But they found him guilty of a catch-all charge of misconduct, and Wenger was reprimanded and fined £10,000.

Wenger will have to pay the costs of the appeal board which sat to hear his case in the re-hearing.

The three-man panel included FA chairman Geoff Thompson, FA board member Ray Kiddell and barrister Charles Hollander QC, who was the chairman.

Wenger was charged under new FA punishment guidelines with "alleged threatening behaviour and physical intimidation" to fourth official Paul Taylor after Arsenal's 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light on the opening day of the season.

Wenger did not call any witnesses at the original hearing in October and was found guilty and banned for 12 games as well as receiving a fine of four weeks' wages - the minimum under the new rules introduced last summer.

However, he won the right to re-argue his case in front of an independent commission.

Taylor, in his first match as a Premiership fourth official, reported Wenger for physically shoving him in the tunnel.

Arsenal were incensed at the late dismissal of Patrick Vieira, with Wenger later arguing that Sunderland's Darren Williams had over-reacted to get the Frenchman sent off.

However, the Arsenal boss insisted that, along with Taylor, he was simply intervening in a row developing between Thierry Henry and Williams.