Colegate: Chelsea överklagar
En bitter ordstrid har brutit ut mellan Chelsea och Arsenal. Samtidigt meddelar Chelseas ordförande Bruce Buck att Colegate-domen kommer att överklagas.
Buck uppges ha fått kritik från José Mourinho när han accepterade Uefas dom i fallet Frisk. Men av medier och utomstående fick han beröm för sitt raka och korrekta uppträdande.
Den här gången är emellertid Buck upprörd. Inte minst över Arsenals agerande. Londonrivalen har under lång tid attackerat Chelsea i frågan och fortsatte med det i dag. Deras krav på kompensation av Chelsea avvisade dock i den oberoende domstolens dom.
Här följer några oöversatta citat från Bruce Buck om dagens händelser:
Om straffet:
"First of all we are very disappointed and even shocked and perturbed by the sanctions. The tribunal in its finding at 2.30 today (Wednesday) clearly said Chelsea Football Club had been approached by agents on behalf of Ashley Cole and then came to the conclusion that as we went to the meeting it constituted an approach in regard of rule K3. We disagree with that conclusions and we believe attending the meeting did not go over the line. The sanctions are totally disproportionate to the alleged sin and we are almost certainly going to appeal against it. We look forward to making this right some time in the future"
Om situationen:
"Ashley Cole is a fine young man, he was caught up in this situation and he didn't have to be. Two weeks ago Jose Mourinho was asked how he would react if [Chelsea defender] John Terry had been found to be in the green room with Arsenal and I thought Jose handled that beautifully. He said that he would have hauled the player in and said 'what's the problem, what are you unhappy about?'. And if it was a football-related issue he would have gone out of his way to resolve that problem because this was one of his best players. If there was a financial issue he would have said to Peter Kenyon and the Chelsea board 'resolve the financial issue'. In this case, the player's current 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."
Om chanserna till att relationen till Arsenal tinar upp:
"Anything is possible but it is going to be very difficult. They are another club in the league and we have to deal with them, but when you look at the proceedings as a whole you have to say that they had a particular agenda here."
