Chelsea accused of tapping up Ashley cole

The Muppet

Chelsea accused of ‘tapping up’ Cole in hotel
Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein reacts angrily to reports that their London rivals approached their England defender about a move to Stamford Bridge
CHELSEA have been accused of making an illegal approach to the Arsenal and England left-back Ashley Cole. It was reported last night that the club’s chief executive Peter Kenyon and manager Jose Mourinho, along with the ‘super agent’ Pini Zahavi, met Cole at a west London hotel last Thursday afternoon. If true, the approach would be in breach of Premier League rules.

After being told of the alleged meeting by the News of the World, the Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein said: “This is a very disturbing matter and we will deal with it very seriously. Ashley Cole is under contract to Arsenal until 2007. He is our player and we intend to make sure he remains our player.”

A Chelsea spokesman denied the story, but the newspaper claimed to have a sworn affidavit from a businessman who allegedly saw Kenyon, Mourinho, Zahavi and Cole emerge from the private Green Room at the Royal Park hotel.

Cole is understood to earn around £27,000 a week at Highbury, but is aware that Frank Lampard and John Terry, his fellow England players at Chelsea, are on up to three times that figure at Stamford Bridge. It is thought that he believes the Highbury club’s wage structure makes it difficult for Arsène Wenger’s team to keep pace with Chelsea, who are 10 points clear at the top of the Barclays Premiership.

Premier League rule K3 forbids clubs from talking to players under contract elsewhere, unless they have that club’s permission. It states: “Any club which by itself, by any of its players, by its agent, by any other person on its behalf, or by any other means whatsoever, makes an approach either directly or indirectly to a contract player shall be in breach of these rules and may be dealt with under the provisions of Section R (disciplinary procedures).”

It is not the first time Kenyon has been caught up in a ‘tapping’ controversy. A paparazzi photographer caught him holding talks with the England coach Sven-Göran Eriksson last March, when Chelsea were still being managed by Claudio Ranieri. Kenyon claimed that the discussions, which took place at his London home, were “informal” and that Eriksson had not been offered the Chelsea job, but in the storm that followed, the Swede committed to a longer contract with the Football Association.

Last night, the Premier League said that it would regard the alleged approach as “a victimless crime” until such time as an official complaint is received. It is thought that Dein will seek more information on the allegation before deciding what Arsenal’s response should be.

There was further speculation yesterday about the future of Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, who has been linked with a £30m move to Chelsea in the summer. Admitting that he was flattered by the interest, Gerrard said: “I’ll sit down at the end of the season and assess my future.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2093-1463061,00.html

eirebhoy

“Ashley Cole is the best English defender. We’ll buy two – one left-sided defender, because I only have one, and another player.

“The defender has to be good to join our squad. About the other, it has to be a great player. We are already scouting half-a-dozen of them, who are the best in the world, because only they have the ability to join a super, balanced squad like ours.”

I'm sure the bit in bold was taken out of context but still looks like he'll go for him.

SteM

Can Chelesa be docked points if it's proved they have tapped up Cole or will it just be a fine?

The Muppet

SteM wrote:

Can Chelesa be docked points if it's proved they have tapped up Cole or will it just be a fine?

I don't know but they shouldn't be. The League should be won on the pitch and not in Soho square or wherever such decisions are made.

SteM

The Muppet wrote:

I don't know but they shouldn't be. The League should be won on the pitch and not in Soho square or wherever such decisions are made.

Yeah, I understand that. But if it's true then a team with such wealth as Chelsea need to be shown that this sort of thing is not allowed and a fine would be no deterrent at all.

SCULLY

SteM wrote:

Yeah, I understand that. But if it's true then a team with such wealth as Chelsea need to be shown that this sort of thing is not allowed and a fine would be no deterrent at all.

I don't know that the current rules allow for points deduction for tapping up a player. If it does , then any team found guilty should be deducted points. But if the rules only allow for a fine, you can't then say well, this team is really rich so lets deduct them points instead. The penalty, points or fines, have to be the same across the board.

SteM

SCULLY wrote:

But if the rules only allow for a fine, you can't then say well, this team is really rich so lets deduct them points instead. The penalty, points or fines, have to be the same across the board.

Yeah, that's why I asked if anyone knew what the rules were. I don't want points deducted just because we're talking about Chelsea.

SCULLY

SteM wrote:

Yeah, that's why I asked if anyone knew what the rules were. I don't want points deducted just because we're talking about Chelsea.

Fair enough..my bad!

d22ontour

chelsea shouldn't be docked points, almost every club from professional down to schoolboy level has tapped up and continues to tap up players

it is part of football and will continue to be

Praetorian

Gwan, dock Chelsea 20 points to give the rest of the PL a chance

Dewey

I think the one person getting of lightly here is Cole himself. The hole talk is about Chelsea but i'm sure there wasnt a gun being held to Cole's head that forced him to the meeting. If i was a Arsenal fan i would be worried. The one thing you dont wont to do is sell your best players........and not to rivals Chelsea.
I would be shocked if Chelsea were deducted points but i wouldnt mind seeing if happen.......give Man U a chance to back the Prem.

astrofool

it would also bring arsenal right back into it...

case n basket

Cole has 2 years left on his contract so if Chelsea wanted to buy him they'd have to pay top dollar.

Clichy is a good replacement and the money received from selling him could be used to buy much needed reinforcements elsewhere.

Hildebrand, Kuffour, Van Bommel - all on a free this summer. Anyone?

smuckers

Like Arsenal didn't have a word or two in Cambell's ear when he was negotiating a new contract with Spurs.

The Muppet

smuckers wrote:

Like Arsenal didn't have a word or two in Cambell's ear when he was negotiating a new contract with Spurs.

Exactly, like it or not most clubs are guilty of it. I don't believe Chelsea will be docked points as they have not gained any advantage on the pitch by their actions and so should not be deducted points. If they are deducted points it devalues the competition and makes it not worth winning this season IMHO.


AS Dewey said Arsenal fans must be gutted at Coles disloyalty though. They had a record breaking team which slowly appears to be disintegrating with Reyes on the way out as well. If they do sell Cole what message will that sent the likes of Henry and Viera not that I blame Cole for showing ambition in wishing to move on a better contract to a bigger Club .

PHB

Reyes is on his way out? Says who?

joe.

The Irish Mirror says he's unsettled and unhappy. He can't adjust to premiership style and he can't convince his family to move to London. He was also dropped by Aragones for the Spain squad.

Big Ears

joe. wrote:

The Irish Mirror says he's unsettled and unhappy. He can't adjust to premiership style and he can't convince his family to move to London.

So he is finally settled is happy , has adjusted to the Premiership style and has convinced his family to move to London . Good to here .

joe.

Yes i know

The Muppet

joe. wrote:

Yes i know

If I had been quoting the Mirror I would have acknowledged it. I posted a similar comment about reyes earlier this week. Arsen Wenger has released a statement admitting that the story about Reyes being unsettled is True.

eirebhoy

astrofool wrote:

it would also bring arsenal right back into it...

haha, good point. Who's to say Cole isn't doing this to get Chelsea punished?

The Muppet

eirebhoy wrote:

haha, good point. Who's to say Cole isn't doing this to get Chelsea punished?

Are you saying that Arsenal FC are conspiring with the rule enforcers to gain an unfair advantage in their chase for the premiership by getting one of their main rival punished unfairly. That's an Intersting theory and could explain another recent scenario. However I doubt vey much if that the case.

I'd say Chelsea are just getting their summer business lined up early. They already have Gerrad in the bag and are now moving to the final piece of the jigsaw which is a left back to replace Bridge. ie Ashley Cole.

PHB

Chelsea are still missing one final piece of the jigswa, and tahts a world class goal poacher.

Adriano for 60 mill anybody?

p.s. Who is gerrard going to replace if he is brought in?
Makelele has another 2/3 years on him and gerrrard can't do his job.

Tiago or Lampard? Both adored by Mourinho

Chucky the tree

gerrard would find himself warming the bench for the season. no way will he take makelele place(he certainly wont do a good enough job) and icant see lampard taking kindly to gerrard taking his palce aswell.

i still think they will buy him, but its a foolish move for him i feel. he would be better off going to real.

David19

Wouldn't gerrard easily replace tiago? Adriano would be a brilliant signing for chelsea. He'd be well suited to the premiership i think.

PHB

Tiago imo is ahead of Lampard in the pecking order for Mourinho.
He controls the game with Makelele like Keano and Scholes do for United.

I still feel Gerrard might eventually come to united, althought I expect Real to get him

Chucky the tree

PHB wrote:

Tiago imo is ahead of Lampard in the pecking order for Mourinho.
He controls the game with Makelele like Keano and Scholes do for United.

I still feel Gerrard might eventually come to united, althought I expect Real to get him

i would be very supirsed if he went to united. barring the fact he hates them. They are not the top team anymore. He wants to go to a club where he can win things.

Chelsea are in a better position to do this since they have more money to spend then united. Also real have the money to spend aswell. I am not sure united do have the same spending power as those two.

Robben picked chelsea over united because he felt they were in a better position to win things. I feel gerrard feels the same.

KdjaCL

Chucky the tree wrote:

i barring the fact he hates them.

Robben picked chelsea over united because he felt they were in a better position to win things

LOL he hates them , just like Smith did? Oh Robben signing for Chelsea was nothing to do with his wages there were twice what Utd offered?


You honestly belive footballers hate other clubs and choose to win things over cold hard cash?
€€€€€ £££££ <insert currency symbol here>

kdjac

Big Ears

The Muppet wrote:

Are you saying that Arsenal FC are conspiring with the rule enforcers to gain an unfair advantage in their chase for the premiership by getting one of their main rival punished unfairly. That's an Intersting theory and could explain another recent scenario.

no doubt David Dein is involved .

Big Ears

PHB wrote:

Tiago imo is ahead of Lampard in the pecking order for Mourinho.
He controls the game with Makelele like Keano and Scholes do for United.

I still feel Gerrard might eventually come to united, althought I expect Real to get him

Im not so sure if Tiago is ahead , as when Smertin got back from injury Mourinho was seeing if he would force Tiago out of the side(opinion) , as Tiago was dropped for Smertin .

Gerrard would not leave for United as if he leaves he will want to go to a club that can win things , this is why he wouldn't go to Madrid either .

Its Chelsea or Barca and I don't think Barca want him .

The Muppet

PHB wrote:

I still feel Gerrard might eventually come to united, althought I expect Real to get him

Its not going to happen . His move to Chelski is a done deal.

Big Ears wrote:

no doubt David Dein is involved .

Now you have it but it was Eirebhoys theory not mine, You know Big Ears you're showing definite potential of late. apart for the "Gerrard wants to move to a club that can win things so won't go to United" comment .

PHB

I hear this but I've yet to hear it from anything but, seriously its a done deal etc bull****.
until a reliable source says so or the clubs say so, its still just rumour bull****.

---

I don't think players pick cash first.
I think they say, well both these teams are gona be good, both have a huge future, then after that cash comes into player.

Robben went to Utd well before Mourinho was coming in and Chelsea weren't looking any better than Utd or Arsenal, it was the cash.

Gerrard I feel doesn't care that much about cash, since hes on a ****load already and what he really wants is to win trophys.
Where the best place to do that is as always an intersting question

Will he get his game for Chelsea? In the long run yes, in the short term I think not.
Will he get his game for Real Madrid, yes he will be the next generation of real madrid who have infinite money, a hot climate, and play fun football
Will he get his game for Man Utd, yes? He will be viewed there as the replacement for Roy Keane.
Will he get his game for Arsenal, yes? But they can't afford him.

The Muppet

PHB wrote:

I hear this but I've yet to hear it from anything but, seriously its a done deal etc bull****.
until a reliable source says so or the clubs say so, its still just rumour bull****.

You'll just have to wait until the summer then for the official announcment.

Chucky the tree

KdjaC wrote:

LOL he hates them , just like Smith did? Oh Robben signing for Chelsea was nothing to do with his wages there were twice what Utd offered?


You honestly belive footballers hate other clubs and choose to win things over cold hard cash?
€€€€€ £££££ <insert currency symbol here>

kdjac

if united were streaks ahead of chelsea he would sign for them yes. But they are behind chelsea. So for that reason he is more inclined to chelsea, also the hate he hates united would certainly tip it in chelseas favour.

and yes i do believe there are clubs certain players would never sign for.

Smith had no choice, it was either united or some mid-placed premership team. But gerrard does have a choice between all the top sides.

smuckers

Gerrard replaces Tiago on the right in a 3-man mid.

Big Ears

smuckers wrote:

Gerrard replaces Tiago on the right in a 3-man mid.

simple as .

Scott Parker leaves to join mid-table team .

PHB

YOu think Tiago will set on the bench for a season? Not a chance in hell, if Gerrard takes his spot he's going back to iberia.

The Muppet

Big Ears wrote:

simple as .

Scott Parker leaves to join mid-table team .

I'd like to see United try get Parker But I wouldn't be surprised if he moved to Liverpool as part of the Gerrard deal. Granted he has done very little at Chelsea but I still think given a decent chance he has the ability to be an excellent player.

PHB

Parkers good but isn't that good imo, amazing for a midtable side, personally I think theres better options out there, and I'm sure fergie does too

eirebhoy

PHB wrote:

Parkers good but isn't that good imo, amazing for a midtable side, personally I think theres better options out there, and I'm sure fergie does too

Parker has the potential to be just as good as Gerrard although he's certainly not going to fulfill that with Chelsea.

The Muppet

eirebhoy wrote:

Parker has the potential to be just as good as Gerrard although he's certainly not going to fulfill that with Chelsea.

That is also my opinion of Parker. If United could get him in the summer he would have a year or two working/playing with Keane to bring that potential out of him. I don't think that's likely to happen but you never know.

The Muppet

Back On topic. The premiership have announced that they are to inverstigate these allegations .
Premiership announce investigation

CHELSEA SCANDAL: We reveal proof that will rock soccer

Dossier of shame

By Ryan Sabey
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sto...ews/news1.shtml
A DAMNING dossier that PROVES Chelsea illegally "tapped-up" Arsenal ace Ashley Cole was handed to soccer chiefs by the News of the World yesterday.

We revealed details of the scandal last week. They have rocked football to its foundations.

And those details, along with evidence we have gathered since, could lead to runaway Premiership leaders Chelsea being docked crucial points.

We can PROVE Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, manager Jose Mourinho, England star Cole, his agent Jon Barnett and soccer "super-agent" Pini Zahavi met ten days ago at the hotel caught up in Chelsea's lies—the Royal Park in Lancaster Gate, west London.

The evidence we passed on to the Premiership chiefs includes:

An admission from a manager at the Royal Park Hotel that the extraordinary meeting DID take place.

A sworn account from a football fan who saw the party leave the meeting room.

Evidence that Zahavi paid for the group's drinks on his own credit card before he left the meeting.

Our undercover investigator spoke to a manager at the Royal Park last Saturday, posing as a Chelsea official trying to pay the bill for the meeting two days earlier on January 27.

She immediately revealed Zahavi, Kenyon, Mourinho and Barnett were at the meeting.

Other inquiries have revealed England left-back Cole, 24, was also there.

The manager said Zahavi was given the Green Room free of charge for two hours. First we asked who paid for the room.

NoW: Did you make the invoice to Peter or to Chelsea or was it Jon?

MANAGER: I believe it was all done by Pini Zahavi actually because he was the one who booked it.

NoW: Oh right.

M: I've known Pini for many years and the meeting room itself was complimentary. Everything else was settled on his credit card I believe.

NoW: Right.

M: Or I can check and call you back?

NoW: Can I call you, what, in ten minutes?

M: Yes, absolutely.

Ten minutes later...

NoW: Are we talking about the same day because we had three meetings this week. Are we talking about Thursday?

M: We are talking about Thursday afternoon, yeah.

NoW: Yeah. Right, so there was no charge for the room?

M: No charge for the room.

NoW: Right.

M: I am just looking to find out...

NoW: Was Peter at the meeting, Peter Kenyon?

M: Yes he was.

NoW: Jon Barnett?

M: Yes.

NoW: And...

M: Jose...Mourinho.

Now: Yeah.

M: And Pini Zahavi.

The conversation continued with the manager admitting that Zahavi paid for drinks on his credit card, proving he was present.

NoW: So there was no charge. Right. I need to put it through today. What will I do, just charge it for drinks?

M: They only had teas and coffees. I'm not quite sure where we charged it to, to be honest.

NoW: I'm not too bothered about that because Pini would put it through, through their credit card slip. What time did they finish?

M: It must have been about four o'clock.

NoW: So they started at two?

M: Yeah.

NoW: And finished at four. So you don't know roughly what the charges were, no?

M: No I don't.

NoW: Ok don't worry about that, I'll speak to Pini. I'll get him on the mobile. All right, thanks, I'm sorry to disturb you, thanks for your help. Bye.

When we approached the manager yesterday, telling her she had made vital admissions to the News of the World, she begged us not to identify her, saying she would lose her job. We agreed to hide her name because she is an innocent party.

After the meeting Mourinho, Kenyon and Cole were spotted leaving by a football fan. The shocked fan, who actually supports Chelsea, said: "I was gob-smacked. It was unbelievable.

"I had to do a double-take but there's no doubt it was them."

Chelsea have failed to come clean on the story all week but our witness has sworn and signed an affidavit before a lawyer which says:

I saw Jose Mourinho, Peter Kenyon and Ashley Cole emerging from the boardroom at Royal Park Hotel, Lancaster Gate, at approximately 3.50pm on Thursday, January 27.

I had been at the hotel since 3.15pm preparing for my own meeting in the room. I did not see them arrive.

I became concerned that the people in the room had overrun and were delaying my meeting so I asked my personal assistant to check on how much longer they would be. As we were approaching the room, Mourinho, Kenyon and Cole came out. They had clearly been meeting together.

I have no doubt that the three people I saw were Mourinho, Kenyon and Cole.

Kenyon and Mourinho left in a black Range Rover with blacked out windows. I did not see Cole leave.

Our evidence proves the meeting was in clear breach of Premier League Rule K3, which states: "Any club which by itself, by any of its players, by its agent, by any other person on its behalf, makes an approach either directly or indirectly to a contract player shall be in breach of these rules and may be dealt with under the provisions of Section R."

Section R covers disciplinary procedures, including the docking of points.

Perfect

After reading our story last week, Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood said Chelsea should be docked points.

He said: "The Premier League rules are very clear. If the club is presented with evidence that those rules have been contravened I'm sure we will take the matter further."

Despite the evidence Chelsea, who celebrate their centenary next season, maintain there was no such meeting.

Asked on Sky Sports whether he had made any contact with Cole, boss Mourinho said: "I can tell you that is not true.

"Every player or any agent trying to improve the situation of his players is always connected with Chelsea."

He added: "On Thursday I flew to Milan, so I couldn't be with Ashley Cole."

Chelsea chief Kenyon refused to deny making an illegal bid for Cole on BBC Radio 5 Live.

He said: "We're not going to add to the speculation. We can't knock back every story. We don't want to debate it further because that's club policy."

He added: "I think we conduct ourselves in the right manner, we certainly don't view ourselves as above the law."

Arsenals reluctance to pursue Chelsea over these claims is strange. I wonder are they in negotiations with Chelsea to sell Cole and was this a mutually agreed meeting for cole to discuss terms. I have no evidence of this but something doesn't sound right to me.

<edit>
Just read the Sky link above and Arsenal have requested that investigation so my theory looks to be wide of the mark. </edit>

David19

There was a good quote from Arsene Wenger in the observer today:

"I know how the transfer market works. I'm not stupid enough to believe people don't speak to players. I think everyone does it..."

This was from 18 August 2001. Says it all really.

The Muppet

David19 wrote:

There was a good quote from Arsene Wenger in the observer today:

"I know how the transfer market works. I'm not stupid enough to believe people don't speak to players. I think everyone does it..."

This was from 18 August 2001. Says it all really.

On reflection my opinion on the seriousness of these allegations are changing. We all assume that tapping of players takes place by most clubs and is pretty much accepted as the norm and if it were only that I don't think chelsea should be punished too harshly.

That said in this case we have to remember that in a few weeks time Arsenal will be playing chelsea in what possibly could be a title decider. It would be very wrong if Arsenal fielded Cole not knowing that he had already agreed to sign for chelsea in the following weeks. I am not suggesting that Chelsea are involved in anything sinister or that Cole would be anything other than professional and do his best for the Gunners but this clandestine dealings would leave them vulnerable to such suspicions.

smuckers

I think Parker is being groomed for when Maka retires, only gripe about SP is that he has a very limited passing range, Tiago is still an enigma.

Chucky the tree

The Muppet wrote:

I'd like to see United try get Parker But I wouldn't be surprised if he moved to Liverpool as part of the Gerrard deal. Granted he has done very little at Chelsea but I still think given a decent chance he has the ability to be an excellent player.

i was hoping that would happen if gerrard leave. 30 odd million and parker in return would be great i think.

I dont think he would have the presence of a keane or gerrard for a team though, but that might grow.