Mikel Arteta has joked that he and his fellow managers should be roped to the bench if yellow cards are issued for celebrating goals away from the tight enclave of the dugout.
The Spaniard picked up a costly booking – his third of the season – for leaving his technical area after Declan Rice’s 97th-minute winner at Luton Town and must now watch Saturday’s tough match against Aston Villa from the directors’ box.
In the immediate aftermath of the win at Kenilworth Road, Arteta played down the situation. However, with a couple of days to reflect, it’s obvious he’s irked by the joy-kill nature of the rules, especially as they don’t appear to have been enforced on other occasions this season.
Asked on Friday whether managers are allowed to celebrate, he said: “We are but I think we have a boundary that maybe we have to extend or we just need a very strong rope with the bench so maybe we don’t move. That means we don’t move, all of us, we don’t move.”
Put to him that the rules perhaps need to be clarified, he continued: “That’s why I say we, not me. I don’t know, the decision is made. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m going to change it from here to Sunday.
He added: “I don’t know how to stop [celebrating], it was a really emotional moment. You have everybody bouncing around and you lose sense of where you are, and the space that you have to be in.
“It was unfortunate because now I cannot be next to my team on the touchline but it is a decision that they have made. If you look strictly at the rules, yes we cannot do that. But the context is different and then the “we” I think is very important within the context.
“After that, straight away I sat on my seat and I stayed still there for 30 seconds, but that was after the emotion. In the moment, I think it’s very difficult to demand that.”
Since he took over at Arsenal, Arteta has always used his presence on the touchline to gee up his players and to work the emotions of the crowd. The idea that he might have to cap his emotions when his side’s hard work pays off and the ball ends up in the back of the net feels pretty ridiculous.
The Spaniard clearly doesn’t want to stop celebrating with his players.
“If I was given the opportunity no, I would like to be there with my players because we work closely every single day to achieve what we want, which is to win the games in whatever manner.
“When you get those moments in sport, you should be able to do that, but I understand as well there are certain boundaries and you have to respect them, such as when you are in an away ground. But if I was given the chance, I would be there jumping.”
Arteta now has to try and keep his emotions in check at Villa Park when he watches from the stands. Asked if he’ll celebrate, he said: “In the director’s box, I don’t think so! Never say never, because the game can get very emotional, but I will try not do that.”
He may have to get used to sitting on his hands. At some point today, the FA will release a statement confirming whether Arteta will be fined and banned for further matches following his comments about the officiating at Newcastle in November.
“We had some meetings on the evidence, opinions, conclusions and content that we had. We’re just waiting to hear,” he confirmed.
An immediate three-game ban would mean he sits out the Brighton, Liverpool and West Ham fixtures either side of Christmas.
We suspect if he’s caught celebrating the festive period with his family, the FA will force him to burn all his kids’ presents or face a further ban.
The PGMOL once again sucking the life out of the sport we all love. Yes let’s temper our emotions and show no reaction when we score an injury time winner in the last minute of a game in what is looking to be a close title race. If we can’t get excited and celebrate these occasions, then what is the point. The reason Football is soo loved is because it is generally a roller-coaster of emotions, when you win you feel on cloud 9, when you loose, it’s the end of the world. It’s all part of the game we… Read more »
the only way i could make sense out of it is if he went to celebrate and hug with the staff right in front of villa’s bench. like, being unintentionally disrespectful to their staff by invading and celebrating in their own technical area. maybe that’s what happened? i don’t know, i cant understand the yellow any other way.
Maybe we were all too busy celebrating ourselves, that we failed to notice Arteta dropping his pants and doing a full Sammy Nelso to the Luton fans??
Arteta is clearly being targeted. How dare he speak up about the corruption and incompetence in officiating of the Premier League?
It is clear as day! They are going to “punish” him and his team for that statement. It all adds credence to the “corruption” claims we are slinging at them, though. The almighty PGMOL should never be criticized
We’ll get confirmation of this at the weekend. Let’s see if any manager goes outside their technical area and gets a yellow.
Unless a manager is being disrespectful to the other manager or the opposition fans, then I don’t understand why it is even necessary for such a ‘rule’ to exist. Football, like most sports, is a very emotionally charged game, and goals, especially last-minute winners are the perfect trigger to let those emotions flow. So fans can celebrate the goals, players can celebrate the goals, but the manager, who has just witnessed his hard work come to fruition should not partake in this moment of joy. Bullshit!!! I bet if any other team had scored that goal against Arsenal and their… Read more »
I think it’s high time we outlaw celebrations entirely. In fact if you score you should apologise to the opposing team for upsetting them. Lets outlaw referees as well and replace them with sensors in strategic places to say when you’re offside or the ball has gone out. Fouls can be decided by sniffer dogs, that can be trained to detect shithousery from cheating divers like most of the spurs, Chelsea and Man U players. Lets face it most players go down like they’ve been shot or harpooned so let them get on with it. It’s all recorded so its… Read more »
Here’s what needs to happen- No shouty nonsense from talksport radio. No bland 15 minute Carragher/Neville segment on Sky Sports. No left field think pieces from the athletic. No shitty “HEATED debate!!!” videos on some attention seeking twats’ youtube channel. And no ‘referee pundits’ scurrying to tnt sport or whatever the hell it’s called now to defend their colleagues. The standard of refereeing has reached abysmal levels this season and has significantly weakened the quality of this whole league season. And this latest ‘initiative’ is the final straw for me. Whatever their personal biases, every single member of the media… Read more »
The day we get every single member of the media on the same page in the internet age is one I’d absolutely love to see. Think the only time I can ever remember it happening from an Arsenal standpoint was when RvP was sent off in the Nou Camp for daring to have a shot when 90,000 people were whistling at him.
Love your comment but getting the media together to do the right thing? Pigs will fly and everyone will find Bruno Fernandes absolutely adorable before that ever happens my friend.
I like the the rope idea, but instead of it being tied to the bench they should have all the refs learn to throw a lasso and the amount to which the manager is restrained will be dependent on their ability to shout “yeeeehaaaawww” and throw the lasso around the manager and catch and restrain him while he’s celebrating, after which they’ll be graded for their ability to do so, with better lasso skills allowing promotion to the PL and worse ones causing a demotion to the championship where they’ll also need to rodeo. That will at least be a… Read more »
Arteta should go straight on to Twitter and post “WTF” just to see what happens.
Every time we score he should immediately don a colourful paper crown and blow a party horn.
😂
Now I won’t be able to see Mikel in the technical area without thinking of the Mike Meyers SNL skit where he’s tethered to the playground.
Pathetic
Gimpy
Moronic
Obnoxious
Lamentable
Piss
Gunts
Moist turds
Ocular impairment
Losers
Somehow along the way, PGMOL developed main character energy and actually see themselves as central to the story and guardians of the game, so they focus on enforcement of non football related proprieties. Wankers.
The technical area is about 1m deep. With so many people in that team, this seems like an agenda to teach Mikel a PGMOL lesson.
It was only a few weeks ago we saw De Zebra dancing across the pitch “over-celebrating”. It all seems quite petty.
Hang on, you mean he can’t even celebrate in the director’s box? Wtf? I hope he tells his team to do a minutes’ silence after each goal they score.
This. I’m really hoping for this kind of protest from the players.
They score, all run to the technical area. Shake hands, pat each other on the back listlessly, then return to the playing field.
Stupid idiots running and ruining the sport we all love.
Hoping with all my might for a full team packed inside the technical area goal celebration on saturday… they all run over in silence and only celebrate once everyone is fully within the dashed lines.
Ahh. You already suggested this. I had exactly the same thought! 😂
I think celebrations should be rotated, each coach or assistant coach taking a turn at going completely wild. So no suspensions, and possibly no yellow cards at all, at least if treatment of serial fouls on Saka is any guide. If one of the coaches happens to land his knee in someone’s back, hey that’s just good old-fashioned football celebrating. The serious point: there are real problems in football that could be remedied by the officials. Taking a long time for a throw-in is far down the list, goal celebrations even further down. Serial fouling is pretty high. Pulling attacking… Read more »
When in the past has a manager been booked for this sort of offense? Are there examples? Honest question.
This seems like we are heading towards a dystopian future with PGMOL the enforcers of a new police state for the FA. When discussion and discourse is at first discouraged, then disciplined. At what point does someone who has the courage to speak openly just end of missing? Thinking V is for Vendetta.
Before we know it we’ll have robocop reffing games
Remember when Klopp celebrated a late winner..?
-Outside his technical area…
-Up in the 4th referee’s face…
-So hard that he pulled his hamstring…
I honestly can’t remember if he was even given a yellow for that.