Gronkjaer, hardly the most outspoken player, felt the need to defend his club in light of the investigation.

Gronkjaer said, "All players would like to play on grass - but we played the game and it's finished now in my opinion.

"We knew the conditions before the game but I'm sure Charlton knew as well. I don't think it's such a big issue, although I can understand because they lost they want to have a rematch - maybe we would have done the same thing as Charlton if we had lost the game."

But even Gronkjaer had to admit that the pitch was poor: "You don't expect to play on a pitch like that in the Premier League."

The sooner the FA resolve this farce, the better as far as I'm concerned...