youlots

Again...and for those of so little faith... The DRC decision will not be upheld by the CAS as the enabling statutes of FIFA simply do not provide it with the authority given all the circumstances of the matter to pronounce sentence on Chels & to levy the sanctions brought down. Of equal & perhaps surpassing (and imo rather telling) interest is the fact that notwithstanding the sheer magnitude of the matter/decision and the consequences for each and every club and association (which FIFA would have acutely anticipated), the DRC/FIFA elected to only communicate its decision and not the reasons for its decision at one and the same time. Perhaps the DRC/FIFA held the rather feckless view that in so electing we may just swallow the decision/sanctions without immediately appealing & requesting (within the mandatory three day period from the service/publication of the decision) that the DRC to provide its reasons for the decision (which the DRC must then do within 14 days of any such request): That is, perhaps FIFA thought that in all the likely consternation & media storm that the three days would slip by without us lodging an appeal (notwithstanding that at that time and at the time of writing) DRC/FIFA have still not released its reasons for decision. Quite apart from the transparent ultra vires aspects of the decision, the sheer lack of procedural fairness shown to us by the DRC together with the clear elements of apprehended bias (given the providence of the Members of the material DRC in question), that rather underhanded election is very significant for what it says about FIFA (and its cohort UEFA) and how they operate when it comes to Chels. Someone on another thread has neatly summarised the "history" of our dealings with UEFA since 2004 which was timely in all the circumstances: especially the manufactured "silence" by UEFA concerning the subsequent revelation that Sideshow Bob had visited the ref at half time at the Nou Camp and of course concerning the performance of Ovrebo. No doubt the DRC are in the current process of cobbling together those reasons. Like us all (and for us lawyers especially) I can't wait to read and digest same and then drive a convoy through same. And to those precious few of you on this site (and thank God there are only a few who seem to be jcls in any event) who seemingly wax and wane depending on what the press drivel up from day to day and somewhat tiresomely are more concerned with our "good name" or the alleged "damage" that all this is doing to Chels in the greater scheme of things or "society", as opposed to offering any real insight or objective analysis concerning all of this (or some of our players for that matter) & all the while bleating their bourgy moral opprobrium or attempts at character assassination at every opportunity/with every post, do me and the rest of us a favour and f**k off once and for all. As Frank said today - all this will only make us stronger.

Confident that CAS will quash the DRC decision. In circumstances where Lens were unable to have Kakuta execute a professional contract because of his age I assume that any agreement executed as between the club and Kakuta (but more probably his parents) was in reality just some form of training agreement only. Prior to his 16th birthday, Chels offered him a scholarship and contract when he turned 16 on the basis that Kakuta was a free agent (in circumstances where he had not signed and could not sign with Lens). Kakuta accepted and subsequently signed a contract with us when he turned 16. Only after Kakuta signed the contract with Chels did Lens turn up cap in hand seeking a transfer fee in excess of $4 million euros. Lens were offered less than a million as a gesture of good will from Chels for training the boy. If there was no enforceable contract as between Lens and Kakuta (in circumstances where there couldn't be because of the age requirement) any notion that a transfer fee (regardless of valuation) was material would be irrelevant. Quite simply, given the circumstances the DRC had and has no jurisdiction under it enabling acts to levy any form of sanction against Chels whatsoever. Oh, and even if did FIFA have the jurisdiction in this particular instance, it has hardly (and against its very own express stipulations) applied any procedural fairness to the matter at all. Also, as far as apprehension of bias is concerned, the DRC decision was brought down by two french members! Poor old FIFA & its aptly named star chamber - couldn't even be bothered to try and hide behind the cloak of impartiality. UEFA, FIFA - same anti-Chels sh*t, just the latest version.

People can be so unkind: just because he dyes his roots black...

Christ here we go again. First, he's always had attitude on the pitch and has mostly always been tireless on the paddock. So no liability on the pitch at all. Secondly, so at times he's a bit mouthy to the press - given the above so what. Thirdly, there are a lot on here mate that would never & have never called him a c**t so you show you're ignorance there. So who gives a toss about your personal attitude towards forgiveness.

Agree with that - & Ferguson may not want to wait till January.

And kiss goodbye/hand 4th CL spot to City

Got up for it - Ireland somewhat anemic weren't they. Cahill makes such a difference for us and the toffees. Screamer from Carney and glad for him (know him). Our FIFA rating of 16th is overly generous but hey, 2nd to qualify for South Africa ain't too bad. All to do for Ireland now - hope thay get there though.

And the irony is comprised of what exactly?

:)

Thanks for that Jock - cards on the table.

E2 Loz: entered

Jose just being Jose.

Also have to agree with Chippy on this - and don't want to lose Alex simply because Ricky might be a bit of a lottery this year with further injuries. And I don't think that Ivanovic is nearly as solid yet as Alex.

Agree with that Brit and think our signings are over as well. I mean Athletico will probably hold out for say 50 or even 60 for Aguero won't they & I can't see Roman paying that amount for him atm. I think we've done reasonably well relative to the other three & given what amounts City and Real have been spending.

Well at least they're consistent....

Guardian predicts the filth for 1st and Chels for 2nd. For the last 3 years their prediction for 1st has been wrong. Poor old Guardian.

Thank you Mr Berlusconi for doing your bit to end this saga/thread.

Still using XP; wouldn't & haven't tried Vista because of all the problems. Windows 7 may turn out (and from all reports sounds like) it may save Microsoft. But for a number of reasons I'll be going to a Mac soon because my patience with Microsoft has reached an end: all the constant f**kin upgrades you have to do, the configuration/performance problems you get whilst using other software/periphery software (malware/spyware/antivrus/whateverware) that you have to run. I'm just over Microsoft's continuing corporate arrogance/blinkered thinking that the consumer will continue to buy its products even when there are lots of problems with them or in circumstances where they've obviously been released into the market prematurely. The latest example is IE8 - what a dog - caused all sorts of stability problems for my system so I had to reinstal IE7. Thank God Mac finally saw the light and went with Intel & now, if you really need to, you can run Windows XP on Mac side by side with Leopard.

A12

Who was "slagging him off" sal?

When Grant took over after the 6th round we were equal 4th (or 5th on goal difference) with Manure on 11 points. Le Arse on 14 points were lying 2nd (on goal difference) behind the filth who was 1st. City were 2nd. So Chels was 3 points or a win from the top. Hardly an indecent amount of points you'd have to say. Then in Grant's first game we lost to Manure 2-0 and then we dropped to 6th.

Back from the dead?!? Perhaps I'm mistaken but I can't seem to recall that when he took over we were in the bottom three or anywhere near it. Perhaps I am mistaken after all....Certainly brought Chippy back though...

Matthew Syed - the same journalist that wrote that hackneyed one-eyed vituperative piece on Ricky Ponting just a few weeks back. Seemingly these days to be shortlisted or win some journo gong in Britain or elsewhere for that matter you can forget all about balance, objectivity and checking the facts: If it makes you feel any better, I notice that the Times have already "buried" the article in question from its football section (I had to do a search for it) - so much for sports journalist of the year! Loved the bit about how he admits that questions of loyalty wouldn't or doesn't apply to him and, therefore, that Terry's statement is disingenuous. How the f**k would he know unless he ran it past Terry and questioned him on the statement and all of the surrounding context and sought, within the article, to put Terry's point of view? Not that he'll ever seemingly get the chance to do that as far as any future articles concerning JT are concerned I would've have thought. I seriously doubt that any Chels player will ever give him the time of day from this day forward. No doubt it will dawn on him that writing these types of articles for long enough can make you a very lonely figure at the end of the day. Such is the fate of the coward who constantly snipes from the sidelines.

We have a delayed broadcast on ESPN down here (east coast Oz) at 3.00 pm instead of being able to watch it live at 10.00 am. A bit annoying really as ESPN broadcast the Inter game live. Forlorn hope that the commentating might be a bit better than it was for the Inter match - got so jack of it the other day I muted the tv at about the 30 minute mark of the first half.

Obviously he's learnt a thing or two from Drogs & ors : today I love my club, tomorrow I want to leave....fickle bar stewards the lot of em and as you say Andy, it all seems to coincide at a time when no one else wants them. Maybe we should run a comp.: predict when Deco next puts out that he wants to leave (again) - maybe Loz et al could get another signed Deco shirt for the winner of the comp.