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Fined and reprimanded English F.A. drops 12-match ban against Wenger
Updated: Friday February 02, 2001 10:06 PM
LONDON (AP) -- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger picked up a victory Friday when a 12-match ban against him was dropped and replaced with a reprimand and a $15,000 fine. The English Football Association, after a two-day appeal hearing, agreed to drop the ban it had imposed after Wenger allegedly manhandled a referee after the opening match of the season against Sunderland. In announcing the change, the F.A. said it had dropped the more serious charge of "threatening behavior" against the Frenchman, who said he had appealed to clear his name. "I feel I got a fair hearing and that I could defend my case well," Wenger said. "The charge of threatening behavior and violent conduct has been dismissed." "The fact that I got a reprimand only means for me that the F.A. recognized that my intention was clear and right, and that's for me important." "I believe it was maybe stressful for every one. ... My belief now is the most important is to have got that out of the way and do my job." Wenger, who denied deliberately pushing the official, Paul Taylor, argued that he was trying to break up a heated argument between Arsenal's Thierry Henry and Sunderland's Darren Williams. Wenger, who did not sit out any matches while the case was being appealed, admitted his name had not been entirely cleared. "That's the sad thing of today," he said. "That my [18-year] record is not clear any more even if I have been cleared of the main charge, but I have not been completely cleared." The Sunderland game was Taylor's first as a fourth official,
whose role includes keeping order on the benches. Arsenal also
pointed out to the three-man panel that Taylor faces an FA charge
next week for allegedly abusing a Notts County player.
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