A Football Association disciplinary panel has branded Manchester United assistant manager Mike Phelan as unreliable and unimpressive. The damning criticism comes in the panel's findings into the post-match brawl with Chelsea's groundstaff after the Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge in April.

Red Devils full-back Patrice Evra has been handed a four-match ban over his part in the fracas, but it is Phelan's evidence to the panel which has come under fire in documents made public by the FA.

In his case notes, panel chairman Nicholas Stewart QC outlined major inconsistencies in the two written accounts submitted by Phelan prior to verbally giving evidence.

"Even before the hearing we did not feel able to place strong reliance on this evidence. Mike Phelan did not impress us," read the panel's findings.

The report claimed that if Phelan and then goalkeeping coach Richard Hartis had heard the reported racist comments Bethell was alleged to have made, it was implausible no-one else, specifically two black members of the Chelsea groundstaff close to the scene, would not have heard them and reported them.

"Aspects of this evidence raise questions about the reliability of their claims," the report states.