The subject of cheating in sport, including football, is a pretty hot topic right now, so it is no real surprise to hear the Arsenal manager giving his own thoughts on the subject. But Arsene Wenger may have overstepped the mark this time, or at least the imaginary mark laid down by the English FA.
What with all the scandal about FIFA and UEFA, with Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini and many others being investigated for financial irregularities and it looking like all of the recent World Cup´s have been bought, including the one held in Germany in 2006, it seems a bit rich for the football authorities to be taking players and managers to task.
That is just my opinion though, and the fact is that the FA does have the power to punish any people or clubs that it feels has broken it’s code of conduct and according to a Sky Sports report, the Arsenal boss could soon be joining his rival Jose Mourinho at the wrong end of one of their ticking offs.
I suppose we usually think more of sports like Athletics, Cycling and American ones like Baseball when we think of doping, but a lot of people think the problem goes across the board and one of those is our prof. But he may have taken his comments too far by hinting that there are teams that Arsenal have come up against who he is fairly sure have cheated.
The Guardian quote Wenger as saying, “I try to be faithful to the values that I believe to be important in life and to pass them on to others. In 30 years as a manager I’ve never had my players injected to make them better. I never gave them any product that would help enhance their performance. I’m proud of that. I’ve played against many teams that weren’t in that frame of mind.”
And the FA have now asked the Frenchman to explain his words and he may be forced to name names, which could get him into even more hot water as he would then have to prove his claims or get in trouble for slander. Or the FA could use that all encompassing charge of bringing the game into disrepute and he could be slapped with a touchline or stadium ban that could damage Arsenal.
So would Wenger have been better off saying nothing?