'You can't act like nuns': Michael Appleton questions FA charge handed to Blackpool and Burnley

Both the Seasiders and the Clarets have been accused of “failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion” during the fixture at Turf Moor.

It relates to the melee sparked by the red cards handed to Ian Maatsen and Sonny Carey seven minutes from time.

Both men were dismissed after Carey cynically tripped the Burnley left-back to stop a late counter-attack. Maatsen retaliated by forcibly barging Carey to the ground.

Responding to the charge, Appleton told The Gazette: “I just think some of the decisions are very opinionated, so I don’t want to go too much into the law side of things and what’s right and what’s wrong.

“I didn’t see an awful lot wrong to be honest, there was a lot of pushing but it settled down really quickly.

“It was a Lancashire derby, what did people expect? It was two teams going at it trying to win and compete, the fans for both sides were great, it was a great atmosphere.

“You can’t act and play like Nuns, you’ve got to be realistic and expect players to show some passion.

“It’s alright for people to have a go at players saying they don’t show enough passion, but as soon as they do we get condemned for it.

“As long as it doesn’t go overboard, and I don’t think it did against Burnley, it was just two honest groups of players going toe to toe with each other.”

Blackpool’s appeal over Carey’s red card was rejected by the FA’s independent commission, meaning the midfielder will serve a three-game ban.

Their frustration was compounded when the red cards shown to Kieran Trippier and John Lundstram last weekend, for very similar offences, were downgraded to yellows.

“I was disappointed and frustrated, but not surprised because I know how these processes work,” Appleton added.

“I’m sure people will look at the Trippier situation, or the more clear one was the Lundstram one because that actually got rescinded.

“It just comes down to an opinion. Whoever is on the board that day, it’s their view which doesn’t make it a great system.

“But it’s one we’ve had to reluctantly accept.”