Mauricio Pochettino will accept a Football Assocation misconduct charge concerning his actions towards referee Mike Dean in the wake of Tottenham’s defeat by Burnley on Saturday.
Pochettino, the Argentine, confronted Dean following the final whistle of Spurs’ 2-1 loss, along with his assistant Jesus Perez.
After turning away from Dean, the official is alleged to have said something behind Pochettino’s back which led to a furious reaction from the Spurs boss.
He was charged with misconduct by the FA on Monday and has until 6pm on Thursday, February 28 to respond – but Pochettino has revealed he will accept the charge.
“I will accept that charge,” Pochettino said in a press conference. “Watching my behaviour afterwards on video, I need to accept the charge from the FA.
“I need to apologise to Mike Dean, I cannot behave in that way. It is not the way to behave and I am going to accept the charge.
“My behaviour was public and now I want to apologise in a public way. I need to apologise to him and all of the officials.”
Dean’s comments allegedly caused Pochettino to clash with the referee, but the Argentine would not reveal what the official said to him on the pitch.
“No, all that happened on the pitch stays on there,” he continued.
“I think that is the most important, we need to accept that we are with our emotion.
“For me it’s not important, I don’t take it personally. When your heart rate is so high you need to be careful how you take words. All that happened on the pitch, I’ll never translate off it.”
Dean was due to be fourth official for Tottenham’s Premier League trip to Chelsea on Wednesday, but he has been moved to Manchester City’s home fixture against West Ham following Saturday’s incident.