Phil Dowd, the referee at the centre of a foul-mouthed furore at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, became isolated yesterday as Wigan Athletic led mounting criticism of the match official by claiming that he “verbally abused in an aggressive and menacing manner” a number of their players in the 2-1 defeat by Arsenal.

Dowd took charge of the FA Cup fourth-round replay between Middlesbrough and Bristol City at the Riverside Stadium last night, managing to avoid any confrontations while showing three yellow cards and awarding a penalty in the thrilling victory for the Barclays Premiership side after a penalty shoot-out. The controversy over his previous appointment in North London raged on, though.

After Paul Jewell, the Wigan manager, had been charged with improper conduct by the FA yesterday, the club launched a fierce offensive. It claimed that during the match, in which Wigan lost a 1-0 lead, Dowd had persistently sworn at several of their players.

“We, as a club, will fight this [charge] tooth and nail,” Jewell said. “We owe it to the supporters because, if I just shrug my shoulders and do nothing, it would be letting them down.”

Jewell confirmed that Wigan will be writing a letter of complaint to the authorities about Dowd’s alleged choice of words. It will be sent to the FA, the FA Premier League and to Keith Hackett, the general manager of Professional Game Match Officials Limited(PGMOL), the referees’ governing body. Hackett will speak again to Dowd this week. “There is very clearly a system that places accountability on any match official and his performance,” Hackett said.

It is the claims of Dowd’s language that most concern Jewell, Wigan and PGMOL. Dowd could find himself “rested” from his next match, which is due to be the Coca-Cola Championship fixture between Preston North End and Norwich City on Tuesday.

Dowd may have received text messages of support from some colleagues yesterday but others gave warning that he may have verbally crossed the line. “If Phil was swearing with the players, then there’s no problem,” a former top-flight referee said. “But if he was swearing at them, then he’s got a big problem. You can’t swear at them and then send them off for swearing.

“Sure, it’s the players’ everyday language. You can’t expect them not to use, in the heat of battle, what they use on the training ground. If, by the strict letter of the law, you sent them all off, you’d end up eight a side. In my time, maybe I swore a bit with players, but not at them. That’s the point.”

Jewell’s charge yesterday related to the finger-pointing confrontation that he had with Dowd at the end of the game. Annoyed at Dowd’s refusal to give a penalty when Emile Heskey appeared to have been fouled, Jewell was further angered when Josip Skoko was not allowed to return to the pitch after receiving treatment for an injury and that, as the midfield player stood on the touchline, Arsenal equalised through an own goal.

As PGMOL continues to collate reports from its various representatives at the Emirates Stadium — some of whom had access to microphone conversations between Dowd, his assistants and the players — The Times has learnt that, at the time Jewell was trying to get Skoko back on to the pitch, the radio communication between Dowd and Peter Walton, the fourth official, had broken.

This could partly explain why Dowd, with his eye on the game, had forgotten that Skoko should be allowed to re-enter the pitch.

After arguing with Dowd at the end, Jewell later described him as the “worst referee in the Premiership”. If the FA decides to charge Jewell a second time for the comments in the media, he is likely to accept it.

In another blow for Wigan, Chris Kirkland, the goalkeeper, will be out of action for up to six weeks in order to recover from surgery today on a torn ligament in his finger.