Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, confronting an FA charge for criticising referees, remains undeterred in expressing his views.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, facing an FA charge for his criticism of referees following Arsenal’s defeat to Newcastle, has promised he will not be silenced and emphasised the necessity of ‘freedom of speech in a constructive way’ in football.
Arteta was charged after labelling the VAR decision to allow Anthony Gordon‘s goal as a ‘disgrace’.
Arteta, speaking before Arsenal’s game at Brentford, asserted, “I am going to speak. You have to be yourself. As a leader you have to be authentic.
“You cannot be anyone you are not. This is who I am, here and on the pitch.” He added that he had expressed his opinions frankly in a meeting with PGMOL officials two days before the Newcastle game.
“We have to talk to make things better,” Arteta said. “We have meetings and I talk, and I talk in a really straight-forward way, face-to-face, two days before that in a meeting, really straight forward about certain opinions I had.”
Further elaborating on his approach, Arteta added, “I do the same there as I do here, and when I have to talk about myself and be critical about myself, I am the first one to do it. When I have to be very positive, I have to be.
“That’s what people expect. At the end, we have a role with a lot of responsibility and we have to stand for our actions and the way we are.”
Arteta also acknowledged PGMOL boss Howard Webb‘s attempts to publicly explain decisions. “It is good that we are communicating,” he noted.
“We want to improve the game. All of us, managers, referees, officials, owners, sporting directors, media. We all want a better game but to have a better game we have to have freedom of speech. Respectfully, in a constructive way but we have to promote that. If not, you don’t get better so it is good that they are speaking in front of the media and explaining the situation. I think it brings clarity.”
Regarding the FA charge, Arteta confirmed he had lodged his response but did not expect the matter to conclude before the Brentford game.