Mikel Arteta: Arsenal manager cleared after FA charge for comments about referees and VAR after defeat to Newcastle
Mikel Arteta has been cleared by an Independent Regulatory Commission after he was charged by the FA for his post-match comments after Arsenal’s defeat to Newcastle.
The Arsenal manager was charged with FA rule E3.1 after he criticised the decision to allow Anthony Gordon’s winning goal for Newcastle on November 4 in an interview with Sky Sports.
“It’s a disgrace,” Arteta told Sky Sports. “It’s embarrassing. That’s how I feel and that’s how everybody feels in that [dressing] room. You cannot imagine the amount of messages we’ve got saying this cannot continue. It’s embarrassing. I’m sorry, embarrassing.”
“I feel sick. That’s how I feel. I feel sick to be part of this. It is not good enough and we cannot accept that.”
The FA alleged Arteta’s comments constituted misconduct in that they were insulting towards match officials and/or detrimental to the game and/or brought the game into disrepute. However, the independent commission found that charge was not proven.
The goal had three key talking points – whether Newcastle’s Joe Willock had taken the ball out of play in the build-up to the goal, whether Joelinton fouled Gabriel in assisting the goal, and whether Gordon was offside before scoring.
The FA’s written reasons for Arteta avoiding a charge said he only had two issues with the goal – the foul on Gabriel and whether the ball went out of play.
The written reasons also stated that:
- Arteta did not mean to insult with his use of the word ‘disgrace’ as the Spanish word ‘desgracia’ has a different meaning to the English word
- Arteta wants to improve VAR as they are “below necessary standards”
- Arteta attended a “wholly unproductive” meeting with the PGMOL on November 2 – two days before the Newcastle game
- In his evidence, Arteta revealed that Willock, who used to play under Arteta, told the Arsenal players that the ball had indeed gone out of play
Sky Sports News understands the FA will not appeal against the decision of the independent regulatory commission that cleared Arteta of the misconduct charge he faced.
Either side has the right to appeal against a commission decision, but any appeal has to be lodged within a certain time frame of the decision, and that deadline has now passed.t
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