Uefa-gate: Chelsea svarar Uefa
Chelsea har i ett uttalande i dag officiellt svarat på Uefas anklagelser om falska påståenden.
Det är Chelseas vd Peter Kenyon som står bakom svaret till Uefas efter förbundets uppseendeväckande uttalande tidigare i veckan. Här är Kenyons svar i sin helhet:
"Chelsea is both surprised and disappointed that at least one individual within UEFA appears to have launched an unprecedented attack on the club, regardless of the fact that Chelsea has co-operated fully with the enquiries related to the charges against us.
"Chelsea fully adheres to, and respects, the processes of UEFA and is under no illusion about the seriousness of these charges. We will defend these in the correct and proper manner and within the guidelines laid down by UEFA.
"However the statements against Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, Steve Clarke, and Les Miles by at least one senior UEFA official means we are no longer able to keep our own counsel, which we have consistently done since submitting our report to UEFA following the Barcelona vs Chelsea first leg match.
"These various statements have called into question publicly the integrity of our manager, assistant coach, security officer and the club as a whole and we cannot allow these to stand unchallenged.
"Chelsea utterly refutes that the club, or any of its representatives, participated in a deliberate ploy of false declarations or lies in order to cynically influence the result of the tie, to put pressure on refereeing officials or poison the atmosphere between the teams. All statements in our report submitted to UEFA were made in good faith and are honestly held.
"Unfortunately some within UEFA have decided to ignore their own organisation's reputation for fairness and correct procedure by playing out this debate in the public arena ahead of any hearing. This hearing would have been, and still is, the right and proper forum for such debate.
"These individuals have used deliberately inflammatory language which Chelsea finds unjust and unhelpful. The use of such language, and the nature of the public statements as a whole, give us grave concern about our chances of receiving an impartial and fair hearing.
"Our defence has been dismissed before it has even been considered. Our witnesses have been branded as liars without any opportunity to be heard or defend themselves. That offends all principles of justice both in England and across Europe.
"If the factual disputes of this case have been decided in advance, we will have no choice but to pursue alternative avenues of legal redress, including an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which does not allow individual officials to prejudice the outcome of judicial proceedings.
"UEFA and Chelsea have always enjoyed good relations. Last week we both condemned the threats made to Anders Frisk and agreed on a way of moving forward for the good of football and Chelsea will continue to do that.
"Chelsea will have no further comment to make until after the case has been resolved."
