Arsenal chairperson Peter Hill-Wood has told manager Arsene Wenger he can continue to say what he believes and rejected suggestions he should put a ”gagging order” on the Frenchman.
Wenger was charged by the Football Association (FA) on Monday over his comments about Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, whom he labelled a ”cheat” following his challenge on Ashley Cole during a 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford last month that ended the Gunners’ English top-flight record unbeaten run of 49 matches.
The match sparked a host of disciplinary problems and the FA has called a meeting between the two clubs in a bid to stop the ongoing war of words between Wenger and United boss Sir Alex Ferguson carrying on for the remainder of the season.
But Hill-Wood said the idea of Wenger and Ferguson being obliged to come to some sort of stage-managed reconciliation is ridiculous.
”Can you see them over a cosy dinner date? I can’t, and I wouldn’t insist that our manager does anything like that if he does not want to,” Hill-Wood told the Daily Express.
”Wenger is a very intelligent man and he says exactly what he thinks. I’ve not said to him, ‘stop insulting Ferguson’, and I’ve no intention of doing so.
”It was a silly, stupid spat but if Wenger believes that Van Nistelrooy is a cheat, he is going to say so, and if the FA don’t like it that’s up to them.” — Sapa-AFP