Mikel Arteta has said Premier League bosses have a duty to improve the game and insists he is motivated to help match officials cut down mistakes which can lead to managerial sackings.
An independent commission cleared the 41-year-old of any wrongdoing on Thursday after he was charged by the Football Association (FA) for post-match comments following Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat at Newcastle on November 4.
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Arteta called the decision to allow Anthony Gordon’s 64th-minute goal to stand “a disgrace”, “embarrassing” and that “I feel sick to be part of this”, prompting the FA to charge him with a breach of Rule E3.1: “insulting match officials and/or detrimental to the game and/or bring the game into disrepute.
However, Arsenal hired a criminal defence lawyer to support Arteta and the Spaniard requested a personal hearing at which he successfully argued his comments were aimed at wider frustrations with the application of VAR rather than disparaging individual officials.
It was revealed in the independent commission’s written reasons that Arteta attended with the referees body Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), representatives of the Premier League and the Premier League Managers on 2 November to discuss VAR.
Asked whether he felt vindicated after the FA charge was not proven, Arteta said on Friday: “I think it was a really good, well run process. It gave the opportunity for both of us to say how we felt and the reasons behind it.
“OK, the outcome is that I’m not charged, but I think we have to draw a line now and look at how we can be more constructive and learn from it and move forward. It was good. I felt a lot of sympathy to be fair as I explained the pressure we feel as managers and how important details are for our job.”
Arteta went on to cite the 14 Premier League managers to lose their jobs last season, a record for a single season. That figure is also higher than the first seven seasons of the Premier League combined.
“I love what I do so much and I want to continue doing it,” Arteta said. “The reality was that 14 managers lost their jobs and we depend on results. When the outcome is that important we get really emotional about it.
“Nobody remembers three weeks ago when you lost a game because of a certain reason. So, I think it was a really good process.”
Pushed on whether he sensed PGMOL were willing to improve, Arteta said: “It’s not about them, it’s we. We want to do the game better. It’s about how we can improve on the touchline to make life easier from the players’ side, their [officials] side, technology-wise and the clubs.
“It’s all about us. We’re all in this together, it’s not about separate people trying to do their bits. That’s not going to work, we have to do it together.”
