BLACKBURN Rovers were today considering their next move after the Football Association charged Graeme Souness over his spat with referee Graham Poll.

The FA confirmed last night that Souness has been charged with abusive and/or insulting words to a match official, relating to comments made to Poll during Rovers' 1-0 home victory over Tottenham on November 29.

Souness was furious after substitute Steven Reid appeared to be fouled by Stephen Carr but did not win a free-kick early in the second half.

The former Liverpool chief was then banished to the stand after allegedly telling Poll 'I didn't know you were a Tottenham supporter.'

The Blackburn boss now has until December 23 to respond to the charge and Rovers' chief executive John Williams will speak to Souness and his lawyer in the next day or so to see how they want to proceed.

In all likelihood, Souness will request a personal hearing to argue his case.

He pleaded his innocence immediately after the incident occurred when he said: "I've not sworn and I haven't said anything that the referee could deem to be wrong in my eyes.

"There was no bad language, no swearing, and no argument with him."

If found guilty, Souness faces a potentially lengthy touchline ban as he was warned about his future conduct following a similar incident against Wigan last season.

In the meantime, Birmingham striker Christophe Dugarry could also find himself in hot water with the FA after they confirmed last night that they will be looking at a video of his clash with Craig Short on Saturday.

Short accused the Frenchman of deliberately elbowing him in the face after he was left with a broken nose.

Referee Graham Barber failed to spot the incident at the time but the FA have since requested video evidence and Dugarry could now be hit by a three-game ban to add to the suspension he will serve for getting sent off as a result of a separate incident from the same game.

Meanwhile, Birmingham have vowed to ban for life the supporter who allegedly threw a coin at Rovers keeper Brad Friedel during the match at St Andrew's - providing they can identify the culprit.

The incident occurred during the second half after Lucas Neill had scored the decisive second goal for Rovers in a 4-0 win.

Friedel handed the coin to referee Barber and he included the incident in his match report to the FA who have invited Blues to put forward their observations on the matter.

The club could be in severe trouble as they were warned to their future conduct - as well as being fined £25,000 - following crowd disturbances in last season's derby matches against Aston Villa.

City have condemned the actions on Saturday and are co-operating fully with the FA and West Midlands Police over the matter as well as promising to increase CCTV monitoring of the crowd at future matches.