The Lying Game

Martin Samuel is an outstanding journalist but, like the rest of us, he doesn’t always get it right. He is, for instance, a West Ham fan and he has, disappointingly for a man of his obvious intelligence, thrown himself with indecent haste into the current media frenzy directed at Arsene Wenger.

Both in the News of the World and during his appearance on ‘Jimmy Hills’ Sunday Supplement’, Martin has insisted that, to use his own words, “The FA have to throw the book at Wenger”. Leaving aside the fact that Martin himself has invariably (and entertainingly) been extremely critical of the FA on numerous occasions, thereby exercising for himself a right he appears reluctant to allow Arsene Wenger, his main point appears to be that the Arsenal boss used the word “lied” about an official and he implied that (Martin’s words) “the FA is dishonest”.

Words are Martin’s trade. He is an expert on them and he uses them brilliantly. He should therefore be the first to acknowledge that language is complex and much depends upon the context in which it is used. Take this key word “lied” for instance. Consult a selection of dictionaries about the verb (interestingly enough, they don’t all say exactly the same thing) and you will read such phrases as ‘to speak falsely’, ‘to convey a false image or impression’, ‘to make a false statement’, ‘to say that which is not true’, ‘to evade or depart from the truth’ and sometimes, but by no means always, they will associate the word with an intention to deceive.

That is all anyone, even a journalist, needs to make them think twice about vilifying Arsene Wenger for the comments he has made. As far as he was concerned, as he made clear in his press conference before the Reading game, the official “made a big mistake”- in other words he got it badly wrong, because what he said wasn’t true and the consequences for Arsenal have been severe and far reaching. The club has been deprived of the services of key players in important games, the manager has been subjected to a witch-hunt and, horror of horrors, the Football Association are incensed that their integrity is called into question.

Well, ‘integrity’ is a difficult word too. Like ‘lied’. And ‘respect’. Listen to all the outrage from the media and those hitherto unattributed comments from the F.A. and you get the distinct impression that ‘integrity’ is a bit of a one way street. The officials have it. The F.A. have it. The media have it. Automatically. But a highly intelligent Frenchman who in addition to being brilliant at his job is a man of honour - he (apparently) doesn’t have it. Why? Because he refuses to accept injustice or to make obsequious gestures to people in authority when he is convinced that they are wrong.

For that Arsene Wenger should be respected and applauded, not pilloried, because for him it is a matter of his own integrity. Real integrity, that is, as distinct from the mere appearance. It is high time the faceless figures on the F.A. disciplinary committee went public, identified themselves and their qualifications for the job, and showed everyone the precise evidence on which they are convicting and sentencing some people and exonerating others. Then, and only then, will they be entitled to pontificate about the integrity of the game.

And, who knows, they may even come to realise that it is one thing to demand respect. Quite another to deserve it. And earn it. If, or when, that happens, they might even learn that on the evidence of what has gone on recently, one of the many languages which Arsene Wenger speaks is the truth.