West Ham manager Avram Grant banned and fined by FA

Grant will be in the stands for games against Bolton and Aston Villa

West Ham manager Avram Grant has been handed a two-match touchline ban and fined £6,000 by the FA for comments made about match official Mike Jones.

He was found guilty of improper conduct over the comments made after the 2-1 FA Cup defeat at Stoke on 13 March.

Grant's ban starts immediately and it means he will miss the vital Premier League games against Bolton Wanderers and Aston Villa.

Relegation-threatened West Ham lie in 18th place with seven matches left.

Grant - who denied the initial charge - hinted that referee Jones had favoured Stoke out of guilt for missing Frederic Piquionne's apparent handball in scoring the equaliser for West Ham.

"Until they scored [the second] goal he gave fouls, a penalty, everything for them," Grant said after the match.

Grant was also annoyed by the failure to award West Ham a penalty when James Tomkins was jostled by Jon Walters.

"It was a penalty for us at the end which he didn't give. Maybe he felt a little bit guilty. I think it was the effect of the first goal for us," added Grant.