Premier League Ref: Arsène Wenger Told Me To "Fuck Off"

About a month ago, Arsène Wenger got himself a four-match touchline ban for his behavior in a league game between Arsenal and Burnley. We all knew part of the ban was because Wenger pushed the fourth official after being sent to the stands by the head referee, but we didn’t know what exactly he said to get himself sent off in the first place. Now we do, and it’s about as colorful as we could’ve wished for.

The F.A. has finally released the full findings of their investigation into the incident. Here is how Anthony Taylor, the fourth official for the match with whom Wenger had his disagreement, described the ordeal in his post-match report:

“Following the award of a penalty kick against his team in approx. 92nd min, Mr Wenger left his technical area to confront me in disagreement at the decision. Before he said anything I said ‘think carefully before you say anything’. He responded by saying ‘you are dishonest to your federation’.

“I considered this to be questioning both mine and the referee, Jon Moss’s integrity and impartiality. I stated to Mr. Wenger that such a comment was not acceptable and he told me to ‘fuck off’ on two separate occasions.

“Once Burnley had taken the penalty and before the game restarted I informed the referee, Jon Moss, what Mr Wenger had said and he subsequently dismissed Mr Wenger from the technical area.”

“Fuck off” is obviously the juicier of the quotes, but “you are dishonest to your federation” is low key the funnier one.

[ Goal.com]