block6gooner

The following Official Club Statement has been released by Arsenal;

“The Club is in receipt of Uefa’s reasoned decision in relation to the charge against Eduardo.

We strongly believe that the decision taken is deeply flawed and not based on any forensic review of the video evidence available.

There are obvious errors and inconsistencies in UEFA’s judgement and we intend to appeal.”

Interesting times ahead I suspect!

So yesterday UEFA announced a two match ban for Eduardo, a statement on the UEFA website reads;

The UEFA Control and Disciplinary Body today examined the case of the Arsenal FC player Eduardo “for deceiving the referee” during the UEFA Champions League play-off second leg match on 26 August against Celtic FC, and has suspended the player for two UEFA club competition matches.

So there we have it, a precedent has been set. Any player who “deceives the referee” can expect a two match ban. It is interesting how this has been played out. The ban is not for the diving offence, but for attempting to deceive the referee, and this is where I think the waters are muddied somewhat. Arsène will no doubt challenge any dive in future, especially against us in the Champions League, but I suspect UEFA will say any case we bring was not “deceiving the referee” and there will be no recourse for us. Had UEFA charged Eduardo for specifically diving then things would be different. But this ruling by UEFA allows them to hide behind it, can you prove a player has acted in such a way to primarily deceive the referee? I genuinely do not think you can, it will be a case of the player’s (or club’s) word against UEFA.

Will this ruling clean up football? Of course not. Will it stop diving? Highly unlikely. This ruling is really a blunt instrument that UEFA can now wheel out when there is outcry over a particular incident in a game, or perhaps when they wish to take a team down a peg or two (not that I am suggesting that was the case here you understand). It will be interesting to see how this pans out over the next few months. If UEFA at a later date admit they were wrong how can they rescind this two match ban if the games have already been played? It will be impossible. UEFA have gained many column inches over this whole event and I think it will change football, but not perhaps in the way that they intended.

In other news the transfer window closed yesterday, we didn’t buy anyone but that isn’t really a major surprise. If we are lucky with injuries this year our squad is big enough, but given Arsenal and their recent record of players being injured things might look bleak come mid-Winter.