Following handbag-gate at Old Trafford earlier this season, Patrick Vieira was banned for a match (in addition to the ban for his sending off) and fined £20,000 for similarly refusing to leave the pitch. Given that Cole was "warned to his future conduct" following that incident, it seems likely that he will be charged, and punished similarly.

It is possible that Cole will be able to present a defence, however. Immediately after the horrendous foul for which he was rightly red-carded, he was mobbed by Leicester players who were (understandably) incensed by the foul on Thatcher. I think it was Howey, for instance, who ran some 50 yards to shove Cole. Very soon there was a big crowd of both coloured shirts, and most of the jostling appeared to come from the blue ones.

That's not to say that any charges should be pressed against any of the Leicester players. But it is true to say that it would not have been easy for Cole to get away from that melee, and the fact that he waited till the referee had asserted his authority (a bit) before leaving the pitch is perhaps understandable.

It seems likely that whether or not Cole is charged will depend on what the referee reports regarding what Cole actually said to him between the foul and leaving the pitch. If Cole was complaining about the aftermatch to the card rather than the card itself, and if the ref confirms that Cole left when it was practical to do so in the light of the actions of the other players around him, then there is still hope that he will escape a charge.

what am I saying? This is Arsenal, they're bound to throw the book at him. And maybe, depending on what he was actually saying to the ref, he'll deserve it. Are there any lipreaders out there that can tell us if he was telling the ref he got the ball....?

Rupe adds...
When I wrote the above, I wasn't aware that referee Rob Styles had been quoted (in the Daily Mail) as saying that the reason Ashley was on the pitch so long was that he was trying to apologise. Many thanks to James Reiff for the info, and my apologies to Ashley Cole for some of the things I said in my report about his attitude.

See SoccerAge for confirmation. Styles says, "I'm reporting to the FA that I took all the action that seemed appropriate... Part of the reason [Cole] took so long to go off the pitch was that he was trying to be apologetic... His reaction was one of disappointment as well as apology... Things are not always what they seem."

The FA are also said to be considering whether or not to charge Thatcher, recipient of Cole's red-card rated foul, over a first-half incident where he clearly stood on Freddie Ljungberg's hand or wrist (prompting an angry reaction from the Swede). But as Wenger puts it, "It's not for me to decide what the FA should do though. We are not here to get other people punished, we just don't want to get punished ourselves."