The ridiculous FA charges against Mikel Arteta brought about the inevitable outcome on Saturday, with the manager refusing to answer media questions.
As many will already be aware, Mikel Arteta was recently charged for calling the officiating of Arsenal’s defeat to Newcastle United “embarrassing” and a “disgrace”.
The manager didn’t call into question the integrity of the officials, and he didn’t go after any individual official with his comments. He simply complained about a couple of calls that went against his side.
That’s apparently all it takes to receive an FA charge in today’s game.
Add to that the bizarre suspension Arteta was serving against Aston Villa, having received a yellow card for celebrating a goal too hard, and anyone with half a brain could see what this sort of treatment would lead to.
It was absolutely no surprise at all when Arteta refused to give his opinion on the key incidents in the Aston Villa game. Speaking to Sky Sports, the Arsenal manager was first asked a question about the pivotal decisions by the referee.
“I prefer not to comment,” Arteta responded.
When asked about the Gabriel Jesus penalty claim, Arteta said: “I think that’s even clearer.”
Then, when pushed on whether he had an opinion and was cautious not to say anything, Arteta answered: “I do, big opinion, yes.”
In his post-match press conference, Arteta would only repeat the phrase “clear and obvious”, when asked about the decisions.
For clarity
Q: Thoughts on Luiz 'penalty' and handball
A: Clear and obvious
Q: That both were wrong?
A: No, no, clear and obvious.
Q: What do you mean?
A: Clear and obvious, that's what I mean.
He simply would not answer questions on this. https://t.co/v6v3JMXiR9
— James Benge (@jamesbenge) December 9, 2023
The FA’s treatment of Arteta has directly led to this situation, where we can no longer hear the opinion of a manager on the big decisions in matches his team have just played.
Press conferences will be less interesting, and less insightful. Newspaper columns and online articles will be devoted to what Arteta might have thought, rather than what he actually thinks.
The media deserve their share of the blame for this too, after riling everyone up into a frenzy over Arteta’s initial comments. They put pressure on the FA to deliver these totally unnecessary charges, and the FA duly obliged.
The result is that we’ll all suffer with stock phrases and non-answers in interviews from now on.
Well done boys, good process.