When Mikel Arteta was charged by the FA with misconduct for comments made after Arsenal’s defeat to Newcastle United, everybody assumed the Spaniard would receive a lengthy touchline ban and a hefty fine.
As it turns out, following a month-long investigation by an independent Regulatory Commission, he was found not guilty. In a 37-page written assessment, they concluded his fury in three separate post-game interviews, which focused on the decision to allow the home side’s winning goal, was not directly aimed at Premier League officials.
Understandably, the Spaniard is keen to draw a line under the situation but he also hopes it leads to further conversations within football about the future of the game and the implementation of VAR.
Facing the media for the first time since the process ended, he was asked if anything positive will come of having his name cleared.
His response: “It has to be. It was a really good process and gave the opportunity for them to explain how they felt, myself how I felt as well and the reasons behind it. Okay, the outcome is that I’m not charged, but I think we have to draw a line and look for how we can be much more constructive and learn from it and move forward. That’s it. It was good.
“I felt a lot of sympathy to be fair once I explained how sometimes as managers, with the pressure that we’re under and how important details are for our job, because I love what I do so much and I want to continue doing it, but the reality last year was that 14 managers lost their jobs, which is incredible. We depend on results, that’s it. When the outcome at the end is that important, I’m really emotional about it. Now no one remembers what happened three weeks ago when you lost a game, you lost another one because of a different reason. I think it was a really good process.”
The FA seemed to take particular umbrage with Arteta’s comments because of his high profile within the game. Ultimately, that didn’t wash with the Commission who knew full well that rules have to be applied equally to everyone.
All the same, Arteta happily accepts that his position as the manager of one of the biggest clubs in world football does come with added responsibility.
“We have a huge duty,” he said. “It’s part of our role to conduct ourselves in the best way and represent the game, the league and our clubs in the best possible way. This is what we try to do every day – sometimes better, sometimes worse – but it’s our intention.”
He also batted away suggestions that if he could go back in time that he’d not have reacted the way he did at St James’ Park.
He stated: “In life, it’s too easy to do that [hypothesise]. It was done – I defended my opinion, I expressed my opinion.
“I say again that I’m fully supportive of how we have to improve the game and the referees are a big part of that. They know that. Managers as well, players as well – everyone is involved.
‘We have the duty and the responsibility to do that. It’s good that we can discuss things in an open and honest way. That’s what I tried to do.”
He also stressed that improving the game in the coming years is a collective responsibility, not a task that lies solely with the PGMOL.
“It’s not about them, it’s about ‘we’. We want to [make] the game better.
“How can we improve on the touchline to make life easier from the player side, from their side, technology-wise? It’s all about us – we’re all in this together.
“It’s not about separate people trying to do their bits – [that’s] not going to work. We have to do it together.”
Pfft -PGMOL. Fuck those guys
He’s right! Reminds me of High School Musical – “We’re all in this together!”.
There needs to be improvements made from each stakeholder — better referees for one, more cameras/angles, and also agreeing as Blogs said the other day, when you’re the beneficiary of an incorrect decision.
Sadly, when/if that happens is another question entirely.
Let me guess, the dick paul Tierney will ref the Liverpool game.
how ridiculous that Arteta”s profile was relevant to his case. we’re not dealing with Alex zferguson or mourinho here and how exactly is profile measured and who measures it ? I wouldn’t consider Erik Ten Hag as “high profile” despite the fact he manages the self-styled :biggest club in the Worlld”
The FA’s argument on this point had two aspects. The first was that the words of a high-profile individual could be insulting to the match officials when identical words spoken by someone else were not. The panel rejected this view outright–words are either insulting or they are not. The second aspect was that a high-profile individual’s words could affect the reputation of the game (this is a paraphrase) when someone else’s words would not. The panel said this was a closer case, but they did not need to decide it because they did not think Arteta’s words brought the game… Read more »
A lot has made of the idea that the charges were “not proven” rather than Arteta was found innocent. That implies tthat the FA simply failed to produce enough evidence to carry its burden to persuade the panel of Arteta’s guilt. That is not what happened. Reading the decision, it is clear that the panel outright rejected the accusation. They found that Arteta’s words and conduct did not breach the FA’s rules. The panel’s decision is carefully worded, of course. But there is more than a hint (to someone who has read many judicial or arbitral decisions) that the FA’s… Read more »
Are his comments still dangerous or should Neville apologise for being the anti Arsenal dick that he is as well as being pgmol mouthpiece?
Neville – the guy who lasted 5 minutes as a manager before returning to punditry with his tail between his legs isn’t fit to polish Arteta’s shoes. Fuck me, he’s not even worthy of polishing Fat Sam’s shoes!
What strikes me most reading his comments is not so much being annoyed with FA or PGMOL but being inspired by the strength, intelligence and single-mindedness of our manager.
He won’t be derailed.
At least, now we know that Arteta can give those fuckers a well-deserved middle finger and claim it actually means “good morning” in his native tongue.
Arteta thinks details matter. The PGMOL and their VAR mates disagree. They’d rather he kept his mouth shit so they can carry on being sloppy and incompetent.
These are incredibly tricky PR waters for MA to manage. On the one hand, he’s a principled guy who does what he believes is right. That has served him well in multiple contexts since becoming manager and has been one of his biggest strengths. His players and most of the fans look up to him for that, and rightly so. He is a worthy heir to Arsene Wenger in that sense, himself also an iconoclast. His principles clearly won’t and should not accommodate incompetence and petty bias from referees. But, and this is a big BUT, standing on his principles… Read more »
Good points. From what I have read about him he seems to be a very serious student of the game and of the principles of coaching/management success so I wouldn’t be surprised if carefully studying the greats is already in his homework portfolio.