Arsenal charged by FA over Manchester City match

I swore I was done talking about the Arsenal-Manchester City match and the refereeing decisions. The game is long over. There is nothing that can be done about the quality of the job that referee Stuart Attwell did or the decisions that many prominent voices in the footballing world think he got wrong. At this point, bellyaching about it just riles me up and makes me look petulant.

But apparently the FA has different ideas. Upset by Arsenal’s comments and justified complaints about the refereeing decisions, the FA has decided to hit back with a charge against the club.

Arsenal FC has been charged with a breach of FA Rule E20.1 following its Premier League game against Manchester City FC on Saturday [01/01/22].

It is alleged that Arsenal FC failed to ensure its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion during the 59th minute and the club has until Friday [07/01/22].

C’mon, FA. That’s just sad. Your referee was correctly called out for doing a poor job and instead of acknowledging it, you doubled down with a trumped-up charge against Arsenal.

I’ve watched the 59th minute. The Arsenal players did nothing more or worse than you see from players at Premier League clubs on a weekly basis in response to refereeing decisions. If you actually cared about players “surrounding” (which is a weak description of what Arsenal did anyway), you’d be filing charges against multiple clubs a week.

But you don’t do that, do you? No, this is petty, retaliatory action against Arsenal for having the temerity to say your ref did a crappy job.

It’s a pathetic attempt at control from a group of small people with a big Napoleon complex. A group of stodgy dinosaurs, relics of the past, trying to remind people (and themselves) that they still matter. People with real power that actually matter don’t need to remind anyone of that. They are respected because they’ve earned respect.

Instead of shouting “we’re in control” like a cartoonish pipsqueak, maybe try doing your job correctly, creating transparency, and holding your “professional” referees accountable.

You’re a joke, FA.