular incident,” said a Premier League spokesperson.

Swansea do not have control of replays shown on the two big screens at the Liberty Stadium with Preston-based company ADI choosing which footage is replayed during matches from their central hub.

But Swansea have apologised to Stoke and the club has already spoken to ADI over the matter. They say new procedures will be put in place to prevent a similar incident from happening again.

“It was human error at the central hub where pictures are controlled,” said a club spokesman.

“It was certainly not done intentionally, and new procedures will be put in place to try to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Stoke manager Mark Hughes said after his side's 1-0 victory that he was unhappy replays of the incident had been shown on the big screens.

“I didn’t appreciate the incident being shown on the videos around the stadium,” Hughes said.

“I thought that was unnecessary.

“I wouldn’t like to think it was deliberate, because when those situations happen it causes a reaction in the crowd and we had to deal with that.”

Bojan Krkic’s early penalty settled the contest as Stoke secured their third consecutive Premier League victory and their first back-to-back top flight away wins since December 2011.

It was the Spaniard’s second goal since returning from a serious knee injury which he suffered in an FA Cup tie at Rochdale in January.

“Bojan is a very good player, he’s got a lot of talent and he’s hungry as well,” said Stoke midfielder Stephen Ireland.

“He’s working every day and it’s nice to see him come back so strong after the injury he had.

“He’s full of confidence at the moment and hungry to perform, and I think he’s going to have a strong season.”

Stoke aim to make it four consecutive Premier League wins for the first time at home to Watford on Saturday, and Ireland believes the Potters can better last season’s ninth-placed finish.

“We want to exceed what we did last year,” Ireland said after Stoke had moved into 11th place in the table.

“We’re confident what we can do this year, the gaffer has set high tasks for us and we’re looking to achieve them.

“We didn’t get the start we would have liked. But we’ve turned it around, and now we’re kicking on and playing with a lot of confidence.”

Swansea, meanwhile, have slipped to 14th after failing to win any of their five league matches since beating Manchester United at the end of August.

“Our passing was off a bit and we weren’t as fluid as normal,” said Swansea skipper Ashley Williams.

“The boys are down because it’s another game we haven’t won.

“To lose at home isn’t pleasing but we didn’t create enough chances.

“I think you get confidence when you put in good performances and wins and we haven’t had too many of them lately.”