Catlin pledges investigation into Pompey dressing-room brawl

Christian Burgess and Michael Doyle did not reappear after the break during yesterday’s visit of Stevenage.

The pair had fought following an argument which soon became violent, leaving Burgess with a cut to his head.

Paul Cook responded by substituting both, bringing on Jack Whatmough and Amine Linganzi for the second half.

The Blues went on to lose 2-1 against Boro, with an awful showing during that subsequent 45 minutes.

Catlin was been aware of the incident by Cook after the match and will tomorrow meet Pompey’s manager to discuss the ramifications.

Burgess and Doyle have apologised to their team-mates, yet now face being hit with at least a fine for their behaviour.

Pompey’s chief executive told The News: ‘At the end of the game, I was made aware by the manager of an incident which occurred at half-time

‘We will now conduct an internal investigation, which will be carried out in conjunction with the manager and those involved.

‘Tomorrow I will again speak to the manager and, if as a result of that, I need to talk to the players then of course I will.

‘You have to approach these things with a calm head. As we know, football is an emotional game, things are said and done in the heat of the moment which a day later people regret.

‘That’s football, you don’t want to take that emotion and passion out of the game, but there is a line to be drawn and that will be discussed internally tomorrow and a decision taken on any potential punishment that needs to then be applied.’