Warnock and Pearce speak sense while Wenger takes Arsenal on a crusade
I wonder if Arsene Wenger’s head-on approach is the best way to deal with the current situation between Arsenal and the FA.
Let’s see - you are dealing with an organisation that has it’s head so far up its ass that they can’t admit their own mistakes or do what’s right for football half the time (the other half they get it right, but poor them, it goes unnoticed). Now a lot of managers are that as well, but that’s not the point. The FA is inept and instead of doing the right thing tries first to protect its own reputation and that of the officials.
So will taking the FA on help Wenger or the Arsenal players? No. At best, it will get him and Arsenal into more trouble.
At worst, it will put unnecessary pressure on every linesman and referee who gives a decision against Arsenal in the future.
Wenger wants things to be fair - then in that case he should do two things:
1) He should find a way to make the FA listen - and that can only happen when you make the FA think that it’s THEIR brilliant idea instead of some manager telling them what to do. Come on, don’t tell me that Wenger has never studied psychology or mastered the art of negotiations. Maybe Arsenal should put him through training?
2) He should realise that fair means fair for everyone - and stop blaming everything else in the world when it is his players, and his team, that fail to get the job done on the pitch. Because, you know, that would be unfair.
Warnock and Pearce talk sense
In comparison, Stuart Pearce and Neil Warnock have talked some sense about bringing referees to the clubs’ training grounds and having them get more involved with the players and to help referee training matches on occasion.
What will that accomplish? For starters, it will help the refs learn more about the teams and the players, which can help greatly when you have to give a decision instantly on the pitch. Second, it will allow players to clarify things with refs over fouls - easier to do in a low-pressure environment than it is in a live match.
The FA will probably fear that the refs will get harassed or that they will become too partial to the players. That’s rubbish. They could also complain that there are too few refs and that it’s too demanding a task. Nonsense again. You can rotate refs, and you can put refs in contact with players in pre-season or during international breaks.
There’s a lot that the FA can do to improve the situation between players and match officials.
Are they willing to?
Or are they as headstrong and stubborn as Arsene Wenger and other hardassed managers?
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One of the referee’s already trains with Bolton. I assume plenty of them do it to try & keep fit. It doesn’t make them better referee’s. Wenger’s attack on the FA will work but only if the club back him up & follow this whole situation through with legal action.
Geoff you have got it spot on. The bias of the FA, the Northern loaded media and some bent officials must be taken on now. Not by some journalists just trying to whip a story to even more stupid heights, but by a caring, intelligent person who knows his football inside out and can speak from a known honest backround of education and success.That person is Arsene Wenger. The UK problem is very similar to the one that Arsene was was partially responsible for exposing in France ie; Marselles corruption. Ihave supported Arsenal for 58 years, and have never seen more injustice dished out to one club like the procession of bookings and penalties / fines and blatant lies that have been heaped on AFC in the past decade.
It is my own opinion that the FA are guilty of backing up 100% known lies and mistakes made by their officials, and I pray that for the sake of our wonderful game that Arsene will take this all the way to the courts. If necessary the arsenal board should consider the formation of a new league and with a new association that is filled with retired ‘old’ & ‘young’ players plus officials ( no journalists) to reconstruct our game based on honesty & modern technology.
Please explain to me why in the country of freedom of speech, cannot any manager stand up after a game and say what he thinks has really happened in a game? How is it bringing the game into disripute when a player or manager tells the truth as he sees it? Right now it is too loaded in the FA’s favour to heap their bile onto one or two clubs, who have had the gall to question the honesty of their actions and that of their mouthpieces..the match officials.
Peter trust me, United have it a lot worse than Arsenal when it comes to the FA. Rio got banned for 9 months and made an example of when another player(city guy i think he was)made the same mistake and got fine 2000 pounds. Then FA decided to hold up the red cards for rooney and scholes in a pre-season tournament when gerrard’s red card in the same tournament 2 yrs ago was cancelled. Oh not to mention that Ruud got shoved around like a pin-ball by Arsenal players and nothing happened. Lets all agree that the FA suck and everyone loses in the process.
This stuff about ‘free speech’ makes me laugh. In this country one can be charged with using abusive language, so it’s naught but a phantasy.
A–perhaps you missed it, but I believe that when “Ruud got shoved around like a pin-ball by Arsenal,” something on the order of 7 of their players were disciplined to varying degrees, and in sum the team lost a total of somewhere near 20 games to suspensions.
If that is what you consider “nothing happening,” I would hate to see what you consider ’something’ happening!
Peter is right, what AFC has dealt with from the FA since AW took over the club is nothing short of ridiculous.
Hi Hugo…..actually its fined for foul & abusive language in this country mate. And I for one would like every foulmouthed fan chucked out of everywhere. I made a point recently of watching the antics of so called grown up men behind the goals. Most clubs have animals acting out their cowardly dreams when ever an opposing player is near them.Is this & cheating what our game is now all about..? Yes? then keep it.
You missed the point anyway. The FA should not be allowed to shut any manager or player up when all they are doing is expressing an opinion. It should be a two way street but with one aim ie; the game should be played in a fair way by all and NO one team or manager should be used as a scapegoat for past & present errors of officialdom.
How have I missed the point? If outside of the arena of football, free speech does not exist other than on an unwritten British constitution, why should one expect football players and managers to be offered freedom of speech? I am not supporting foul and abusive language in particular, only suggesting that consistency needs to be shown.