SWINDON Town were given a heavier penalty than Leyton Orient for their part in the brawl that saw them fined £5,500 because of previous similar incidents.

There was dismay amongst Town fans on Friday when it emerged their club had received a harsher penalty than Orient, despite appearing to be less at fault.

Mark Cooper explained after Saturday’s draw with Yeovil that when passing judgement on the incident, the FA took into account two previous occasions where Town had been involved in ‘mass confrontation’.

“(We were charged with) cumulative mass confrontation,” said Cooper. “We had two last year and we were on a warning.

“I’ve looked at the footage. Nathan Byrne gets booted, then the lad decides to kick the ball at Nathan’s head. Yaser Kasim tries to protect him and we end up with the charge but there we go.”

The County Ground chief also revealed that from now on the players would be picking up the tab for matters of ill-discipline that cost the club financially.

“We’ve got to sort it out, I’ve had a chat with the players. The fines will now be starting to be paid by them,” he added.

“When the club keeps getting fined large amounts of money then you have to do something.

“I think they thought I was joking but I’m sure the chairman will have something to say about it. We spoke (on Friday) about the fines and we need to sort it out.”