Mikel Arteta has escaped a Football Association punishment for his post-match railing at refereeing standards after Arsenal’s controversial defeat at Newcastle last month.
Reacting to the decision by the video assistant referee not to intervene after the goal scored by Anthony Gordon in the Gunners’ 1-0 loss, Arteta angrily described the officiating as “embarrassing and a disgrace”.
Arteta was charged with breaking Rule E3.1, which includes bringing the game into disrepute and might have resulted in a ban, but has been cleared of wrongdoing. There were no set sanctions had Arteta been found guilty but a fine or touchline ban would have been the likely outcome.
An independent regulatory commission dismissed the charges as “not proven” and in its written reasons it was revealed that Arteta’s evidence claimed: “The word ‘disgrace’… has a very similar spelling and pronunciation to the Spanish ‘desgracia’... the Spanish word has connotations of misfortune, tragedy or bad luck rather than the connotations of the English equivalent which suggest contempt, dishonour or disrespect. While the English meaning may lead to interpretations of abuse or insult, this was not the intended meaning.”
The referee, Stuart Attwell, awarded the goal but Newcastle fans had an extended wait as the VAR made a triple check, to see whether the ball had gone out of play before Joe Willock’s cross, whether Joelinton had fouled the Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhães and whether Gordon had been offside. Arteta could not hide his anger after the match. “You have to talk about how the hell did this goal stand? Incredible. I feel embarrassed,” said the 41-year-old Spaniard, who also exclaimed he felt “sick” at the decision.
The commission’s written reasons said Arteta’s emotional state had been heightened when he was “told by certain Arsenal players that Willock (a former Arsenal player) had expressed the view that the ball had gone out of play before he crossed into the penalty area”.
The defeat ended Arsenal’s unbeaten start, and Arteta repeatedly lambasted the decision and the VAR process. “That’s what it is: a disgrace,” he said. “There’s so much at stake, we’ve put in so many hours to compete at the highest level and you cannot imagine the amount of messages we’ve had saying this cannot continue. It’s embarrassing.”
His comments were followed by a club statement backing their manager, writing: “Arsenal Football Club wholeheartedly supports Mikel Arteta’s post-match comments after yet more unacceptable refereeing and VAR errors on Saturday evening.”
Arteta has since said he will continue to speak out over what he perceives to be poor officiating. The Professional Game Match Officials Limited chief, Howard Webb, later said the process followed in awarding Gordon’s goal was correct and VAR had been right in not overruling the on-field call, saying there was “no conclusive evidence that Gordon was offside when the ball was last touched to him. The VAR went through that diligently and identified no clear evidence to intervene to overturn the goal. The process actually was correct.”
The chief executive of Ref Support UK, a charity that represents referees, expressed disappointment at the commission’s verdict. “I believe this is nothing more than clever representation by a KC than a just outcome,” Martin Cassidy said. “If those remarks and actions are deemed acceptable in the modern game then football is on a very difficult road for match officials.”
Cassidy criticised Willock for not speaking to the referee if he believed the ball had gone out and called on the FA to appeal against the commission’s decision.
