Arsenal boss Arteta escapes ban after referee rant

Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta (Photo by Daniel LEAL / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will face no punishment from England’s Football Association following his complaints about refereeing standards after a defeat by Newcastle last month.

The Gunners’ boss was furious at the decision to let Anthony Gordon’s goal stand in a 1-0 Premier League loss at St James’ Park on November 4, labelling the verdict as “embarrassing” and a “disgrace”.

Arteta was charged by the FA, which could have led to a touchline ban, but the case against the Spaniard was “not proven” according to an announcement on Thursday.

“An independent Regulatory Commission has found the charge against Mikel Arteta for an alleged breach of FA Rule E3.1 to be not proven,” said an FA statement.

“The manager was charged following various comments in media interviews after Arsenal’s Premier League game against Newcastle United on Saturday 4 November.

“It was alleged that his comments constituted misconduct in that they were insulting towards match officials and/or detrimental to the game and/or brought the game into disrepute.”

Arteta subsequently said he would continue to speak out publicly against the use of VAR and the quality of officiating if he felt it fell below the required standard.

In its written reasons, the commission said language issues lay behind its decision to spare Arteta punishment after the Gunners boss had said: “The word ‘disgrace’…(which) has a very similar spelling and pronunciation to the Spanish ‘desgracia’…the Spanish word has connotations of misfortune, tragedy or bad luck rather than the connotations of the English equivalent which suggest contempt, dishonour or disrespect.

“While the English meaning may