Manchester United's Wayne Rooney to appeal two-match ban for swearing

*UPDATE* Wayne Rooney will discover the fate of his appeal on Thursday morning.

Manchester United's Wayne Rooney has decided to appeal the severity of a ban he received for swearing into television cameras after the celebration of his third goal versus West Ham United. The Football Association (FA) gave the England international a two-game ban; a charge that Rooney admits to but United feel that the ban is too severe. If the charge and length of the ban stands as is, then the striker will be forced to sit out the FA Cup semi-final tie versus Manchester City at Wembley. The risk Rooney takes is that if he loses the appeal, he is then in danger of having the ban extended. A similar occurrence recently happened to manager Sir Alex Ferguson after he appealed the charges by the FA for his comments about the refereeing at Stamford Bridge in last month's match versus Chelsea FC. The FA confirmed that they received Rooney's appeal:

"Manchester United player Wayne Rooney has today admitted a charge for the use of offensive, insulting and/or abusive language.However, Rooney has submitted a claim that the automatic penalty of two games is clearly excessive. A commission will hear the submission tomorrow."

Source: The Guardian

The case will be heard on Wednesday afternoon. Just as a reminder, the ban does not involve Champions League play as UEFA is the governing body for that competition.

PFA players chief Gordon Taylor released this statement in regards to the FA's charges versus Rooney on the PFA website:

"Whilst the use of foul and abusive language is not condoned, there is an acceptance by all parties within the game that 'industrial language' is commonly used.It becomes an issue when directed towards match officials. However, when used in a spontaneous way in celebration or frustration then it is not normally expected to merit a sanction.If sanctions are to be imposed in such circumstances then this has to be done in a balanced and consistent manner, and participants made aware of this fundamental change in approach."