Mikel Arteta: Arsenal gaffer calls for collaboration between managers and referees

Arsenal gaffer Mikel Arteta has called for collaborations between club managers and referees to “make the game better”.

Arteta said this as he was cleared by the Football Association of misconduct following his outburst about Newcastle’s controversial winner against his club last month.

Commenting on the hearing, he said it had been “a really good, well-run process”.

The league organisers had booked the 41-year old coach for describing the video referee assistant’s decision to award Anthony Gordon’s winning goal at St James’ Park “embarrassing” and “a disgrace”.

He was cleared for not intending to soil the image of the most popular football league in the world.

He added: “It’s not about ‘them’, it’s ‘we’. We want to do the game better. We’re all in this together.”

“The outcome is I’m not charged but we have to draw a line and look how we can be much more constructive and learn from it and move forward,” he said.

“How can we improve on the touchline to make life easier on the players’ side? From their [officials’] side, technology-wise, from the clubs as well.

“I’m fully supportive of how we have to improve the game. Refs are a big part of that and they know that.

It’s not about separate people trying to do their bits. That’s not going to work. We have to do it together.”

“It’s part of our role to conduct ourselves in the best way and represent the game, our league and our clubs in the best possible way,” he added.

“I felt a lot of sympathy, to be fair [at the hearing], as I explained the pressure we feel as managers and how important details are for our job.

“I love what I do so much and I want to continue doing it. The reality was that 14 managers last year lost their jobs – which is incredible – and we depend on results.

“When the outcome is that important, we get really emotional about it.”