Just when it seemed the Myles Lewis-Skelly incident was done and dusted, the FA has hit Arsenal with an improper conduct charge over the players surrounding referee Michael Oliver during the 1-0 win at Wolves.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out this relates to their protests over Lewis-Skelly’s red card just before half-time.
An independent panel has since overturned the dismissal, confirming Arsenal’s frustration was justified – but that’s unlikely to help the club’s case.
In a statement this afternoon, the FA said: “Arsenal FC has been charged after its players surrounded a match official during their Premier League fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers FC on Saturday, 25 January.
“The club failed to ensure that its players did not behave in an improper manner around the 43rd minute. Arsenal FC has until Monday, 3 February, to provide a response.”
Presumably, Arsenal will take the slap on the wrists and pay the fine.
As an aside, the independent panel’s full feedback on the Lewis-Skelly incident makes for interesting reading.
Wow. Just wow
They can’t beat us in the court rooms so they have to resort to things like this to get the last laugh.
Safe to say we can expect some questionable calls against us in the future.
Business as usual then.
The FA behaviour beggars belief.😲
Indeed. This action is petty, vindictive, and childish. And in plain sight.
Fuck ‘em. We let them know full well in 1991 in the last game of the season against manyoo what they can do (‘you can stick your f***ing two points up your arse!’) and PGMOL know full well where they can stick Michael Oliver and his cards this time round.
Aside from the referee picking up the ball, walking slowly towards Raya, and throwing it into the net, what else can they do?
Common sense is, that the red card was nonsense, and players were rightly riled as the independent panel proved by rescinding the red. There’s nothing to it, we were punished enough having to play over half the game with nine men.
Absolute arse wipes
This is beyond pathetic…
Absolutely ridiculous, but no surprise. Our card has long been marked.
How do they expect them to react? Do they think they should just except it and play on.
It would be like just excepting a speeding ticket for walk on the path!! Of course your going to react to a stupid decision!!
Please, please don’t pay a penny of this. Tell them publicly to take their fine and shove up their asses. Never back down and report these corrupt c@nts to anyone who will listen. Fight them in the courts if necessary. It’s time to fight back.
Shove it up their donkey? 🤔
Interesting……..
I agree with you. What else can they do? we were justifiably riled by Oliver’s cheating. If we are to be charged so should Michael Oliver. If you are provoked you are allowed to lose your head for a moment. And time and time again Michael Oliver keeps testing us and PGMOL seems to let him officiate our games over and over knowing fully well with clear evidence of bias, cheating, and corruption. Before charging us with shit they should bring Michael Oliver and Darren England front and centre.
Pgmol really are like cops, just professional crybullies like the nypd.
If you voted this down, consider who you’re siding with… its fascists.
I’ve never dealt with the NYPD so don’t have a scooby about your comment.
I agree with the beeing angry, but that is a tick too far. at most, the power the PGMOL has is over decisions in football matches and who makes the most money amongst groups of millionaires (ok and which fans have a nice year, or weekend) but no power to change the living conditions or determine the life/death of other.
well and as blogs said a couple of days ago, Howard Webb was actually a police officer.
Should have stuck to it, he sucks as his current job.
… at …
Every other team, especially certain high profile ones (I’m sure you know who I’m talking about) aggressively surround the referee when they get a call against them. Hard to argue we’re not targeted for petty crap like this
This can be appealed as well and the video team should be preparing the case.
I have long suspected we are being officiated far worse than the so-called big teams. Wondered if it’s racism for being football’s black pioneers, a fuck you to Wenger for fielding a non-English team or we are being targetted as the weaker of the so-called big teams such that examples have to be made with us or they just hate us cause we play the sexiest football in the EPL?. All new rules seem to affect us the most while others do the same as us and worse and don’t suffer the same consequences. In fact, some are invented during… Read more »
It’s cause we are the invincibles and they are all jealous cnuts!
And once again the FA merry go round begins. It’s so petty and of course, completely expected from these clowns. I look forward to the huge amounts of video that will surface of other teams doing the same and getting no punishment. The PGMOL and the FA both need seriously investigating, not fit for purpose anymore.
at some point the owners have to intervene with this ridiculous institutions.
This crap would never happen in North American sports…unless it’s the Kansas City Chiefs! (I’m a bitter Buffalo Bills fan…)
Corruption in soccer is unreal. Watch John Oliver’s many episodes about FIFA and it’s simply eye-opening. Corruption is now wide open and not even hidden any more.
*these
Fuck’s sake. Big fat fucking Douchebags.
Isn’t there someone else that should be getting charged with improper conduct. 👀
Exactly. We should be saying: Ok, we’ll pay the fine when Oliver gets demoted to the Championship 👍
The FA apparently wants teams to not react negatively to shit decisions. That’s a great way to drive improvement.
Interesting that they were unanimous in their opinion that the decision to send off mls off was incorrect – this must have included the Webb puppet lol who might not be a total puppet/Muppet 👍
Well the panel was former players, while this is the FA as an organization. I’m sure if the FA itself had any say they would never have rescinded the red, but rather would have upheld it in a glorious FA-PGMOL circle jerk, which I can only assume actually happens on a weekly basis at Webb’s house.
One of the guys on the panel was a PGMOL guy, one FA guy and 3 former players – at least that is how I read/understood it lol so even someone at FA and PGMOL thought it was ridiculous – Webb can shove that in his pipe and smoke it 👍
Use it to motivate! It’s US vs THEM territory for this wonderful group of players now. Well, that probably started a long time ago with the ridiculous decisions against Arsenal this year.
It’s always US vs THEM and screw us they keep trying. Too bad am all the way down in South Africa I would be making more noise at the Emirates. We need more noise.
I think we should be the bigger people here and just say yes it’s a fair cop we could have handled it better. And make a big statement to that effect with no excuses.
It will show us to have humility and an ability to accept blame and highlight to the PGMOL how to behave. It will only make them look worse.
To be clear I think they’re all wankers and are actually out to get us. But it will show us as having more class
The issue is nothing will change. We won’t get credit or special recognition for paying the fine quietly. The officials won’t suddenly start to referee our games fairly. Everything will be swept under the rug as usual. Personally, I think it’s time to go nuclear on this. If a huge club like Arsenal start fighting back, other clubs may be brave enough to fight back too. PGMOL and the FA will cake their pants.
we have no more cheeks to turn. we have been turning them for far too long.
At what point do they change and be accountable for their actions? it looks like it’s a one-sided thing, they screw us during games we question the obviously questionable decisions and what do we get, summons and fines while they continue with their shithousery. What caused the raucous was a terrible decision, they don’t want a raucous they don’t make such silly decisions in the future, period.
You can never appease a bully.
I can’t recall exactly what our players did. No idea what was said. The team should review that and decide accordingly whether to pay up or appeal.
Apologies in advance if that sounds reasonable, but if we expect the FA / PGMOL to act that way, so should we.
I’m almost always in favor of taking the high road, but when there’s a regulatory body actively undermining you month after month, season after season, the high road will only perpetuate the cycle. Wenger took the high road for years. He did it when he was up against blatant corruption in Ligue 1 with Monaco that probably cost him a title or two, and he did it again vs Fergie and his mob of “referees” who were the progenitors of today’s clan, with the same biases and incompetence passed down as if through the same bloodline, almost as if these… Read more »
If someone shoves you several times without you standing your ground you turn to a woose, a punching bag, at some point no matter how big they are you gotta get a hammer and go for the shoulder blade. We are being backed into a corner and taking it laying down is fuel to their egos to keep coming at us. We have evidence of Michael Oliver screwing us, we have to get him thrown out of the EPL games as a fan of Newcastle, the biased and corrupt, Arsenal-hating mutt he is. We lean on the evidence of him… Read more »
Agree with the sentiments. If nothing else, best get our ducks in a row, confirm facts, make sure there are no surprises, then appeal. PGMOL is a better PR outfit than refereeing body.
Don’t pay a penny of this. Fight it in court all the way. Should have been a yellow card 100%. Michael Oliver is a biased corrupt official and hate to say it but so is the fa and pgmol! The need for cleaning the swamp is necessary! We need Trump to have a look at this league! LMAO!
You had me in the first half, but the Trump trash… cmon man, you can do better.
Gross. I can only hope that in a Venn diagram of Arsenal supporters and Trump supporters, you are the lone point of overlap.
Lols. Like Trump has ever looked at some evidence and changed his opinion, or ever admitted wrong doing for that matter.
Roy Cohn would be very proud of the PGMOL
Can people please leave their politics to other sites. This is an Arsenal fan site for Arsenal discourse. No interest in having threads hijacked for other agendas.
Now- if you’ll just sign my petition to get animal porn unblocked on pornhub, I’ll be on my way..
Seems like your comment should go under Sean’s, who made it political, and not Petey’s who merely responded.
How f**king petty can you get???
“Sir, you made a mistake. Maybe you should apologize.”
“Apologize?! I better go and charge those who I wronged.”
I don’t think what the Arsenal players did was improper conduct. I think it’s completely understandable they questioned the insane, incorrect and wrong decision made by the referee. They protested but there was nothing aggressive about the way they did it. There was just, quite understandably, incredulity. The FA, the PGMOL, are beyond pathetic. Their pettiness and vindictiveness knows no bounds. Oliver is in the wrong, it has been categorically, damn near unanimously agreed he’s in the wrong and yet they want to act as if some injustice has been done upon them by how we reacted. It does my… Read more »
Spot on!
Totally. They’re making themselves look so stupid. The lack of self awareness is staggering!
Bravo for a superb analysis and I just wish someone in the media would say the same 👍 it’d be good if fans united on this topic – arsenal, Liverpool and man Utd have been on the wrong end of poor decisions but, rather than be gaslighted by the media, the fans should say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
That they waited until the ban was rescinded is proof that they weren’t charging AFC for player conduct, but for showing up the PGMOL. I never thought the “Super League” was a good idea, but how many Premier League refs would make the cut to officiate it? The time may be ripe for the clubs to demand real change.
If we can’t get you the way we tried to get you, we’ll just get you another way.
Fucking idiots.
Perhaps PGMOL can put the money from the fine towards some training for their referees.
Without the terrible decision there would have been no players around Oliver, but the clubs/players know that’s a no-go now. The charge is a still a load of arse though.
Great point . Arsenal should say that when paying the fine. Use it for some training or a trip to Dubai..
This Howard Webb dude is a wannabe Vito Corleone. Geez
He wishes he was that enigmatic and full of presence.
Hah wow the commissioners report really is something.
Seems like the independent panel worked out in a matter of minutes that Mr Oliver made a clear and obvious mistake on basically every count of the ‘serious foul play’ law.
How has VAR not intervened? How can people with no refereeing experience instantly spot a clear mistake that trained professionals can’t?
At best, it’s gross incompetence, at worst it’s….
I believe it’s corruption, and that it’s been going on for years. Why does VAR work pretty well everywhere else but not here? Why is the automated offside technology not in place like it is everywhere else, and why are PGMOL going to use a completely different system to the one we saw works so well in the Champions League? Why is VAR manned by the same people who referee the matches? Mates supporting mates in a clique and closed to any outside influence or criticism. Completely untouchable and supported by the FA and Premier League who have a lot… Read more »
💯 This 👏
They are after money and can’t get from Manchester City until they pluck up the courage and say what they found and make them pay.
Also, the league teams are still paying for the ludicrous £7bn Wembley that took so long to build, most countries can build ten stadiums in the same period for half the price. FA = F**cking arseholes.
I’m disappointed to read the findings of the enquiry did not include an additional summary document entitled “Repeated and unjustifiable disciplinary measures this dulcet cunt of an official has applied to Arsenal FC, and only Arsenal FC, over the recent Premier League seasons. P.S. Fuck the PGMOL.” with all the red cards except for Vieira’s, detailed in full.
There’s no words really, is there?
What about Oliver acting improperly by not doing his job correctly?
Question. Does the successful appeal against the red card mean that it has been downgraded to a yellow card? Or does it mean that MLS has neither a red nor a yellow now?
No card at all
Which is kind of humorous because if it was originally a yellow no one would be talking about it
No one thinks it wasn’t a yellow.
Just only clearly blinkered and corrupted tossers think it was a red.
Dont pay the fine unless Oliver faces consequences – he should be sidelined for three games with Fa taking payment from his wages.
I dont see how Arsenal plauers can now reasonably be expected to walk out onto a field behind him going forward
Ha ha! That’s hilarious!
We have little snot nosed children running the league. How petty and vindictive can they get?
They’d do a far better job than present sadistic babies
I think Arsenal F C should appeal as there would not have been a surrounding of the Official had the referee issued the correct decision. It will be interesting when another team surrounds the ref.
They already have, multiple times this season,
and (sigh) ‘nothing to see here’
Incredibly petty of the FA to do this. The independent committee has already confirmed that the decision was totally incorrect and our players can’t be blamed for acting with shock and anger at the kind of decision that they’ve never seen before. And sure they surrounded the ref but no-one laid a hand on him and I’m pretty certain no-one was personally abusive to him because he definitely would have sent them off too. The FA are actually incredibly lucky that we won the game because proving that the red card was incorrect means the integrity of the whole league… Read more »
If the decision was right in the first place this wouldn’t be an issue. I’d send Mr Oliver, or his Saudi paymasters, an invoice.
We should pay them double the amount of the fine, tell them to keep the rest on account for next time and that they can f*** off until then. Then we can focus on the games for a week or two
Allow me to understand this FA has charged Arsenal because FA has claimed that Arsenal have failed to make the players behave. FA, however, has failed to level any charge against PGMOL or Michael Oliver directly for any infractions they had obviously committed during the same match. Talk about being one-sided.
Have these same people ever watched Real vs Barcelona. Half the game is surrounding the refs, makes the game unwatchable
Thanks for the link. “Unanimous”, “obvious error”. Were it that one didn’t need lawyers to make the willfully blind acknowledge the existence of light.
Can paying this (dumb) fine and moving on get us closer to what is needed, which is the FA’s support on overhauling the PGMOL as part of the ongoing funding discussion?
If not, please do not pay the fine, invite the crisis, and frankly between this and the PSR stuff, we are back on the path toward breakaway leagues. I hated the last Super League attempt, but all options should be back on the table.
Why is the focus on Oliver’s decision here? He had a split 2nd, no replays. I do know his history, but it is irrelevant, we have in game VAR, that instead of a split 2nd have minutes of slow motion replays, and still got it horribly wrong. Wtf? VAR is a disgrace. Disrupts rhythm of games, can’t even get the most obvious things right. Let’s direct the attention to where it belongs
MLS tackle “possibly deliberate” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
And yes I agree a fine here is as ridiculous as Neville’s embarressing assault on Arsenal “ref conspiracy agenda”. Go fine your failing VAR team ffs
Nobody matches Arsenal’s record of bizarre one-off never to be seen again decisions from referees.
Neville is just falling in line with his duties to the PGMOL. He even had Howard Webb on The Overlap. The truth is any other club would be complaining too.
How much of the referee’s work is public? Can we see his final match report? I’m sure his communications during the game are kept private. I think AFC should sue. The actual merits of the case may or may not be important, but the discovery process for making all of those communications public would be the main thrust. Bring sunlight to this process and then go from there. Flush everything out into the open. Everything. It may even involve putting FA/PGMOL on notice that all questionable refereeing decisions–such as giving Martinelli two yellows in something like six seconds, or sending… Read more »
We see this every week from teams, but the FA just can’t wait to charge Arsenal because they dared to get a poor decision overturned. This won’t end well.
The PGMOL have already decided the title with red cards other teams simply don’t get.
The Premier League is the worst run professional sports league in the world.
The leadership is petty and childish, and they turn everything into a snooty political game. Here’s an idea: have your refs learn and agree on the rules, and then figure out how to implement them. (That’s kind of important.)
I hope Kroenke publicly says something about this. Maybe if the owners stood up for what’s actually going on here, we’d get the PGMOL investigated. That’s what has to happen for something to be done. I mean there’s still people defending that biased cokehead Coote….
I’m seeing the way wrighty is being treated by Howard Webb’s mouthpiece and the way this is being spun it’s just engagement and rage farming honestly Howard Webb rather than look at this as why did the system fail exercise and how can we improve and make the product better, safer for everyone yes including Officials and more appealing to the younger Gen he has got the media to point the cannons at arsenal pun intended an easy target for the public opinion. I’m trying to ignore the narrative but with hit Articles in the media already this is gonna… Read more »
Just couldn’t resist could they
The PGMOL are going out of their way to provoke another incident. Does this all go back to Arteta at Newcastle?
I certainly wouldn’t want to be a referee attending The Emirates any time soon.
Weird unforeseen outcome of this whole schmazel: sudden affection for Stuart Ripley of all people…
Have to hand it to them. The FA are shrewd, profit-seeking businessmen. Someone has to pay them for the time spent viewing videos that Arsenal submitted, and write that onerous 5 page ruling.
You have to hand it to the PGMafiaOL… it’s like a kid sticking their tongue out after you put them in time out. Should be a completely controversy-free rest of the season 😉 UTA
Too bad retaliation apparently isn’t illegal in these cases like it is in the workplace. Talk about a petty tantrum, especially considering officials are surrounded at least once every game. I have no time for people who think we’re not treated differently (here’s looking at you, Kaya).
I don’t really care about this to be honest. We were supported over the MLS decision by basically everybody in and around the game, all of whom will clearly see straight through this charge for exactly what it is. If the FA and PGMOL want to keep digging their own embarrassing hole, then let them.
“I say, those Arsenal scoundrels seemed to take great umbrage at the entirely incorrect decision to send off their young scallywag, Lewis Gibbs-Chamberlain.”
“How dare they poo-poo dear Mr Oliver.”
“They should have directed all polite requests for clarification through their captain, the Norwegian boy.”
“Even though he wasn’t playing.”
“Even though he wasn’t playing.”
“Let’s fine the fuckers.”
“Live in the current if you will but as far as I’m concerned I will always be out to get them because of Arsene Wenger. He was French for a start but to then ban his players from poor diets and drinking. What a poof! I didn’t like those foreign players with their foreign ideas he brought to our league either. Unheard if in lt day! Anyone who follows in his footsteps need dealing with so keep issuing bollocks cards and fines. That’ll stop them from achieving what they deserve.” Dick McFucheed – player (RTD), manager (sacked), FA committee shit… Read more »