Arsene Wenger is no stranger to touchline spats. He has form, just ask Alan Pardew and Jose Mourinho.
His most recent saw him shove a fourth official after being sent off during Arsenal’s contentious 2-1 home victory over Burnley last weekend. The Frenchman does not seem the violent type but, as he squared up to Anthony Taylor on Sunday afternoon, he looked as though he was ready for a scrap. Clenched fists, veins popping out of his neck. Petrifying.
The FA have quite rightly charged Wenger and he has recently admitted he’ll take any punishment thrown his way on the chin. He knows he was in the wrong and like a true gentleman, will accept the consequences.
But what should his punishment be? We asked a handful of our writers for their opinion on what his impending punishment should be. Ruthless bunch, our lot…
Christy Malyan
Throw the book at him.
If it were a challenge in the middle of the park, you’d describe the contact as minimal. Nonetheless, Arsene Wenger laid his hands on an official and as the manager of one of the biggest clubs in England, whether he likes it or not, the Frenchman is a role model for those working in the many tiers below him, Football League and beyond. We’re all too aware of the abuse referees suffer, sometimes physical, at non-league and Sunday League level.
In a vacuum, perhaps Wenger’s petulant shove can be forgiven. But what I find indefensible is the sequence of events; sent off for remarks made in the dugout, refusing to honour the referee’s decision by not going down the tunnel and finally, getting involved in a physical confrontation.
Wenger’s often cut more slack than most, simply because of his gentle nature and longevity in the top flight. But I find that somewhat of a paradox; less leniency should be shown to those who’ve been around long enough to know where the line is drawn.
If his punishment were my decision, I’d administer a stadium ban. If the FA are serious about improving the quality of refereeing, in which protecting officials and upholding their decisions must play a major part, they should make an example of Wenger.
Josh Challies
I think the FA will probably hand Wenger a hefty sentence and rightly so. However, I do fear they’ll exaggerate a bit. It’s not that Wenger doesn’t deserve his punishment, it’s that a lot of things usually get ignored. Take Sunday, for example. Ashley Barnes got within an inch of John Moss’ face but nothing has been said – nothing will be.
How is it that managers will always get punished for their comments and actions towards a referee, whereas players seem to get away with verbal abuse on a consistent basis.
It’s not an issue with Wenger getting punished, the problem is the fact there doesn’t seem to be any sort of process or rule book to it. It seems to be a bit like ‘oh, well he was a bit naughty. What should we do?’ Which is shown by the fact that we’re all speculating as to what his punishment will be, as it should be pretty simple to identify the relevant punishment.
Alex Hams
I find it hard to get too worked up about this. Yes, Wenger shouldn’t have acted in the way he did, but we want passion and heart on the pitch and in the dugouts, so as long as he’s handed a touchline ban for three/four games and hit with a hefty fine, then that seems like fair action.
In the grand scheme of things, it was a case of handbags and frustration and I would rather see incidents such as Sergio Aguero’s horrendous challenge on David Luiz earlier this season treated with as much fury as this.
Chris McMullan
They probably will throw the book at him. Except, when I first saw the incident, I wondered, ‘where’s the push exactly?’.
You see that movement of Anthony Taylor’s arm, just there? Yeah, it goes *slightly* closer to the camera, before moving back again? Ohh. Yeah. There it is. A push. A push by inference, indeed. Is that Arsene Wenger’s hand behind the barely perceptible movement? Must be.
Let’s be honest here, it wasn’t a shove. It wasn’t a push to the chest, nor was it done with ‘violence’ in any normal sense of the word. Indeed, it was so weak that, had you been trapped under a fallen tree and asked a passing Wenger to push it off before you asphyxiated, you’d almost certainly die.
It was, quite simply, a stupid thing to do. Much like his own player Granit Xhaka, sent off for two footed lunge in which there was no malice and a genuine attempt to play the ball, Wenger has left himself open to a punishment which is probably justifiable, even if it strikes me as obscenely petty.
I accept that officials need to be protected, and I accept that lower league and grassroots football suffers from a stunning lack of respect towards referees. I get that’s why there is cause for punishment here. I do, however, think that lumping Wenger’s push in with the real, honest-to-god abuse that referees have to put up with on a weekly basis is at best laughable, and at worst offensive.
But then, laughable and offensive is the FA’s mission statement, right?
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