Arsenal fans are used to Arsene Wenger complaining about referee’s decisions on a regular basis, but it was obvious to everyone watching that the penalty that Mike Dean gave West Brom in the dying minutes of their game against Arsenal was totally unfounded. In fact, we on here asked if anyone other than Mike Dean believed it was warranted.
Wenger then after the match went on to question many of the decisions that have already gone against Arsenal this season. He said: “It was very disappointing in the way it happened. I must say what is more frustrating for me is that it happened many times this season – at Stoke, at Watford, at Man City, at West Brom. That is a concerning coincidence for me.”
Now we are told that the boss has been charged by the FA for “questioning the integrity” of Mike Dean in the ref’s dressing room after the game, which is surely a euphemism for calling him a downright cheat to his face, and, to be honest, there are very few Arsenal fans that would disagree with him.
But now it looks like it is not Dean that is likely to be punished for his actions, but Wenger is! The FA statement reads as follows: “Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been charged following the West Bromwich Albion game on Sunday [31/12/17]. It is alleged his language and/or behaviour in the match officials’ changing room after the game was abusive and/or improper and/or questioned the integrity of the match referee. He has until 6pm on Friday [05/01/18] to respond.”
I think this should be very easy for Wenger to respond, simply show them a video of the incident and dare them to say that the penalty was warranted. If they are stupid enough to say that Dean was correct and Wenger gets punished then they are showing they have as well. Surely referees should be accountable for being overtly biased? It looks to me that certain officials are actively at war with Arsenal.…
Free Arsene Wenger!
Admin
Here we go again……
Its not referee fault that we cant score more goal
Its not referee fault that cech never save a single penalty
Its not referee fault that most players playing like amature
Its not referee fault that wenger still manage arsenal for another years
What else……..
It is not cheating……..He’s a average ref who made a very poor call………you would have to question if he is able to ref at this level?
He’s not average ref… Mike Dean is a true moron.
I dnt have time to go thru stats but two years ago we did not win a single game when he was ref at our game. Crazy!
Dont be an ostrich you cant blame the ref for everything,
I just don’t care anymore…. wrong decision yes!!
But we are so far behind teams above us it’s unbelievable!!!!
While Wenger is to blame for poor tactics and not motivating the team from the 1st minute and bad subs… not a short list 😛
That penalty still cost us 2 points. We are now 2 points further behind the teams above us.
Wenger is been fined because he broke the rules regarding interaction between refs and managers……….. nothing to do with the penalty award.
It was a bad decision no question but the dinosaur knows he is not allowed to say what he did.
Get over it and move on this constant whining isn’t going to change anything and just makes us look a laughing stock.
Every passionate manager whines from Fergie to Pep to Conte….
If wenger had kept quiet fans would have slam him for being not passionate, lack of fire or energy
It is true in football managers do all whine like babies when decisions go against them, often when the decision is right. He went over the top, as all these spoiled brats do, and has to face the consequences as they all do.
Mourinho, Ancelloti, and even Fergie have behaved like spoilt brats too
They have been suspended and sent to the stands before
That’s why I said they all behave like babies.
I remind the writer that he is publicly calling Mike Dean a cheat, which in law – and believe me I know the law very well – is libel and is actionable. If Mr. Dean or his representatives were to take rightful action I could not blame them and what is more they would win damages. Please think twice before opening yourself to the risk of legal action. To publicly call someone a cheat is a specific accusation that could well be regarded as damaging to their career. It is not merely an opinion about their ability or lack of it. Had you instead said that Mr. Dean is a poor standard ref, with which I firmly agree, as would I suspect most on this site, you would be on safer ground and still have made your point. This warning is meant in a spirit of helpfulness and advice, as I do not, obviously, want to see any Gooner charged with libel. For clarity it is monstrously wrong to call someone a cheat without proof and I do not for one moment think that Mr. Dean or any other Prem ref is crooked. I DO, however, believe that the general standard is very poor, – and Mike Dean among the very worst – mainly because many refs are too old, too unfit and I say we should be fast tracking former players who have had early retirement, as prof refs. They would have the great advantage of having played the game and knowing what is what, not merely the laws.
he cheated, sue me. the article says “questioning his integrity”. if I understand the english language, questioning is not a direct accusation. Dean has repeatedly made calls against Arsenal for years that would collectively lead to the questioning of his integrity. I agree w the article, show the video and force him to defend this. If we finish 5th by 1 point, this decision cost this team millions. It was clearly a bad decision, there is not any other way to look at it. My colleagues who hate AFC say it was a terrible call. There is huge investment in these teams, money, time, and its a pure results based business. Thus, it requires a quality referee experience to be valid.
I am afraid that in law, what was writen could be construed as libellous should the object of the article wish to pursue it. You are clearly not well versed in law or you would not have written as you have. I hope and believe the action will not be forghcoming , But be in no doubt, people have been taken to court for less than this and lost the case. FALSE ADVICE EVEN GIVEN IN GOOD FAITH IS DANGEROUS. I refer only to the letter of what was written , not the sentiments with which I firmly agree. You surely must see the key difference between calling someone bad or very bad at their job on the one hand and on the other calling them a cheat. If you do not, then more fool you.
Further to my above comments, it appears, from the wording of the charge that Wenger is accused of calling the referee a cheat. If that is proven and I BELIEVE IT WILL BE, OR HE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SO CHARGED – Wenger will rightly be punished, as he has ben in the past with refs and failed to learn his lesson. Mr. Dean would then be free should he wish-which is however very unlikely – to pursue a private prosecution against Wenger for llibel, if in print or slander if in publicly spoken words. If as seems likely, Wenger is found guilty by the football authorities he will and should be harshly punished and deserve to be. On the far wider aspect of the clubs reputation again being dragged through the mud and Wenger seen even more clearly than now, as an “excuse merchant”, this is just one more damning charge that intelligent and far thinking fans will rightly hold against this silly and out of control man. Wenger is clearly a tormented man who cannot seemingly survive without the power he has at Arenal. The moot question is will the club itself survive much longer, at top level, if he stays longer than this season. I say it would not. But I also firmly believe he will be sacked in May and of course I AND COUNTLESS THOUSANDS OF GOONERS will be delighted. And relieved for the safety of OUR club!
you’ve guessed wrong on my back ground, but i guess I am not arrogant enough to guess backgrounds from football blogs. taking people to court, as you state, does not assume guilt.
The fact is, whatever you try to pretend, that you are clearly misinformed as to the legal position in this case. Your assumtion that I have “guessed your background wrong” is nonsense , as I have done no such thing. I neither know not care what your background is , EXCEPT that it is clear that you do NOT know the law in this matter. That being said, I now have nothing more that I wish to say to you.
hahahahahaha
You can not be done for telling the truth, no one is liable for telling the truth. Well, unless it breaks a NDA but have you signed an agreement to keep quiet about Dein? 😛
Mike Dein has a history of appearing to celebrate spud goals in games he refs, not only against Villa but against AFC as well! He has been pulled from the 2006 FA Cup match due to concerns if he would be biased. He was also the one who red carded Gabriel and let Costa go free which later the FA had to change. Not the only red card recently that had to be changed, Jones from WHU had a player sent off against UTD and that had to be overturned.
Why keep such a liability? If the FA do not believe he is biased then why did they pull him from a FA Cup final???
Not the 1st time AFC fans have called that so called ref a cheat and nothing happened, there was a petition which got near 100k signatures calling for him to never ref an Arsenal game again and it was in the national papers… not like it was something Dean wouldn’t have heard.
Mike Dean is biased.
You are quite simply wrong and should right in clear ignorance of law, as you certainly have done. The fact that Mike Dean has not taken legal action , which would by itself have effectively killed his refs career, even though he would have won his case but which would have been therefore a Pyrrhic victory, does not excuse this unfair and incorrect accusation form Wenger. I am well aware ,as are all serious Gooners, of the shortcomings of Deans refereeing. BUT TO CALL HIM A CHEAT IS SOMETHING QUITE DIFFERENT AND BELOW THE BELT. DO YOU NOT REALISE THAT IF THE FOOTBALL AUTHORITIES HAD THE SLIGHTEST DOUBT ABOUT HIS – OR ANY REFS- INTEGRITY, THE REF IN QUESTION WOULD HAVE BEEN DRUMMED OUT OF THE GAME TOUT SUITE?
” should not write in clear ignorance of the law, …..”
@jon fox, After reading through all your propositions and submission, you encourage cheating just because of your hatred or dislike of Arsene Wenger , not a fan of Wenger but let’s call a spade a spade and stop talking wrongly. Mike Dean is a Cheat to Arsenal in officiating.
In my opinion Mike dean was looking for a reason to give west brom something from the game. Too many times arsenal were fouled to prevent a break or to slow down an attack . I do not think he is corrupt (at the moment) but from my point of view it certainly looks like bias.Also I doubt he would want to take the point many people are making(that he cheated) into a court and open what would be a very public discussion.Irrespective of the result the ramifications of such a case would be far reaching indeed and would maybe result in a fair system where footballers and not referees affect the outcome of football matches.
Dean is a very poor referee
Our record with him in charge is extremely bad for many years
If its united he would have gave them extra minutes for extra time or a penalty for a 1 nil winner
true, my daughter asked me once, how do they decide 1’ stoppage time vs 8’ stoppage time? I answered, if United is winning 1-0, its 1’ stoppage time, if United is losing 1-0, its 8’ stoppage time.
Exactly…..its also called the Fergie time
mikeDean can’t survive in Uganda with that average officiating of his.
When will the FA make refs a professional job?
I mean, trained to a high standard and expected to defend their choices after every game to ensure the best quality was given?
FA is happy to allow refs like Dein to play havoc and tidy up after him if it brings in more £££ from TV rights. They could have VAR sorted by now but here we are talking about yet another bad Dein decision and knowing we will be moaning about the poor ref after our next game with him in charge.
Easy to fight a divided enemy and well… All football fans are divided by the team we support. If we could all unite and boycott any game he refs then I bet something would happen. If we could unite against bad ref calls which just make us all frustrated then maybe the FA would be forced into acting quicker…
But that wont happen so we live in hope that VAR comes around sooner rather than later, it has to happen at some point… right?
I agree about the VAR. Football does operate in a strange way. Other sports such as Rugby Union and Rugby League use video evidence for more than just line calls and I hope one day soon we catch up.
If video evidence evidence was introduced it might help with:
– offsides
– handballs
– penalties
– diving
– shirt pulling
– bad tackles
The word “professional ” is much misunderstood and wrongly used. We refer to professional footballers, meaning they earn their living from playing football. Yes, in the technical sense only, that means they are professional.. The wider meaning of professional though includes such words as great skill, competance and dedication. I would certainly call Bergkamp, Lampard, Gerrard, Andy Murray, Mo Farrah and such like, proper pros, ie totally dedicated , living right, no late paties, nightclubs, trouble with the law etc, in Ben Stokes fashion. Some footballers are indeed true profesionals but some , including Tony Adams, Bould, Parlour and others of that era, were tough guys yes, but not truly professional., becaue they abused their fitness by drinking etc. Others like Walcott do live right and don’t go to nightclubs but do not play with their heart and soul, not giving their all, every game. That sort neither, are professional . We at Arsenal for many years now , do not have a majority of true professionals. PROS WORK TIRELESSLY AT THEIR CRAFT, AS BECKHAM , WHO WAS A TRUE PRO, CERTAINLY DID, HOUR AFTER LONG HOUR.That is why he had a long and successful career at very top level. In todays Prem the lifestyle of Tony Adams, Parlour and heavy drinkers, nightclub goers would never last in the game. Wenger, like wise, despite being widely regarded as a workaholic, does not dedicate himself to keeping up with vital changes since he first managed us. HE CLEARLY DOES NOT , OR CANNOT, COACH DEFENCE. That even by itself disqualifies him, despite his huge salary, from being a true professional, as Guardiola certainly is. And BTW, I definitely agree with you Midkemma, if you, as I think are saying that the FA and Prem league is run by bungling amateurs. PROFESSIONAL bodies , eg,, Tesco, Sainsburys would not be so disrespectful and treat their customers with arrogant disdain as Arsenal do, regularly. They know that a happy customer is good for their business. MANY FOOTBALL CLUBS, NOTABLY OUR OWN , DO NOT KNOW THIS BASIC TRUTH. They of course are in a privileged postion of taking our support for granted, unlike Tesco. But the times they are fast a changing, as our rotten to the core custodians will soon be made to realise. Any business that fails to keep abreast of major changes , in attitudes, social changes and much else, as ours has done, will be made to pay the price of their folly and arrogance. I PREDICT WE WILL SEE FAR MORE OF THESE CHANGES FAR SOONER THAN MOST RELISE.
I wonder what you thought of Beckham when he abused the people who give out Knighthoods when he never got one. Not very professional behaviour, don’t you think
This one really was taking the piss, it reminded me of the Chelsea ambush he gave us, and we have Chelsea now which he was probably miffed about not getting to officiate instead. His integrity should be called into question, how close were they?, and what would’ve been in it for Chambers to stop that ball with his hand ..so it wouldn’t hit his belly?. Deans integrity should have been called into question ions ago, sure even the pundits mention how he likes to be the star or the speaking point much too often. I don’t understand how he’s still getting away with.