Tuesday 9 December 2014 16:04, UK
Chesterfield officials are to attend a personal hearing at Wembley next week after being charged by the Football Association for fielding an ineligible player in the second round of the FA Cup.
The Derbyshire club could miss out on a place in the last 64 after fielding on-loan Wolves defender Georg Margreitter in their 1-0 victory over MK Dons, despite allegations they had not received written permission from his parent club to do so.
The FA announced it had charged the League One club on Monday, just hours before they were paired with Scunthorpe or Worcester in the third-round draw.
In a statement on their official website, they said: "Chesterfield officials will attend a personal hearing at Wembley Stadium next Monday after the club was charged by the FA with a breach of FA Cup rules.
"It is alleged that the club is in breach of FA Cup Rule 15(j)(i) for fielding an ineligible player following Georg Margreitter's appearance in Saturday's second-round tie at MK Dons.
"The club has until 5pm on Thursday to reply to the charge. Club officials will then travel to the capital on Monday for the hearing, which starts at 11.30am. No further comment will be made on the matter at this stage."
Responding to news of the charge on Monday, the club's chief executive Chris Turner said: "We notified The FA as soon as it came to our attention that the necessary written permission from Wolverhampton Wanderers to allow Georg Margreitter to play in the match had not been received.
"We had a verbal agreement with Wolverhampton Wanderers to play Georg but unfortunately we did not ensure that the consent was received in writing. We will of course provide The FA with our full co-operation as they investigate the matter."
As a tier-three club in 1997, Chesterfield reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup before losing to after a replay.
