Arsene Wenger accepts FA misconduct charge
Arsene Wenger has accepted the charge of misconduct by the Football Association. The Arsenal Boss will have to pay an £8000 fine and will be forced to serve a one match ban. The incident occurred in Arsenals Premier League match with Sunderland. Sunderland
scored a late goal through Darren Bent in the fifth minute of injury time which cancelled out a Cesc Fabregas first half goal. Wenger confronted the fourth official Martin Atkinson who had signalled that only four minutes of injury time was to be played. After
the match Wenger said, “It was outside the four minutes. I know the referee can give more than four, it’s a minimum of four minutes but in the four minutes nothing happened to justify the extension of the time. But I cannot do anything about that.”
The sixty year old was entitled to appeal against the ban and take his seat in the dugout for the third round Carling Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur. However, this would mean that he may miss out on the league match against Chelsea on the 3rd
of October at Stamford Bridge. This would be because the FA Disciplinary Commission would be unlikely to hold a hearing until after next Saturday’s match with West Brom. There would also have been the risk that the ban could be extended.
This will be the first touch line ban that Wenger has been given since he moved to Arsenal in 1996. In 2001, Wenger was facing a 12 match suspension after being accused of threatening behaviour and physical intimidation. However, the Frenchman was cleared
of the offence after a defeat in Sunderland. He also received an apology by referee Keith Hackett in 2009 for kicking a water bottle in an infamous incident which saw the Arsenal boss being sent to the stands amongst the Manchester United fans.
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