Wenger fined!

[Mac_Howard]

Arsene Wenger was fined 15,000 pounds for calling Ruud a cheat. I'd have preferred they'd made him make a grovelling apology in the centre circle at Highbury immediately before the return Man Utd/Arsenal game :D

[Soccerholic]

Or perhaps, in the spirit of Father Ted v Coach McGuirk, Arsene should have to give a statement to the press every day for a week on why Ruud is an upstanding, fantastic player that any manager would want on his team. :D

[Coach_McGuirk]

The FA aren't quite as enlightened as Father Ted and myself.

[50 Euro]

Or perhaps, in the spirit of Father Ted v Coach McGuirk, Arsene should have to give a statement to the press every day for a week on why Ruud is an upstanding, fantastic player that any manager would want on his team. :D

I can zee it now. Wenger honoring his bet for the first few days, but then failing to show up to deliver his "Why Ruud is more honourable Bobby Pires" statement, blaming it on his computer crashing, eh Coach ;) :D

[Mac_Howard]

An interesting article about Wenger's subsequent behaviour:

http://football.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9753,1377424,00.html

[bigtoga]

I may be alone on this but I think the FA is ridiculous for fining the man for telling what he believes is the truth. It's just such an obvious contradiction - I can't believe all of England isn't coming down on the FA for such stupidity. First, they say that Ruud cheated, then they fine Whinger for saying that he's a cheater. It's just inane "talking to hear yourself talk" kind of silliness from them...

[Robert25]

we tossed the biggest load on him, getting Arse back on track after they lost at OT.

[Mac_Howard]

I may be alone on this but I think the FA is ridiculous for fining the man for telling what he believes is the truth. It's just such an obvious contradiction - I can't believe all of England isn't coming down on the FA for such stupidity. First, they say that Ruud cheated, then they fine Whinger for saying that he's a cheater. It's just inane "talking to hear yourself talk" kind of silliness from them...

Ruud was banned for a dangerous tackle not for "cheating" as a result of Wenger's complaint - no such complaint from him about the two malicious and equally dangerous tackles by Cole and new boy Clichy last weekend.

But Wenger wasn't referring specifically to the tackle. His accusation was a general one - something to the effect that "we all know van Nistelrooy. He can only cheat people". It was a clear accusation that van Nistelrooy repeatedly cheats.

As the article says the word 'cheat" is a very insulting accusation. Does RvN sometimes go down too easily? Of course he does - as do many strikers throughout the Premiership and the world. Is a defender who prevents a goal by a "professional foul" or tugging on an attacker's shirt a "cheat". Technically yes. But if we're to call him a cheat then the game is full of them and cheating takes place a dozen times in every match.

"Cheat" means more than that and Wenger's use of the world meant more than that.

Wenger was guilty of an extreme insult that is not justified. His subsequent affirmation of his statement proves to me that, while he may be a highly intelligent and knowledgeable manager, he's a crappy individual. He made his statement in the heat of the moment and just wasn't big enough to correct it in the light of reflection and condemnation by his peers.

[prk166]

I hope this means the FA is going to continue to put some pressue on managers to cut back on the whining about other players cheating, diving, the referee missing calls, and all that crap. It'd be nice to see the managers say a few more times "my tactics failed".

[prk166]

I may be alone on this but I think the FA is ridiculous for fining the man for telling what he believes is the truth. It's just such an obvious contradiction - I can't believe all of England isn't coming down on the FA for such stupidity. First, they say that Ruud cheated, then they fine Whinger for saying that he's a cheater. It's just inane "talking to hear yourself talk" kind of silliness from them...


Good point, almost. I'm glad you're willing to point this out. The only problem I have is that RvN didn't cheat, at least not in this specific instance,. It was a bad tackle that IMHO looked worse in replay and stop action than it actually was. And IIRC that incident was taken care. And I don't believe Wenger refered to that incident like "RvN was a cheat for that nasty tackle on Cole". IIRC it was more like "Ruud's a cheater all the time; everyone knows that and no one will call him out for his cheating" kind of thing.

Still, It's good to see fans willing to stand up for someone like Wenger. ** pauses to put on flame suit ** I'm not saying Wenger is misunderstood or bagged on too much. This wasn't the first itme he spouted this type of garbage (maybe part of the reason for the fine?). But it's just good to see a fan who is only going to stick up for their team when it's proper. Sometimes I get frustrated with the blinders folks put on. Try criticizing CROn on BigSoccer, for example. The CROn-is-perfect folks crawl out of the woodwork in droves and spout whatever drivel they think is needed to uphold the lads image. Pure craziness.

Good to see Wenger get a fine. I hope he spouts some crap like this again after the Gunners lose at Highbury to ManU.

[JN13]

I just joined BS today.
I must say that having read a lot of the posts the bias of some posters wrt
CR7 is truly unbelievable.
I think the jury is still out on him.
I hope he learns a lot from SAF and will improve.