A statement on the official FA website said: "Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been charged with a breach of FA Rule E3 for improper conduct. The charge relates to his comment about Manchester United’s Ruud van Nistelrooy in a post-match media interview following the Premier League match at Old Trafford on Sunday 24 October. He has until 23 November to respond to the charge. There will be no formal disciplinary action on any other matters related to the match. However, The FA Chairman Geoff Thompson has written to both clubs to request a meeting with their representatives and the Premier League to avoid any repeat of the adverse publicity that surrounded the game."
Rule E3 reads:
FA Rule E3 - General Behaviour
'A Participant shall at all times act in the best interests of the game and shall not act in any manner which is improper or brings the game into disrepute or use any one, or a combination of, violent conduct, serious foul play, threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting words or behaviour.'
Despite the charge, Arsenal's chairman Peter Hill-Wood insisted his manager would not be restrained in any way from speaking out. "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. That doesn't mean he has a vendetta against Ferguson. I'm certain that he doesn't."
Oliver Kay in The Times comments:
'Arsenal and Manchester United have been summoned to an emergency meeting with senior officials from the Football Association and Premier League in an attempt to stop their bitter feud spiralling out of control, but no action will be taken against either club for the disgraceful scenes that saw Sir Alex Ferguson pelted with food by Arsenal players after their acrimonious 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford last month.
The peace summit, which the FA is eager to arrange as quickly as possible, is seen as an essential step in defusing the tension that has built up between United and Arsenal in recent seasons, leading to unsavoury post-match scenes in their past two meetings at Old Trafford. The proposal of a meeting initially met with a lukewarm response from United, who made clear in a letter to the FA last week that they felt that the best way forward was to put the affair behind them.
Of greater contention is the FA’s decision not to charge any of Arsenal’s players with misconduct after a number of incidents that were highlighted in United’s letter to Soho Square. Ferguson, while content to draw a line under the food-throwing incident, was instrumental in compiling a dossier in which numerous incidents on the field — including alleged stamps by Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp and a late tackle by Edu — were cited, adding that the FA "will need to do something".
It means that the only player to be charged for his behaviour is Van Nistelrooy, who has served a three-match suspension after accepting the charge relating to a late tackle on Ashley Cole, the Arsenal defender.
Ferguson, who felt that at least two Arsenal players should be suspended for their actions at Old Trafford, is unlikely to be placated too much by the FA’s decision to charge Wenger with a breach of FA Rule E3 for improper conduct. The Arsenal manager, who has until November 18 to respond to the charge, is expected to dispute it — having earlier claimed that he did not accuse Van Nistelrooy of cheating — and is likely to be fined if found guilty. He has not been charged for his post-match comments about Mike Riley, who awarded United a controversial penalty in the match at Old Trafford.'