Liverpool Striker Ryan Babel Hit With £10,000 for Twitter Joke

Liverpool striker Ryan Babel has been charged £10,000 by the FA for posting a picture on his Twitter site of top referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt. The picture followed the decision to award Manchester United a decisive penalty in the 1-0 FA Cup defeat at Old Trafford. The Dutch forward admitted the charge of improper conduct at a Football Association Regulatory Commission hearing. Babel apologised for the post after publishing, but that was not enough to stop the fine placed on the 24 year old, signed from Eredivisie side Ajax in 2007. In addition to the doctored photograph, Babel posted the comment: ‘And they call him one of the best referees. That’s a joke’. The player has more than 180,000 Twitter followers and the offending images were reproduced around various media outlets. Babel himself has already been in trouble on Twitter with comments he made about then-Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez’s team selections in January 2010.