Chelsea banned from signing players till 2011

[pineapple stu]

Interesting! (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/sep/03/chelsea-fifa-transfer-ban-gael-kakuta)

[TheBoss]

Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal all do the same, but nothing done to them.

[Monkfish]

:D
Couldnt have happened to a nicer club.

Will be appealed no doubt.

[Infadel]

I'm surprised no other club has been hit with sanctions yet when you look at all the foreign youth players been poached from other clubs.
Chelsea can have no complaints especially when they keep that parasite Kenyon as chief executive.

[centre mid]

FIFA seem to be cracking the whip a lot lately, Eduardo ban springs to mind. Hopefully they will beat everyone with the same stick and dont just make "Examples" of these two cases and let eveyone else away with it.

[GalwayRed]

Anybody else think fining an 18 year old £680000 for breaking his contract is ridiculous. He was 16 when it happened, basically a kid so it must have been easy enough for Chelsea to lead him on. Thats a massive fine for anyone never mind an 18 year old. His punishment dosent match up to the crime.

[John83]

Anybody else think fining an 18 year old £680000 for breaking his contract is ridiculous. He was 16 when it happened, basically a kid so it must have been easy enough for Chelsea to lead him on. Thats a massive fine for anyone never mind an 18 year old. His punishment dosent match up to the crime.
Presumably it matches up to his income.

[GalwayRed]

Presumably it matches up to his income.
You really think a player in Chelseas reserves would be earning the type of money to cover a fine like that? He also has the 4 month playing ban.
Like I said he was 16 when it happened, hes being dealt with very harshly.

[pineapple stu]

How old he was is irrelevant if you don't actually know what he did, in fairness.

[John83]

You really think a player in Chelseas reserves would be earning the type of money to cover a fine like that?
You don't poach someone from Lyon with a pittance.

[GalwayRed]

You don't poach someone from Lyon with a pittance.
They didnt poach anybody from Lyon:confused:

[GalwayRed]

How old he was is irrelevant if you don't actually know what he did, in fairness.
He breached his contract. How does that equate to a 680000 pound fine?

[pineapple stu]

They didnt poach anybody from Lyon:confused:
Lens; no need to act smart with typos.


He breached his contract. How does that equate to a 680000 pound fine?
How does it not equate to the fine? We don't know any of the facts in the case; we can hardly make sweeping judgements as to whether it's harsh or not.

[Mr A]

Chelsea intend to appeal, strangely enough: http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~1787070,00.html

No doubt they're guilty, but that punishment is very harsh when you consider than most big clubs are at the same thing.

[pineapple stu]

True, although you have to start somewhere. If it acts as a precursor to everyone getting the same punishment, then we get to keep Ronan Finn for another year, and I'm happy. :)

[GalwayRed]

Lens; no need to act smart with typos.
I wasnt being smart, he could have genuinely thought it was Lyon and seeing as theres a big difference between Lens and Lyon so that needed to be pointed out.



How does it not equate to the fine? We don't know any of the facts in the case; we can hardly make sweeping judgements as to whether it's harsh or not.
Hes effectivly been fined a years wages. Probably more. That to me is harsh.

[pineapple stu]

What did he do exactly?

(It's possible, incidentally, that he has been treated harshly to be made an example of, but you can say until you know what he's done, which you don't)

[ATFC-1887]

as far as i can see chelsea have to pay for the fine

[GalwayRed]

What did he do exactly?

(It's possible, incidentally, that he has been treated harshly to be made an example of, but you can say until you know what he's done, which you don't)
He broke his contract with Lens by not seeing it out. Chelsea basically encouraged him to leave and effectively tapped him up, then took him on a free. Presumably the fine is compensation to Lens for not receiving a transfer fee.
Im not going to pretend to know all the facts here but I do think the fine is harsh.

[superfrank]

Will Chelsea be able to appeal to the EU courts and have the whole EU labour laws to protect them?

To me, it's more of the "special" rules that football clubs enjoy. Players can't move of their own free will, they need their bosses permission. I'm pretty sure EU labour laws are against that kind of thing.

[Sheridan]

It's not in clubs' interest to undermine what Blatter calls the specificity of sport, particularly not the likes of Chelsea.

Great day for football if FIFA stick to their guns. Although they'll almost certainly reduce it to one transfer period on appeal.

[Razors left peg]

Hes effectivly been fined a years wages. Probably more. That to me is harsh.

Im sure Chelsea will pay the fine for him... they are gonna have lots of spare cash lying around anyway since they cant use it to sign any more players :D

[old git]

Chelsea intend to appeal, strangely enough: http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~1787070,00.html

No doubt they're guilty, but that punishment is very harsh when you consider than most big clubs are at the same thing.

fifa have to start somewere .. and were chelsea not in trouble with them not so long back with john obi makel did he not sign for utd and then change his mind and wanted to join chelsea .. chelsea had to pay utd a few million on this if i can remember... fifa have started process now so they will have to also punish any other clubs found guilty..

[rava]

fifa have to start somewere .. and were chelsea not in trouble with them not so long back with john obi makel did he not sign for utd and then change his mind and wanted to join chelsea .. chelsea had to pay utd a few million on this if i can remember... fifa have started process now so they will have to also punish any other clubs found guilty..

Every top club in europe are probably guilty at one time or another.

[tetsujin1979]

Interesting article on football365 about this. Basically makes the point that when people with the financial clout of Abramovich are running clubs, fines become irrelevant. However, this transfer embargo is something that will affect the club in a very real way.

[shakermaker1982]

Interesting article on football365 about this. Basically makes the point that when people with the financial clout of Abramovich are running clubs, fines become irrelevant. However, this transfer embargo is something that will affect the club in a very real way.

Exactly. Fining a rich club like Chelsea 1 million would upset them but it doesn't have the same impact as a transfer embargo for 18 months. The docking of points is another method that would surely deter clubs from breaking FIFA rules. I hope their appeal is unsuccessful because it might mean Chelsea and the rest of the big boys treat smaller clubs with a bit more respect when it comes to stelaing their talent.

Chelsea must have done more than just make contact with the player e.g. "we're interested are you keen?". FIFA's statement hints at something a bit more underhand.......at a guess they probably outlined a financial package when he did jump ship from the off, offered him a house for his family and maybe even a job for his folks? I'm only speculating but it will be interesting to read the proper report.

[old git]

Every top club in europe are probably guilty at one time or another.

i agree ... just that chelsea seem to have been more active in the last few years and more clubs complained to fifia .. obi makel / cashley cole / 2 young players from leeds and even tried it with eriksson when he was manager of england !! plus i also feel uefa / fifa , platini just want any excuse to hammer english clubs..:D

[endabob1]

i agree ... just that chelsea seem to have been more active in the last few years and more clubs complained to fifia .. obi makel / cashley cole / 2 young players from leeds and even tried it with eriksson when he was manager of england !! plus i also feel uefa / fifa , platini just want any excuse to hammer english clubs..:D


Plus (ironically) Frank Arnesen from Tottenham

[L37Ultra]

Does anyone else think this is part of Plantini's overall plan to cut down on the English's clubs domination in the Champions League? He is looking for votes for the smaller countries.

[John83]

Does anyone else think this is part of Plantini's overall plan to cut down on the English's clubs domination in the Champions League? He is looking for votes for the smaller countries.
It depends on how much of a pragmatist and a politician he is. Mostly, he's seemed to make huge claims like that he'd make football non-contact or restore the CL to just the national champions, but he hasn't the capital to push anything through. Maybe he's trying to build it, but he's never shown signs of that before that I've noticed.

[Sheridan]

Does anyone else think this is part of Plantini's overall plan to cut down on the English's clubs domination in the Champions League? He is looking for votes for the smaller countries.
Unlikely, considering it's a FIFA sanction...

[Infadel]

Peter Kenyon is stepping down:
http://www.chelseafc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10268~1798843,00.html

[KK77]

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have granted Chelsea's request to suspend their transfer ban.

Fifa ruled against Chelsea in August when they ruled the English club had induced teenager Gael Kakuta to break his contract with Lens.

As punishment for this, the world's governing body imposed a transfer ban on Chelsea and stated they could not register new players for two transfer windows.

This meant Chelsea would not be able to sign a new player until 2011 - but now The Blues have successfully lobbied CAS that their ban should be suspended until their full appeal against Fifa's decision is heard by the Swiss-based court.

That now means that Chelsea will be in a position to buy players in January, if they wish.

CAS also ruled that Gael Kakuta - who was banned from playing for four months - has also had his suspension 'stayed' making him available for selection.

The CAS statement read: "The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has granted the request for a stay filed by Chelsea Football Club Ltd and Mr Gaël Kakuta in relation to the decision taken by the Fifa Dispute Resolution Chamber on 27 August 2009.

"The Fifa Dispute Resolution Chamber imposed, inter alia, a restriction of four months' ineligibility on Mr Gael Kakuta, and Chelsea Football Club Ltd was banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the next two complete, consecutive registration periods.

"Such sanctions are now stayed until the CAS renders its final decision in

this matter."