Former Arsenal chief David Dein has accused Mikel Arteta of damaging the Gunners' image with his stinging rant against VAR, and instead of backing him up with a club statement, he says he would discipline the Spaniard if he was still in charge.
Arteta reacted furiously earlier this month when his side lost 1-0 at Newcastle, with Anthony Gordon's winner allowed to stand by the officials despite three potential infringements in the build-up being checked.
The boss was savage in his post-match assessment, labelling the officials "embarrassing" and an "absolute disgrace." He was later charged by the FA, but the club issued a statement vowing to stick by the manager.
But Dein, who was vice-chairman of the club between 1983 and 2007, told talkSPORT the manager and players should accept their role in the loss.
He said as cited by Sports Central: “In 101 minutes of football we only had one shot at goal, so you can’t really say that the team deserved to win. It is what it is. "There is a process in place for how they deal with these things and I just think it was a little bit unnecessary. I don’t think it did the image of the club any good.”
Pressed on whether he would have stood for such behaviour from Arteta during his time at the club, he added: "It wouldn’t have happened. But we’re in an emotional game and these things do happen, I think it’s unfortunate, and you live and learn.”
The 80-year-old was then pressed as to whether he would have disciplined Arteta, and said: “Probably," he said. "But you don’t want to undermine the manager either. "The manager in the heat of the moment, that’s what he believed in. I was at Newcastle that game, he felt aggrieved that he felt the decisions go against him.
