The report that will trigger the FA action or no will come from Mark Clattenburg who already has quite a bit on his plate in handling Southampton (see Southampton is the club to tackle {PGMOL). The FA will then write to the two clubs for their observations.
Arsenal’s view, from what I can ascertain thus far, is that the throwing of objects at the ambulance and medical men started before Theo’s gesture, so an incitement charge isn’t really on the cards – although Theo will be warned.
But the FA will take into account “previous” and while the Ems stadium has little in the way of historic trouble, travelling Tottenham supporters have the spectre of 28 September 2008 hanging over them. That was the date of Portsmouth v Tottenham, as a result of which 11 men, including three juveniles appeared at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court in connection with alleged racist and homophobic chanting.
The issue is sensitive because of the failure of the police and the clubs to deal further with the issue – the police saying that the chanting was so widespread at the away section of the ground that they did not have the resources to deal with all the offenders.At the Ems the objects thrown appeared to hit St John’s Ambulance Brigade staff and Arsène Wenger said on Saturday that coins had “been raining over his [Theo’s] head”. But Wenger too knew that the FA can go in all sorts of ways to avoid difficult publicity about supporter behaviour, and added in relation to Theo’s 2-0 hand sign, “My response will be simple. They have seen the pictures on television and if they judge it as offensive what can I say?”
Overall Clattenburg had a poor game, as I saw it, although Walter might want to correct me here.
Mousa Dembélé seemed to me to do a reverse head butt on Jack, but didn’t get punished in the way that I thought offences like that were automatically dealt with. Are there grades of assault now?
Then we had Nabil Bentaleb stamping on Nacho Monreal. That one the distracted referee missed. Perhaps he was thinking about Southampton, or dreaming up a witty comment.
So we have potential FA sanctions against Tottenham and Arsenal, we have Walcott injured, to add to Bendtner being out for a month.
And thus the Arsenal blogs and the journalists with nothing better to do are going into hyperdrive over all the players we could have signed, but because Wenger is too slow, or too mean, or too stupid, we ain’t able to get them. Berbatov anyone?
But in fact Podolski is fit, Giroud was just ill and will be available next match, and Mesut Özil came back. Bendtner is out for a month, but on Theo and Vermaelen, we don’t yet know.
And that’s the problem with the FA Cup. It is in essence an old has-been, which can get your players injured.
Anyway, in case you missed it, on the issue of why Tottenham didn’t get the normal number of away tickets for an FA cup match Swales 68 offered this in the comments to a previous post, and I thought it deserved wider coverage…
In 2007 the board of Tottenham hotspur football club agreed with the board of the FA and that of Arsenal Football Club that they will receive a 8.1% ticket allocation for cup games at Arsenal due to safety fears raised by the police.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club were happy with this compromise as it raised the percentage from the original 5% that Arsenal Football Club were offering.
Safety fears were initially raised by the police over having such a large amount of away fans from a local club in the surrounding area and inside the ground.
Police were worried about their ability to keep home & away fans separated before and after the match, they raised their issues with Arsenal Football Club who originally offered to reduce attendance for away fans to 5% but on discussions with the FA and Tottenham Hotspur Football club the police and Arsenal were happy to raise it to 8.1%
—-
Thus we have it. Injuries, dodgy refereeing over major incidents, throwing of objects onto the pitch, FA enquiries…. just another FA Cup game. The great news however was Rosicky and Gnabry. Different ends of the age spectrum (for football) but both great players.
- Untold Arsenal
-
- Books on Arsenal at a discount
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- Books on Arsenal at a discount
It might be worthwhile adding that, before any gesturing or coin throwing had occured, the chanted response from the Spurs fans to Walcotts injury was ‘let him die’. A chant plainly audible to anyone at the Clock end of the ground including, of course, Theo.
Racist? Homophobic? I think not. Decent or humane? Certainly not.
Not condoning the coin throwing for one minute.But the likes of Walcott and the Polish keeper are constanty having juvenile digs at Tottenham via Youtube,.Twitter etc.Constantly “sucking up” to their own fans in my opinion.So no surprise yesterdays incident happened.Both need to grow up!
I’m sorry to read such a pessimistic assessment. I hope we go all the way in the FA Cup. Yes, there were some negative outcomes to the game yesterday; but it was a great result, Arsenal played well, and it maintains confidence and morale. There are substantial positives.
Mind the GAP!!!!
Should send them some delicious arsenal pies instead…hahahahahaha.
How NOT to spend £100m:)
You’d have thought Tottenham have had chances to pull themselves out of the gutter, but NO? No point playing with the big boys when you’ve got a mentality of a small club.
Should have given Spurs a proper allocation then Mr Singh.The tie might have been a sell out eh!Smug and as arrogant as ever.No humility!
Can’t believe I’m doing this but I thought Clattenberg did one thing well yesterday … Jack was being fouled in rotation to avoid bookings and he called Dawson over and obviously told him if his team carried on like that, the cards were coming and lo and behold it stopped !!! Yes, should have done it about 20 minutes earlier, but at least it stopped the red card for reaction Spurs were hoping for !!!
I promise to go back to howling abuse at the refs again now !!! 😀
I thought the ref was fair yesterday. You may not like Mark Clattenberg but whether he is a prick or not is irrelevant because he is an equal opportunities prick. He treated both sides equally and that is all you want from a ref.
There are plenty of refs that deserve our criticism but he isn’t one of them.
The Chelsea and Man City games would have had different outcomes with him in charge. He had words with both sides when required yesterday and didn’t give any particularly contentious decisions.
If rivalries are going to get that vicious then maybe, just maybe we should relinquish our rivalry with Spuds, after all, they are not really rivals are they? (I know, will never happen).
Hope Theo is all right and Vermalen too, but for the first time injuries do not cost us as dearly as in previous seasons as we now have a broader team, allowing others to step up, while injured get a rest.
Great match and weekend. Must say love Fab for that save which could have put us on the back foot for a while had it gone in. He looks a much better and concentrated player today.
I agree, I thought Clattenburg had a good game….as Wenger says move onto the next game.
spud manager pointed out that they had to play 7 games in 3 weeks or so? i cant see any pressure there. I think they will avoid relegation with ease. there is also the added bonus of seeing some very obscure places in europe to distract them from the wasted 100 mill and the hopelessness of finishing above the arse…
Para, the rivalry with Tottenham is curious, as it began when Arsenal were Royal Arsenal, and played in Plumstead. We then beat them 10-1 in the third or fourth match, and they stopped playing Arsenal for quite a few seasons.
When the games started up again, there was considerable crowd trouble (you can read the history on the History of Arsenal blog – just find the link to Tottenham in the index on the home page – and then of course when Arsenal moved to Highbury matters got worse.
I agree though, matters never used to be as bad as this, but I don’t think the commentator who said that Arsenal players who muck about on Twitter should “grow up”. Lots of adults do it, so why not them? I think it rather shows that they are part of the club, and at one with the fans.
Tony things used to be far worse i can assure you! Yes it does probably does show that they are at one with the fans….smug.arrogant.etc etc.You lot really love yourselves!
JB
Your exactly the point I was making? Carry your self with a little class?
It’s just banter at that level JB but as you say no excuse for throwing coins at an injured player I hope the proper spurs fans will out those behind it all. Players and ex players are biased graham Roberts has been tweeting how stupid theo is but made no mention I can see of the offending fans. Surely such a self styled hard man must realise if you give it out you have to expect it back
Mr Singh.You obviously did’nt read my post properly.It was just an honest observation.Since when has arrogance been a sign of class?? now,humility is my Arsenal friend.
Mandy.Banter is the most overused and equally the most misused word in the English language these days.It used to mean light hearted mickey taking.Not anymore.It can help lead to incidents like yesterday.
To Mr. JB:
For all your soft written words, and the most necessary disclaimer “Not condoning the coin throwing for one minute, BUT…”
And since “…nothing someone says before the word but really counts” (Game of Thrones Season 1) – I think you are talking rubbish sir.
No matter how bad is the banter, throwing coins and plastic bottles, is probably the biggest act of hooliganism I can remember in the past few years in English football.
So whatever mocking / humiliating Spuds fan are being subjected to (and to be honest, I think most of it is justified) – it is never a justification for violence.
Re-reading your first post: “Both need to grow up”
You got some nerve.
JB shows class. Errhhh, what else to expect? Did any one see Levys face? Was sore, just like the rest of the chickens…..Forever in our shadows.
People who throw things at other should expect things to return.
Well done THEO…
@JB I agree with you on one point. Arrogance is rarely appreciated in others and it is an accusation that has been leveled at us previously. In some instances, justifiably so. However, in some instances arrogance is actually defence of our club against mean-spirited attacks.
IMO, we have given this impression only recently because of the success of Arsene Wenger’s tenure. Our success has been debatable and thus thrust in the faces of others, because compared to ManU (or Chelsea in the recent past) we have actually won a modest amount of silverware. Sort of like the members of the peleton arguing over their relative merits. And others who have won even less and their supporters in the media,delightfully point out our flaws. Who started it is immaterial. The arguments do sound pointless and puerile.
As for Walcott, Frimpong, and Szczesny et al. As gooners, we love their tweets! They are light-hearted comments from young men. Szczesny obviously loves playing here (serenades the crowd) and Theo’s gestures were clearly done while smiling and in response to the obvious abuse he was receiving. If you want to see what inflammatory remarks look like try reading Mr. Barton’s body of work.
I think the game was well worth it yesterday and do not share your views about the FA Cup. I want us to win it.
As for the ref, well not one but two CLEAR red cards missed. The reverse head but and the stamp. Neither did any damage but the FA have to act. Just because the Arsenal players did not over react should not stop the punishments being handed out. The FA can not have it both ways. If referees and the FA retrospectively fail to punish these incidents then they can not then complain about simulation. They will be telling players that they HAVE to over react for action to be taken.
On the Theo incident we have a perfect situation here to determine once and for all if the FA are cheating against Arsenal. Signalling the score to fans happens all the time, as well as the finger to the lips to silence away fans. As far as I can recall not a single player has ever been suspended for such actions.
If the FA punish Theo then they are admitting they have an agenda against Arsenal FC and we can finally put any doubt to rest.
I thought Clattenburg didn’t have that much of a bad game yesterday, considering it was a derby. I think the dembele headbutt is something he could have done more about, as well as not showing one or two spuds players yellows when they fouled us. But overall I don’t think he didn’t give fouls when he shouldn’t have or vice versa. In other words, he didn’t really get any game changing decisions wrong.
As for what Theo did, I wouldn’t blame him given he was being pelted before he made the gesture. And what was wrong with the gesture anyway, he was simply stating the obvious, what everyone in the stadium knew. If the FA ought to do anything about yesterday’s game then it should be the stamp by Bentalab on a prone Monreal. Now that was nasty.
Methinks, Tony, that thou protest too much:
Seems like the FA Cup has a romanticism and tradition and chance for upsets – for the underdogs to have a go at the top dogs – that a traditionalist and tribalist has enjoyed for gives to the rest of English football. And a chance for players in the lesser teams a chance to sample the big time and for some of the bigger teams young ones a chance to experience championship competition. Yet, Mr. Attwood, as a champion of historical tradition and tribalism, you would destroy this FA Cup, slating it as a “has been”. Were you so personally inconvenienced by the scheduling quandry that now the entire FA Cup should go? Or is it that we are now pushed further into purchasing another quality striker (because of Theo’s injury) that you have consistently opposed? Or that it lets too many barbarians from beyond the Pale (read Tottenscum) into the hallowed gates? All of the above?
meant to write: “for it gives <> to the rest of English football.
Sorry, at the end of the first sentence (above), I
meant to write “for it gives a sorely needed national and even international spotlight to the rest of English football.”
It’s cov at home phew I was expecting an oiler away
I think it had started before theo did anything JB unfortunately most team have some very angry fans who proper fans must dissociate themselves from
Off topic but does today mark the end of big Sam as they lose 5-0 to forest?
Mandy Dodd,
Well, you see, if big sam goes, that’s another karmic plus for the FA Cup. And, if that weren’t enough, ManCity’s forced replay – very good for AFC methinks – now scuppers their planned, rich-boyz recreational trip to the land of the bank vault.
Mr. Attwood,
Sorry, but there’s lots to enjoy about this current round in the FA cup, if one takes a more cumulative and rounded view of the whole thing.
This would be an FA Cup result that surely benefits AFC: (from today’s Independent:)
“Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini revealed a planned trip to Abu Dhabi will not take place after his side were taken to an FA Cup replay by Blackburn.
The Abu Dhabi-owned club had been expected to play a friendly against Al Ain FC on January 14 and combine the trip with a week’s warm-weather training.
The fixture had been publicised in the United Arab Emirates but City had not confirmed the plans – and there is now no gap in schedule for it to take place.”
Off topic:
The Scoundrel (also known as Maureen) is now full on with a suck-up charm offensive (or offensive charmless suck-up, choose your poison) to the FA:
He’s tapping them up for near future favors by declaring himself an honorary Englishman in calling for more British Managers in the EPL. The headline is “We need more British bosses, says Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho” (A bit of irony there, mates?)
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/we-need-more-british-bosses-says-chelsea-manager-jose-mourinho-9039212.html
Karma indeed bob hopefully big Sam is part of a dying breed of dim witted dinosaur home grown managers wedded to kick and rush hoof ball , kicking superior teams out of games and spending any spare time they had firmly up some part of fergies anatomy. It is refreshing to see managers at Southampton Everton Liverpool and it has to be said Sherwood taking a much different approach tho Everton and to an extent spurs were not completely shy of kicking us from time to time. As for Jose think he is intent on filling the power vacuums of the aforementioned fergie with all the power corruption and lies as well as ref control that entails
With all this over the top reaction to hand gestures , I think its about time for the FA to come out with a detailed ( but not fully thought out and therefore should be funny!) study to point out what is acceptable and what is not.
If they delay or waver ,there will much more thumbing of noses at them .And lots of finger pointing too !
As each country has its own rude gestures , the FA , UEFA and Fifa should get their fingers out and start work before WC 2014 .
Was surprised with my initial ‘research ‘. Here’s a start ..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/picturegalleries/8788932/Rude-hand-gestures-of-the-world.html?image=9
And I think someone messed up with these …
http://handgestureinmalaysia.blogspot.com/
The so called ‘fig’ gesture ( number 4 ) is just a simple ‘fuck you ‘ !
And more research ..
http://www.buzzfeed.com/gabrielakruschewsky/simple-gestures-that-might-be-highly-misunderstood-abroad
In Bulgaria, shaking your head “yes” means “no” and vice versa. So if you ever find yourself in the Eastern European country, make sure to switch it up, or else you’ll confuse a lot of people.
Does this mean that AW was saying no , we will be buying a Bulgarian world-class striker in the January window ?
What was Berba saying ?
Damn this cultural thing is difficult ! No ?
“As for Jose think he is intent on filling the power vacuums of the aforementioned fergie with all the power corruption and lies as well as ref control that entails.”
Mandy,
I think you’ve got it. There’s been a pattern recently of the Scandolous One draping himself in the Union Jack and kissing up to the FA/EPL. And declaring himself wanting to coach Chelski (very English that ownership) for the next 12 seasons, sez he. He’s bent on becoming an “adopted” Englishman, a “virtual Englishman”, the next Fergie as you say. His next pronouncement from the lower depths (rather to reign in hell than be a slave in heaven) will surely confirm your insight.
Mandy,
Once gone, perhaps big-sam shall be remembered as Sad Aggrodies.
Sp*ds fans pelting coins after Levy mis-spent over 100 million? These people must be filthy rich.
Mostly filthy.
Wow ! That was one pessimistic analysis of yesterday’s events inspired perhaps by inability to sell one’s ticket ? 🙂
Amongst the slew of positives as far as I can see ,the few worth mentioning are;
1. First complete game since the Liverpool clash in which Arsenal started strong, created many chances, had multiple shots on goal and won comfortably after outplaying Tottenham comprehensively all over the park.
2. Great individual performances from Rosicky Gnabry and Cazorla , especially the Spaniard who is slowly finding form again after missing time with injuries. He is going to be crucial to our title push.
3.Five star performance by our back line and defensive mid , shutting down Spurs offense and limiting them to one clear cut scoring chance.
One obvious negative was Walcott’s injury which is a worry of course seeing as he too has already missed many games with injuries.
With Bendtner , Walcott and Giroud out for various reasons seems Wenger’s hand might be forced into dipping into TW and spending some money again which seems like a personal tragedy to many fine folk on this site:) who appear to be personally vested into not buying any more new players to prove a point.
Unbelievable, a Utd player sent off at OT. Whatever next!
If we lose Walcott for an extended period that certainly would be a major downer, but with that proviso the scintillating performance by Arsenal more than compensated for any ticket concerns.
The quality of our play and the win over the Spuds left most fans on a high – and in my case looking for a celebratory dram!
Mandy Dodd
January 5, 2014 at 7:15 pm
Mike Dean wont be returning to manure land for a long long while. manure 1 swans 2
Moyes and Allardyce will be in the dole queue tomorrow morning.
Yes man utd this season they really are the gift that keeps giving. Even the pgmol have given up on them. Only the return of fergie and his helpers will get them into even the top four at this stage
Bob
Mourinho is being realistic when talking about spending the next 12 years at Chelsea and in PL.
What other options does a Megalomaniac like Jose have remaining?
Spanish market is done with him after his stint at Real Madrid where he didn’t make any friends.
Italian league might take another shot at “Special One” but they are near broke and offer limited opportunities for recruiting top talent.
Germans are way to sensible to put up with his bullshit and outside of Bayern don’t offer enough of a stage to accommodate his giant ego.
PSG or Monaco might want him and certainly appear to have enough money to attract top talent although I doubt Jose would agree to part with 75% of his income ,so Premier League is what’s left to him. The media are lame and easily manipulated as are the referees if recent Graham Poll’s article is anything to go by , in which he said Mourinho was so charming and smooth you didn’t know you were being worked.
Sorry off topic but another outrageous Chelsea dive today, this time the disgraceful Ramirez rightly yellow carded for trying to con his way to a penalty.
Followed up by a pathetic Smalling dive for Manure in a desperate attempt to cheat his way to a goal.
Surely the blatant stamp by Bentaleb on Monreal, clearly caught on TV should be followed up by the FA. The fact that the referee missed it is no reason not to pursue the matter.
Just seen Ramirez dive disgusting. Chelsea and utd should be summoned and threatened with points deductions if they carry on with persistent simulation. Yes I know other teams including a couple of our own have dived but these two teams are taking it to new levels. Bale would have been proud of that dive today , I would even suggest it was in youngs league
Mandy Dodd
What are talking about Mandy? That’s just preposterous ! Everybody knows Chelsea players aren’t divers . Mourinho said so himself:)
Oscar only did his double Axel to avoid the bone crunching goalkeeper ‘s …glove..? 🙂
I guess it’s easier to admit your player dived to win a penalty if the score isn’t in doubt .
Since Ramirez ‘s penalty winning dive against West Brom was worth a point and preserved Mou ‘s undefeated home record ,therefore it couldn’t have been a dive 🙂
After a series of dives from United players and Januzaj in particular ,I wondered what United fans had to say on the subject so I went on some of their blogs , and lo and behold, the two prevailing opinions were that
One- Januzaj was just trying to avoid injury and
Two- his lack of upper body strength made him tumble down to the ground at a slightest contact
Upon explaining to some United fans that the upper body isn’t responsible for staying upright but in fact the glutes and if they took their collective heads out of theirs , they would realize a dive is just that , a dive . I got no reply.
I guess we ,Arsenal fans have this afliction of calling a spade a spade and when Cazorla dived to win a penalty , we all pretty much admitted it was a dive.
On the other hand , when half of your team have dived its best to look the other way.
Jb
Is arsenal that arrogant or is spuds can’t face the reality?
*i agree this one article has more negative vibe, please leave the negativity for the other half of arsenal fans*
More Italian hand gestures ( if you haven’t followed up!)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/top-40-hand-gestures-of-silvio-berlusconi
Tom,
Go easy on the young lad, mate. Januzaj just got mixed up. Surely he thought he was at Covent Garden auditioning for the Royal Ballet.
Just wanted to also ask ( as really don’t know )- is the throwing of coins some sort of an antient and archaic AngloSexon ritual which predates the HMO ,NHS or Obamacare ?
I tend to romanticise the ‘old’ ways sometimes . I saw a
valliant and worthy , but, stricken worrior who was felled in the midst of battle being carried away from the battlefield on his sheild .
And in respect ,members of his tribe placed their woven shawls of their colours upon it as a sign of respect ( and probably warmth too – for winters in those days befor global warming were spine chillingly cold !Don’t take my word for it, ask Nicky – he was there !)
As he leaves he gestures proudly to his foes with his hands – a 0 with the left and 2 with the right implying that he has killed nowt * but only 2 of their ilk .But he’ll be back !
And in appreciation they throw coins onto his sheild for payment towards his medical bill ( eye of newt ,the treatment of choice of druids **,didn’t come cheap even then !
*nowt (noun British Dialect ).
naught; nothing.
** Dru·id (noun )
a member of a pre-Christian religious order among the ancient Celts of Gaul, Britain, and Ireland.
Or maybe I ‘m giving too much credit to those loutish yobs from down the road ! They were probably trying to kill him !
The truth hurt them and they wanted payback !
You know , ” Sticks and stones may break his bones ,but names will never harm him.
Newly minted coins on the other hand – ouch ! Oww ! Stop it !…..”
Is it coincidence that Chelsea players are increasingly resorting to diving since the return of the odd one. Don’t think so.
Meanwhile, think Theo would’ve done a much better job, given how effective his sign language was on Saturday, at Madiba’s memorial than that fake signer 🙂
From distorted history to the arts , sort of …. from
http://www.ba-bamail.com/Content.aspx?emailid=7367&memberid=763708#.UsprCvvyQTE
Have you met the family of Vincent Van Gogh?
His dizzy aunt ——————– Verti Gogh
The brother who ate prunes————— Gotta Gogh
The brother who worked at a convenience store — Stop N Gogh
The grandfather from Yugoslavia ————– U Gogh
His magician uncle ———— Where-diddy Gogh
His Mexican cousin —————– A Mee Gogh
The Mexican cousin’s American half-brother ——– Gring Gogh
The nephew who drove a stage coach ——– Wells-far Gogh
The constipated uncle ———– Can’t Gogh
The ballroom dancing aunt ————— Tang Gogh
The bird lover uncle ————– Flamin Gogh
The fruit loving cousin ————- Man Gogh
An aunt who taught positive thinking ———– Way-to-Gogh
The little bouncy nephew ———— Poe Gogh
A sister who loved disco —— Go Gogh
And his niece who travels the country in an RV — Winnie Bay Gogh
I saw you smiling ……. there ya Gogh!
More art….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uomFstzcV-U
In His service ….
DO YOU GO TO CHURCH?
A Priest was standing at the door as he always was, to shake hands.
He grabbed my friend’s hand and said, “You need to join the Army of the Lord!”
My friend replied, “I’m already in the Army of the Lord, Father.”
And the Priest questioned, “How come I don’t see you except at Christmas and Easter?”
He whispered back, “I’m in the Secret Service.”
In the old time before that…
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?
Women are overly suspicious of their husbands.
When Adam stayed out very late for a few nights, Eve became upset.
“You’re running around with other women,” she charged.
“You’re being unreasonable,” Adam responded. “You’re the only woman on earth.”
The quarrel continued until Adam fell asleep, only to be awakened by
someone poking him in the chest.
It was Eve.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Adam demanded.
“Counting your ribs,” said Eve.
the arsenal fans responded to the tots lash on theo by showering him with club scarfs and such. almost reminded me of a few scenes from mythical hollywood movies where the heroes were showered with roses and other flowers, super effort by the fans.