'Restraint of Trade'
£300,000
By BlueBlood
June 1 2005
This evening, Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck confessed to being disappointed with Arsenal’s role in the ‘tapping up’ saga.
The Commission fined Cole £100,000, José Mourinho £200,000 and Chelsea £300,000, and also gave the club a suspended three point deduction which will become active if the offence is repeated in the 2005/6 season. Buck said that there would almost definitely be an appeal, that Chelsea did not feel any offence had been committed as Cole was at no point approached, and that Mourinho had been wronged because his role in the process had been minimal and no manager had ever been personally charged previously. "The Commission made it clear that Chelsea did not initiate the approach and therefore the penalty is completely disproportionate to that conclusion." But he emphasised most strongly his non-understanding as to why Arsenal had instigated the procedure. "I thought José put it most succinctly at the hearing when he was asked how he would feel if John Terry had been at a meeting with Arsenal. He said that firstly he would find out what he was unhappy about and try to put it right because he is one of our best players, and if it was a financial question he would contact Peter Kenyon and try to sort something out. "I do not see how Arsenal have benefitted from this. I have just left Ashley Cole and he looked a very unhappy young man. He clearly did not want to be here." Arsenal had demanded compensation from Chelsea which the Commission rejected, saying the two clubs must put this behind them. Their vice-chairman David Dein accepted that the whole process must now be put behind them, but Bruce Buck was not so sure this was likely. "Anything’s possible," he commented, "but given what’s happened it’s not going to be easy." Come on Chelsea, Arsenal and Ashley Cole. It is done and dusted. Forget about it and move on. The whole episode has gone on too long and is now completely laughable. However this is not going to happen because as more details get released we are going to be headlined with the fact that Ashley Cole is going to appeal using the 'restraint of trade' as his argument. Which in a way he has a point. After all us mere workers can move around from job to job, contact prospective future employers and leave a company with or without notice and be 'headhunted.' Why should footballers be any different?