Macclesfield Town are planning to appeal against their £9,000 fine imposed by the FA for their part in the 21-man brawl during the league game with Wycombe.
The substantial penalty, imposed at an FA tribunal hearing relates to the breach of rule 20E (a), is just £1,000 pounds below the maximum imposable limit for such an incident.
The Silkmen, who have a respectable disciplinary record under manager Gary Simpson, pleaded guilty at the hearing but have nonetheless been hit with a crippling financial penalty.
The club fined every player involved, as well as Simpson and his assistant Glyn Chamberlain, but the FA have punished one of the league’s least affluent clubs with a hefty fine.
"We’ve held our hands up to the charge," said Simpson. "We pleaded guilty which normally reduces any fine by a third, but everybody was gobsmacked by the size of the fine, the chairman had to ask them to repeat the amount.
"We did have an FA charge after a game with Dagenham last season and the fine then was £750, so we’ll put our appeal in and see where it goes from here."
On the field, Macc are now just three wins away from the 50-point target set by the manager in the summer.
Ahead of their Tuesday night game at home to Lincoln, back-to-back victories have eased any relegation fears, although Simpson added: "I’m not sleeping well, it’s been an unbelievably tough season, in every way possible.
"I didn’t realise how much it would take out of me, but we’re almost at the target we’ve set ourselves .
"When we get there we’ll be thankful that we’re still here and we can relax a bit and live to fight another day."
The Macc boss will have Emile Sinclair and Ricky Sappleton back after their three-match bans imposed for red cards against Wycombe.
