Sir Bobby Robson would be furious with Arteta and Arsenal’s carry-on

Grand old Knight of English football would be dismayed at the Londoners’ reaction to Newcastle’s controversial home win last season

It was the late, great Sir Bobby Robson who once told Arsenal that they were a club who needed to be able to lose with dignity, a message that echoed through time during Mikel Arteta’s meltdown last season.
Robson would have been furious had he listened to Arteta’s post match comments then. For the grand old Knight of English football, it was as much about how you behaved in defeat, as victory, that showed your class and forged your reputation within the game.
This was a manager, after all, who once told Jose Mourinho, during their time together at Barcelona, that as annoying as it was to lose, part of the beauty of football is to realise the happiness the other team felt in victory.
It was a life lesson Mourinho may have struggled to stick to during his own volatile career, but he did once memorably visit the Bradford City dressing room after they had beaten Chelsea in the FA Cup, and harked back to his old mentor’s romantic view of the game.
Robson’s words, which were aimed at former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and his players, after a Newcastle victory at Highbury back in 2001, felt pertinent when you listened to Arteta’s lashing out at the match officials almost a year ago to the day.
Arteta was incensed by the loss and when asked by Telegraph Sport why it was “a disgrace” Arteta replied: “Because it is not a goal, for many reasons, for more than one reason at least it is not a goal.
“There is too much at stake here, we put so much effort in, it is so difficult to compete at this level and it is an absolute disgrace.
“Again, I feel embarrassed. I have been more than 20 years in this country and this is nowhere near the level to describe this as the best league in the world. I’m sorry.
“It makes it even worse [there were three VAR] checks. You just need to see the first image [ball out of play] or the second [Joelinton foul]… I don’t care what they say. It’s too late. It’s not a goal, it’s simple.”
Arsenal followed Arteta’s rant releasing an astonishing club statement, 24 hours later, in which they said the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) “urgently needs to address the standard of officiating” adding that the defeat at St James’ Park had been caused by “more unacceptable refereeing and VAR errors.”
Robson would have hated that even more than Arteta’s comments, made in the heat of the moment, after a painful defeat. He would have seen it as a calculated attempt to gain an unfair advantage, born out of bitterness of losing a single game.
That loss was Arsenal’s first of last season and they return to the North East this weekend in search of revenge.
Fixtures between these two sides have been spiky affairs in recent times.
When Newcastle drew 0-0 at Emirates Stadium in January 2023, becoming the first side to take points off the London side at home that season, there was even tension in the director’s box when post-match hand shakes were refused.
Newcastle had constantly slowed the game down and were accused of deploying dark arts to frustrate their hosts.
When Arsenal won 2-0 in the reverse fixture later that season, they celebrated their own disruptive tactics that deprived Newcastle of momentum when chasing the game.
It sets things up nicely for a renewal of hostilities and when Robson’s quote was put to him, Howe called Arsenal a “top team with a top manager” but was dismissive of Arteta’s histrionics.
He is too diplomatic to say so in public, but Howe had been annoyed by Arteta’s rant. It felt disrespectful to the team who had just beaten them.
The two benches have also clashed on the touchline frequently, with Newcastle’s assistant manager Jason Tindall normally in the thick of things.
There is lingering animosity and Newcastle will look to exploit that in front of their own supporters once more. It should make for fascinating viewing. Whoever comes out on top, let’s hope they remember Robson’s words.
By Luke Edwards and Sam Dean
Eddie Howe has warned Mikel Arteta he is in for another uncomfortable ride at St James Park in a repeat of last season’s match that triggered an almighty meltdown.
Anthony Gordon’s controversial winner sparked an Arteta tantrum, an astonishing Arsenal statement and a charge from the Football Association.
Greater Var transparency good but Gordon’s goal should not have stood
Howe was dismissive of Arteta’s histrionics and has urged Newcastle to regain their so-called nasty streak.
“I think it is related to winning,” Howe explained. “When you are winning games, if you are leading games, everything is different compared to when you are chasing games.
“In part, it was overhyped [the dark arts criticism] and talked about more because we were in that position a lot that season (finished fourth and reached the Carabao Cup final).
“But certainly, doing whatever it takes to win, as long as it is within the rules, I’m a firm believer in that.
“We want to make it as uncomfortable as we can for any opposition team coming to St James’ Park. That’s the beauty of playing at home. We don’t want to make this a comfortable environment for any team.”
Meanwhile, Arteta has admitted he could not face watching back the controversial Gordon winner as he reviewed the game this week in preparation .
“I didn’t stop on that sequence,” Arteta admitted. “I didn’t want to go through that. It is already on my hard drive, so I didn’t want to go through that again.”
Listen to the full four minute VAR check of Anthony Gordon’s controversial goal for Newcastle against Arsenal and PGMOL chief Howard Webb discussing the process of awarding the goal 🔊 pic.twitter.com/f0wGwsPqhE
Arteta was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing, although he said on Friday that he had learnt from the episode.
“Hopefully, we are past it,” he said. “We talked through it in depth and that’s done. It is a year. A year in football is a long, long time.
“That’s part of the past and part of the situation that happened. You learn from it and you take a lot of positives as well. We moved on.”
Asked if the standards of refereeing have improved in the past year, Arteta replied: “They are certainly trying their best.”