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Rediff.com  » Sports » Wenger stokes row with English FA

Wenger stokes row with English FA

March 03, 2007 11:27 IST
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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger fanned the flames of his dispute with the English FA on Friday by accusing them of running an "unfair and dishonest" disciplinary system.

He also refused to withdraw his assertion that a linesman had lied in saying that Togo striker Emmanel Adebayor had punched, or had intended to punch, Chelsea's Frank Lampard during the mass brawl that marred last Sunday's English League Cup final in Cardiff.

Wenger, facing possibly his third disrepute charge of the season after being called by the FA to explain his comments, was in angry mood and said he was prepared to confront the FA and tell them exactly how he felt.

"I am not going to change," he said. "I speak my own mind and I am honest and in this we have been treated very badly and without any respect. It is wrong.

"It is not true that Adebayor punched, or intended to punch, Lampard -- and we can prove it."

Lampard said on Thursday, according to his agent, that he had not been struck during the brawl last Sunday.

Wenger said he was prepared to bring in a professional television editor to show the entire incident frame by frame to prove Adebayor's innocence.

"I will show it to everyone, the press and the FA," he said.

The Frenchman added that he had no intention of apologising for calling the linesman a liar but conceded that his use of language may not have shown a full and subtle mastery of English.

"You can say what you want but what happened is that what he said was not true and we are being punished for something that we did not do.

"This costs the club a lot in players and results and it is wrong that the club has not been shown the proper respect."

He said Arsenal received a yellow card for every five fouls committed by their players while some other clubs received cautions only for every 12 fouls committed.

Asked about his use of the word 'liar' to describe the linesman, Wenger said his main intention was to say that the linesman's version of events was wrong and untrue. "It did not happen, that was not true," he said.

"I will defend the club in front of the FA, yes, of course I will," he said.

He said all the players who reacted during the fracas in the dying moments of Chelsea's 2-1 victory had been wrong to do so. "You should never react," he said.

"I apologised for that on Sunday but everything that has happened since is wrong and in this situation we have not been treated right. After 25 years in this game, I feel I should be able to speak like it is and to say what is right and wrong."

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Source: REUTERS
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