Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo has been charged with improper conduct by the FA following his recent criticism of referee Lee Mason.
Santo questioned the official's ability to take charge of games in the Premier League, after their 2-1 defeat to Burnley earlier this month.
He has until Tuesday 5 January to respond to the charge.
A statement from the FA on Thursday read;
Nuno Espirito Santo has been charged with a breach of FA Rule E3 in relation to their Premier League match against Burnley FC on Monday December 21, 2020.
It is alleged that comments made by the head coach during a post-match interview constitute improper conduct as they were personally offensive to the match official and/or bring the game into disrepute contrary to FA Rule E3.1.
The comments made to the media by the Portuguese after the Burnley defeat were;
"The referee does not have the quality to whistle a game in the Premier League.
"It is not about the crucial mistakes or decisions, it is about the way he handles the game. The players get nervous, too much voices, he whistles by the voices when some players are shouting.
"We are talking about the best competition and clearly he doesn’t have the quality to whistle the game. I’m very disappointed to say this but I would not feel right if I didn’t say it.
"I just don’t want to see him more – that’s what I told him. I hope he doesn’t whistle a game of ours again because all the games we have with Lee Mason are always the same.
"He cannot control the players, the players are constantly arguing – both teams. With all the other referees the game flows, there’s dialogue. He’s just not ready to do it."
