Arsenal have been on the receiving end of some questionable decisions this season, including dubious red cards and a successful appeal against a sending-off for Myles Lewis-Skelly.
This is not the first time the club has felt hard done by, with incidents such as Gabriel Martinelli’s back-to-back yellow cards in the same phase of play, Brentford being allowed an offside goal that VAR official Lee Mason overlooked, and numerous red cards and penalties in crucial matches.
These events have led many fans to suspect a conspiracy against the club. Now, former Premier League official and TV pundit Peter Walton has spoken out on the matter in hope of setting things straight.
Walton gave a definitive answer from his perspective on the issue. However, he also disclosed that this is not a new allegation.
He recalled a time when former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger personally mentioned a conspiracy against the Gunners to him.
Long-standing ref Walton told football.london: “So if I cast my mind back, when I was officiating, I did a pre-season tournament in Arsenal.
“It’s called the Emirates Cup or something like that, and I can remember having a good, long conversation with Arsene Wenger. Arsene Wenger was convinced that there was a conspiracy against Arsenal in the refereeing world because of decisions that he perceived to go against Arsenal.”
Walton continued by drawing parallels with the current situation under Mikel Arteta: “So I don’t know if this is an Arsenal thing or not, but it seems to have continued now into the Mikel Arteta reign that there seems to be this conspiracy against Arsenal. Maybe it’s because of the style of football that Arsenal play.”
He then reflected on Arsenal’s recent experiences and the broader context involving top teams: “Maybe it may be some of the individuals, but they haven’t had the rub of the green for sure this season. I agree with that on various decisions, on individual decisions.”
However, Walton was firm in dispelling any notion of targeted bias: “But I could categorically say there’s no conspiracy against Arsenal. But you find the more successful clubs, your Manchester Uniteds of yesteryear, your Liverpools and Arsenals, Chelseas, they seem to have more decisions go against them when they’re winning things because they are looking for every sense of decision-making and so it goes hand in hand.”
Finally, he contrasted this with the experiences of lesser spotlighted teams: “I don’t think you have the same issues faced in teams who probably are not even struggling in the relegation zone. So let’s just say Fulham, for example. I don’t think Fulham will be complaining too much.
“But it goes with the position that Arsenal are in at the moment. They are in a magnificent position in terms of the playing side. They are going for various trophies, and small incidents are a big concern for them and those small incidents mount up, and publicity has afforded them.”
“So sometimes it’s where you are as a club. But I can say that when I was refereeing in Arsenal, let’s say it works in their favour because you’d almost go overboard to make sure you didn’t get decisions wrong.”
Some decisions that have gone against Arsenal have simply not been seen in many cases again and fans rightfully ask why. For that view to change, the officiating needs to improve. The introduction of new, young officials naturally will see mistakes: they’re human.
But it is when the most senior and experienced referees make consistent errors against particular clubs, these labels become harder to shift.
This article was originally produced on Football London.
