Mikel Arteta escapes FA punishment for refereeing rant after Newcastle defeat
Mikel Arteta has escaped a Football Association punishment for his post-match railing at refereeing standards after Arsenal’s defeat at Newcastle last month.
Following a VAR-abetted decision to allow Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon’s goal to stand in the 1-0 defeat, Arteta angrily described the officiating as “embarrassing and a disgrace”.
Arteta was later charged for breaking Rule E3.1 - which could have resulted in a ban but he has instead been cleared of any wrongdoing. There were no set sanctions for if Arteta had been found guilty - but a fine or touchline ban would have likely been the outcome. Instead, the FA ruling cleared him on the grounds of the charge being “not proven”.
An independent regulatory commission dismissed the charges and in the written reasons, it was revealed 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.”
On the night 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 Arsenal defender Gabriel 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,” the 41-year-old Spaniard said, who also exclaimed he felt “sick” at the decision.
The defeat put to an end Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the season, 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 post-match 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.”
The Spaniard has since repeated he would continue to speak out against poor officiating. Meanwhile, Professional Game Match Officials Limited chief Howard Webb later said the process to award Gordon’s goal had been 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.”