De FA had knaken nodig;
Record fines will not cut off tap at source
By Matt Dickinson, Chief Football Correspondent
THE practice of “tapping-up” will continue, but perhaps not with the same brazenness that led Chelsea and Ashley Cole to that fateful meeting in London’s Royal Park Hotel on January 27. No one expects clubs and managers to start following the rule book to the letter, but the message sent out by the FA Premier League’s disciplinary commission yesterday in meting out record financial punishments for the offence was that miscreants had better not get caught.
The panel will take it as a compliment that the various guilty parties spoke of their shock and fury, as well as their intentions to appeal against the sanctions. Chelsea, who had expected only a warning, were stunned by the threat of a three-point deduction and Bruce Buck, the normally mild-mannered chairman, responded with a fierce attack on Arsenal for turning the case into “a public spectacle”. Rivals on the field, the London clubs are now sworn enemies in the boardroom.
“Tapping-up” normally takes place on the telephone, but the revelation of the timing, venue and the choice of biscuits at the infamous meeting — and the subsequent complaint from Arsenal — made “Colegate” an exceptional case. As Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said: “It is an arrogance where you think you are above everything and can do anything you want. They should have held the meeting in the middle of the M25.”
The commission’s scathing verdicts backed up Wenger’s accusations of arrogance and demolished Chelsea’s argument that they should be treated leniently because Cole and his representatives had done the approaching rather than the other way round. As well as fining Chelsea £300,000 and imposing a points deduction, suspended for 12 months, the three-man panel described the decision by Peter Kenyon, the chief executive, and José Mourinho, the manager, to attend the meeting with Cole as “rash and dangerous”.
Mourinho, who was fined £200,000, was described as acting with “blatant disregard” for the rules and playing a “pivotal role in the discussions”. After his touchline ban from Uefa, the Portuguese will believe that he has been persecuted once more. Buck insisted that the club would not pay the manager’s fine, although that claim will be met with scepticism.
Cole, who was fined £100,000, was treated most leniently by the commission, which accepted that he had been “manipulated to a large extent by his agent (Jonathan Barnett)”. Nevertheless, Graham Shear, Cole’s lawyer, gave warning that he could take the case to the law courts. “We are absolutely furious,” he said. Shear said that the appeal would be based in part on a claim of restraint of trade, but Sir Philip Otton, QC, the chairman of the panel, found that the high rewards for players balanced out the restrictions.
Still unclear is Cole’s future, with David Dein, the Arsenal vice-chairman, insisting last night that the defender could still have a role to play at Highbury. “With the benefit of hindsight everyone makes mistakes, but he has been punished and we move on,” Dein said. “We didn’t want to see him punished.” However, relations between Arsenal and Barnett, whose role in setting up the meeting will now be investigated by the Football Association, are so bad that it is impossible to see the defender signing a new deal at Highbury unless he changes agent. Cole could decide to see out the remaining two years on his contract.
One certainty is that relations between the clubs are at an all-time low, certainly at board level. Dein, who had pushed for Chelsea to be punished with a transfer embargo, was disappointed that the Barclays Premiership champions were not forced to pay them compensation. “The rules are in the rule book for a good reason,” he said. “To be respected.”
Buck responded with a withering attack on Arsenal’s handling of the case. “Two weeks ago, José Mourinho was asked how he would react if John Terry had been found in the green room with Arsenal,” Buck said. “José handled that beautifully. He said that he would have hauled the player in and said, ‘What are you unhappy about?’ If it was a football-related issue, he would have gone out of his way to resolve the problem. If there was a financial issue, he would have said to the board, ‘Resolve it’.
“In this case, the player’s club decided not to talk to him, not to try to resolve any issues, but made it into a public spectacle which I think was inappropriate, not in the best interests of that club, not in the best interests of that player and not in the interests of football.” Arsenal and Chelsea are due to meet in the Community Shield on August 7. There could be two-footed tackles in the directors’ box.
THE FINES
£100,000
Ashley Cole
or four weeks’ wages
£200,000
José Mourinho
or two weeks’ wages
£300,000
Chelsea
or one sixth of their regular income from a home match
NAAR HET ANDERE FORUM!