STEVE Cotterill has been ordered to attend a hearing later this month to answer an FA charge.

The Burnley boss has been forced to wait over two months to discover his fate after appealing against his 'sending off' during the Clarets 2-1 Championship defeat to Gillingham in August.

But the FA have now confirmed that Cotterill, who was charged with using abusive or/and insulting words to a match official, must travel to Birmingham for the hearing on Wednesday, November 16.

Cotterill has always maintained his innocence following the incident, when referee Richard Beeby sent him to the stands following a stand-up row with the fourth official during a stormy encounter with the Gills that also saw Micah Hyde sent off and eight other players booked.

At the time, the Clarets chief said: "The bottom line is I had the hump with the ref because one of their players pushed John McGreal and the ball ended up going out for a corner.

"Yes, I am going to be biased because I am Burnley's manager, but I think it would be difficult for anyone to see things differently.

"The fourth official told me ten times 'any more and you will go in the stand'. I told him ten times that I'd heard him and never gave him any more verbal, but he still called the ref over and I was sent to the stand.

"I'll appeal against it though and I only hope his pillows are nice and soft because he will have a hard time sleeping."

Cotterill, who bit his tongue last weekend rather than criticise referee Nigel Miller in the 3-0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers, will now get a chance to state his case in two weeks time.

Meanwhile, an army of Burnley fans are set to travel over the Pennines for tomorrow night's big Championship clash with Leeds United.

The last few remaining tickets were expected to be snapped up this morning from the Turf Moor ticket office.

And that means that around 3,500 Clarets fans will be at Elland Road as Cotterill's men go in search of a morale-boosting first win in seven league games.