Chelsea v FA

[mypost]

In what promises to be a season of bitter accusations, persistent sniping, with constant charges, hearings, punishments, and appeals, Chelsea and the FA begin another season-long verbal soap opera early.

ROUND 1: July 12/13, 2005:

Hosting his opening press conference of the season, Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho, gets his opening jabs in early, when he whinges over Chelsea's "unfair" run of league games after CL games, and that a rival club chairman should not be a member of the FA as it's a conflict of interests.

The FA respond the following day, saying that such accusations, are unhelpful, and inaccurate.

Verdict on Round 1: Draw.

To be continued. Remember, the season hasn't even started yet!!

[Karlos]

FA Statement in Full

[Karlos]

From skysports.com

The FA and the Premier League have responded strongly to Jose Mourinho's claims that Arsenal have received favouritism in the scheduling of fixtures, but a closer look at the information further undermines the Chelsea coach's position.

Chelsea's first away trip after Match Day One of the Champions League is across London in Charlton, while the next three post-Champions League fixtures are all played on Sundays giving Mourinho's men an extra day of rest. The fifth fixture is an hour's road journey to the south coast to play Portsmouth.

And while Chelsea have five away fixtures following Champions League nights, of course Arsenal have five road trips scheduled a couple of days before Champions League games.

And interestingly, if all 12 fixtures preceding and following Champions league nights are taken into account, Chelsea have seven home games and five away trips, while Arsenal have just five home matches and seven on the road.

[Stuttgart88]

Mourinho's a wnaker & I hope to see him taken down a few pegs. Any pundit who says he's a breath of fresh air is doing the public a massive disservice. Mourinho, Ferguson & Wenger between them, to varying degrees, have done more to promote bad sportsmanship to the public than anyone I can remember. The FA is pathetic & they're all taking advantage of it. The public is poorer for it. I thought WWE wrestling was a bad role model but soccer is doing a great job in catching up.

I'm particularly disappointed in Wenger because I thought he'd have the class to stay above the other two. It's early days yet, but the real breath of fresh air seems to be Rafa Benitez.

[Karlos]

Figures make Fergie and Jose look daft (not for the first time mind you!! ). I'm sure every barstooler will still be quoting the two legends as fact!

Over the last seven years Arsenal have played 53% of their games at home on the weekends following Champions League fixtures, while Man United have played 54% of their games at Old Trafford and Chelsea 55% at Stamford Bridge.

The full figures are as follows...

Arsenal: Played 64 - 34 home, 30 away. Percentage: 53%
Manchester United: Played 87 - 47 home, 40 away. Percentage: 54%
Chelsea: Played 40 - 22 home, 18 away. Percentage: 55%

Maybe David Dein has messed around with the archived records too!!

[mypost]

ROUND 2: September 8th 2005:

The FA allege, that Chelsea breached Rule E25 of the FA Rulebook, by drug testing their players on July 12th 2004, and charge Chelsea with misconduct for carrying out "Independent drug testing on...it's players". The rule states that "Independent private testing of players by clubs, club officials or any person subject to FA rules is prohibited."

Far from pleading guilty, Chelsea have stated that they would "vigorously" defend themselves against the charge. Apparantly, they feel that they did nothing "morally wrong".

There's a difference in the rulebook between what's morally wrong, and what is prohibited, the FA wouldn't charge the club on any issue without good reason, so after Round 2 of the ongoing dispute between the two, the FA have the advantage over the club.

To be continued......

[Macy]

It is morally wrong - it's to stop clubs catching players and hiding it from the authorities.

[Aberdonian Stu]

Yes clubs shouldn't be allowed to hide private tests from the authorities, and I have absolutely no qualms with that, but there should be a mechanism that allows them to do it themselves at will.

In Ireland even though the sports council carries out a raft of tests most testing is in fact carried out by organisations and clubs under their guidance (as in they pay the Sports council to send someone out to them for said purpose).

[Macy]

In Ireland even though the sports council carries out a raft of tests most testing is in fact carried out by organisations and clubs under their guidance (as in they pay the Sports council to send someone out to them for said purpose).

So they're not independent tests then? That's the problem, not that they were done at the clubs request, but the fact that the club could've hid them from the authorities....

[anto eile]

in england, the aforementioned bitter sniping soap opera is deemed a good thing that brings excitement to he glamourous premiership
the smae thing in ireland proves the elague is a joke.
double standards (on the part of the media)??
i think so

[mypost]

ROUND 3: October 2005:

Losing 1-0 to Bolton, Michael Essien makes a wild, appalling tackle on a Bolton defender, and by feigning injury himself, is only booked. Following the inevitable uproar over the incident, the FA concede the round to Chelsea by being unable to punish Essien further, while Ref. Styles later admits she should have sent the player off. Chelsea go on to win 5-1.

Essien gets off the hook then, and repeats the dose later in the same place, in the CL 2 months later. After escaping any action from the ref, this time UEFA do punish him, even if it's only with a miserly 2-game European ban, despite Mourinho's desperate attempts to defend the indefensible. In a state of paranoia, he later goes on to blame Sky, and not the host broadcaster of the game ITV, for Essien's punishment, and refuses to hold post-match interviews with them as a result.

ROUND 4: December 2005/January 2006

10th December:

Following his side's routine Premiership victory over Wigan, boss Mourinho labels Wigan players as "cheats". The FA investigate the matter in January, and cave in again, by letting Mourinho off with a warning. Remembering of course, that Mourinho has stated publicly before, that he doesn't read disciplinary warnings. Chelsea go ahead in the battle for supremacy, between the two parties.

The battle looks fairly quiet so far this season, but as Chelsea play Barcelona again in the European Cup soon, there's plenty of room for trouble on the way.

To be continued.........