They have beaten me

[just]

Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini, William Galliard, UEFA's Executive Committee, UEFA's Diciplinary Committee, UEFA's Official's Committee, Leeds V Milan '73, Anderlecht V Forest '84, The Serie A Doping Scandal, The 2005 Bundesliga bribery scandal, The 2005 Serie B scandal, The 2006 Serie A refeering scandal, The Far Eastern betting syndicates, Markus Merk, Anders Frisk, Dag_Roger Nebben, Geir Age Masovn and finally, the straw that broke the camel's back, Mr. Tom Henning Ovrebo.

You have won. I am beaten. I can't watch football anymore that is that suspect. The only european competition I will watch from here on is the Eurovision Song Contest. At least there is no pretence. We all know that it is rigged.

Liam, I don't know if you've been on the forums tonight, (I have just got back from the latest CL blockbuster show). But I will make you a sincere offer. I am one of the 926 members of Chelsea's Euro Away Scheme. Next season it is going to cost me £50 to stay in it and for that money I am guaranteed a ticket for each and every away game in the CL. After tonight, I have decided I will not be going to any more CL games home or away. But I know you have always believed the integrity of UEFA, it's match officials and the CL competition as a whole is beyond reproach. I would therefore like to offer you the chance to get UEFA CL tickets and have the option to go to all these games for a mere £50. I would ask but one small favour in return. Ring up UEFA tomorrow and ask who's going to be in next year's final.

[Nibs]

Emotions ran very high last night. Fair play to you Just for posting, 'cos when I got back from The Bridge last night I just went straight to bed - not that I slept too well.

Maybe he was just a crap ref? He may well have been told not to give any penalties to us if he could avoid it, but he did reduce them to 10 men when he really didn't have to and but for that Iniesta strike we would now be in Rome. So I don't really buy the old conspiracy theory.

Anyone got any good links to all the penaltiy calls - I did try one earlier (rapidshare) but it wouldn't open.

[c3blu]

I dont think he ment to bring down Anelka and it was a harsh decision to send him off but he was last man and he cought him so he had to go. That does'nt excuse the penalty claims, and thats the thing not 1,2,3 but 4 stone wall penelties. Let me say that again 4 STONE WALL PENELTIES. I watched with amusement Michele Platini kick and chase every ball in the first leg like a life long Barcalona fan, now i feel sick.

The FA should pull Man U out of the final, instead of us being banned from Europe we should boycot it. Last night was a f**king disgrace......................a f**king disgrace.

[Mike O]

I've not posted yet on all this, mainly I spent most of last night consolling a 12 year lad who had just been confronted, for the first time, with corruption - what it means, how it feels and how it sucks the life out of everything it touches.

I woke last night about 4.00 with a perfectly formed plan for how CFC should approach the Champions League next season.

Firstly - qualify

Secondly - win all the group matches. Win them in style, without bitching, diving, cheating etc. Allow some of the rest of the football world lto try and love us

Thirdly - win the last 16 and the quarters

But then, when we reach the semis again for the 6th time in 7 years and the audience figures are in their billions, and when idiot journos the world over can peddle out their tired cliches, facile observations and barely disguised loathings...

We take to the field...

We line up for the cameras...

We win / lose the toss...

We wait for the opening whistle...

And then we (the team)...

Sit down.

And for the next 90 minutes we just sit there, we let the opposition put 200+ goals past us, we have a chat, we laugh, we stay silent, whatever. Our fans will have been primed to come to a rally, not a football match and seats will be free...

And after 90 minutes, we get up and go home.

If football is corrupt, if UEFA are corrupt - and I don't think we'll get much disagreement on this one - then let's protest about it in a way that will embarrass them to the utmost. Yes, it will make a farce of the whole competition, yes it will discredit football, yes, we'll be hated for it...

But it will be right. And not illegal. And Platini and his minions will be shamed.

F**k 'em all

Edited May 7, 2009 by ethicalstrategy

[c3blu]

Good idea, because nothing we say or do will have any affect. We need to embarass them in public, in front of the world to highlight how currupt UEFA are.

[bennyboy1976]

Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini, William Galliard, UEFA's Executive Committee, UEFA's Diciplinary Committee, UEFA's Official's Committee, Leeds V Milan '73, Anderlecht V Forest '84, The Serie A Doping Scandal, The 2005 Bundesliga bribery scandal, The 2005 Serie B scandal, The 2006 Serie A refeering scandal, The Far Eastern betting syndicates, Markus Merk, Anders Frisk, Dag_Roger Nebben, Geir Age Masovn and finally, the straw that broke the camel's back, Mr. Tom Henning Ovrebo.

You have won. I am beaten. I can't watch football anymore that is that suspect. The only european competition I will watch from here on is the Eurovision Song Contest. At least there is no pretence. We all know that it is rigged.

Liam, I don't know if you've been on the forums tonight, (I have just got back from the latest CL blockbuster show). But I will make you a sincere offer. I am one of the 926 members of Chelsea's Euro Away Scheme. Next season it is going to cost me £50 to stay in it and for that money I am guaranteed a ticket for each and every away game in the CL. After tonight, I have decided I will not be going to any more CL games home or away. But I know you have always believed the integrity of UEFA, it's match officials and the CL competition as a whole is beyond reproach. I would therefore like to offer you the chance to get UEFA CL tickets and have the option to go to all these games for a mere £50. I would ask but one small favour in return. Ring up UEFA tomorrow and ask who's going to be in next year's final.

Just, my sentiments exactly. Until UEFA are sorted out that will be my last champions league game too.

[Valerie]

And then we (the team)...

Sit down.

And for the next 90 minutes we just sit there, we let the opposition put 200+ goals past us, we have a chat, we laugh, we stay silent, whatever. Our fans will have been primed to come to a rally, not a football match and seats will be free...

And after 90 minutes, we get up and go home.

Oh, I can picture it now, I love it ;) Will we serve drinks and nibbles?

[Tim]

I still don't know what to say. I am completely and utterly broken, couldn't sleep, can't seem to get the replays of the penalties out of my mind.

I swore I wouldn't come on the forum for a few days as it is just too much, but this seems to be the only safe haven. I havent' even read the press reports as if anyone of them even tries to claim that they weren't penalties, or that we weren't denied a place in the final by a f**king disgrace of a ref, then I worry about how I will react.

It's games like that that make you wonder why you bother with football. I could have handled losing 2-0, fair and square, but to go out like that is just too hard to take. Getting everyone up for Sunday will be a f**king hard task for Guus and Co.

I just feel so so sorry for our older players, as they have been robbed of the chance to get the CL trophy and that may be their last realistic chance of doing so.

[bonetti]

Just, Mike O - I feel the same way

I am sick of being conned, mugged and robbed by what used to be football and now is just pure business.

I consider myself to be a supporter but these bar stewards just see me as a revenue stream

Enough is enough

[Mod]

With what happened last night, I would expect to see us go out early in next years competition regardless of how we play. UEFA can pick and kick who they want staying in this competition, it almost seems pointless being in it!

[blizeH]

I'd rather embarrass them by winning it next season to be honest. f**k 'em.

[Tea Bar Boy]

I'd rather embarrass them by winning it next season to be honest. f**k 'em.

We are not allowed to win it that's the whole point . We are not in the magic circle of clubs who can .

Maybe we could set up our own European Cup with other non members of the magic circle ?

[Mr Chelsea]

I'd rather embarrass them by winning it next season to be honest. f**k 'em.

;)

then get JT go and shove the trophy up platini's arse

[Dorset]

I sympathise Just [great post too, Mike] and there really is very little to add, but here goes anyway…

Indifference swept over me with the Sky Sports experts still in full flow. To my surprise it happened at the very moment Ruud tried to move on from last night’s game and welcomed ‘the great contest’ in Rome that could now be set before the viewing public. Unexpectedly short lived sadness [for Chelsea] from Gullit contrasted with the impressive Graeme Souness, who refused to let Tom Henning Ovrebo’s disgraceful performance fade so easily and ploughed on with ever mounting criticism. Credit to him, for I found myself clean out of pent up incredulity for the referee by then and had already drifted into a strange mixture of apathy and loathing not for the stooge in charge, but for the Michel Platini driven UEFA that had seen fit to put him there in the first place.

In the years that we have travelled along UEFA’s Champions League road Chelsea have evolved from naïve new boy to boorish bad boy and right on through to dutifully-paid-dues boy. Missing chance after chance to put our stamp on their competition, UEFA has recognised our development, but, especially under its current leadership, it has never held us in high regard. They now see CFC as the epitome of all that is wrong in their competition - an immovable, rouble rich and dominant newcomer in Europe’s midst that has disturbed the status quo and destabilised other traditional forces in the English games. Much worse, these traditional powerbases, challenged domestically, have had to respond and have thereby become part of UEFA’s perceived English Premier League ‘problem’, incurring massive debt and gobbling up squad loads of foreign talent along the way.

How ironic, then, that the first real UEFA controversy on Platini’s watch should feature such obvious disregard for the rules of the game by an individual hell bent on pleasing his paymaster. A foul inside the box is deemed to be outside, handballs are deemed to be something else, and all because Michael Essien scored an unarguable goal that left the officials with the best part of eighty minutes to steer the game clear of a second goal for the home team. Sadly for UEFA, that time span, together with Chelsea’s insistence in the penalty box, meant that there were five possible penalty claims, four of which were really probable and, of these, three actually snuck into the category of being so clear cut as to be embarrassingly damning in any match fixing enquiry.

Yet there will never be one and the only recall of events by UEFA is likely to concentrate on the punishment fitting our crimes rather than anything prompting the incitement to riotous behaviour. All we have to look forward to is a slight period of delay after the ‘unfair’ pressure being put on the officials, followed by the death threat investigation being dropped and, at best, an early retirement for the Norwegian. The Telegraph is already asking for a ban on Chelsea, which would be fine by me in my present state of apathy… although thinking about it, there must even be a strong argument for us to jump before being pushed because, if I were in Roman’s shoes, I’d now find it difficult to muster much enthusiasm for a competition so lacking in integrity in every way.

[Liam]

Great post as usual Just.

I have to decline your kind offer however as I am hoping you will change your mind. I do accept that your feelings are the logical conclusion of your belief that there is corruption in the game. Belief in that would certainly preclude attendance at matches - there simply would be no point.

We were done last night there is no doubt. Done by the extreme incompetence of the referee. But what about last year? Why did they let us get so close to winning last year? Did JT fluff his lines or was he in on the plan? Evil as UEFA are could they be so brilliant as to reduce Barcelona to 10 men and then wait until the last minute to execute their plan? TBB says we are not allowed to win the trophy. How is that belief compatible with last year's tounament.

I know you think I watch with my eyes closed and my fingers in my ear. You could be right. But in reaching a conclusion you have to be able to explain all the evidence not just the evidence which fits your predisposition. I cannot square last year's near miss or last night's for that matter with a position which states we are not allowed to win the tounament.

[nofizzleforshizzle]

The idiot did give them a red card though. We should have made use of it.

The biggest game of the cl season, and look who the f**k uefa appoint as a referee? A virtual no-name.

I am just hoping that the team isn't punished for what happened after the game ended. The c**ts at uefa will surely want to make an example of us too.

Edited May 7, 2009 by nofizzleforshizzle

[BLUENUT]

Great post as usual Just.

I have to decline your kind offer however as I am hoping you will change your mind. I do accept that your feelings are the logical conclusion of your belief that there is corruption in the game. Belief in that would certainly preclude attendance at matches - there simply would be no point.

We were done last night there is no doubt. Done by the extreme incompetence of the referee. But what about last year? Why did they let us get so close to winning last year? Did JT fluff his lines or was he in on the plan? Evil as UEFA are could they be so brilliant as to reduce Barcelona to 10 men and then wait until the last minute to execute their plan? TBB says we are not allowed to win the trophy. How is that belief compatible with last year's tounament.

I know you think I watch with my eyes closed and my fingers in my ear. You could be right. But in reaching a conclusion you have to be able to explain all the evidence not just the evidence which fits your predisposition. I cannot square last year's near miss or last night's for that matter with a position which states we are not allowed to win the tounament.

Last year was our chance, the rich Russian, in Russia for the final........a bit poetical, even for UEFA.

They weren't going to have a repeat of the same two clubs, from the same country, in the final.

The Italians and Spanish are getting fed up with it, feeling their leagues are not up to the same standard as the premiership.

1 dubious penalty claim, fair enough, 2 by half time.....not so sure....a couple of shouts for a penalty in the 2nd half and we're thinking it's dodgey, then when Anelka flicked past their player and he scooped it away with his hand, well you just have to say you think it's fixed.

I have NEVER in all my 30 years of supporting football seen a game that has had 4 stonewall penalty claims turned down for one side. Not in Sunday league football, non league football, 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th division games.

They can poke their competition

[Lofty]

They can poke their competition

From Sky Sports:

Reports suggest Ovrebo was smuggled out of the country by police on Thursday morning after receiving a number of death threats as a result of the controversy.

Uefa have confirmed they will wait for the referees' report before deciding whether any Chelsea players will face disciplinary proceedings.

A Uefa spokesman said: "We will see the report from the referee and match delegate before deciding whether to take any action or not."

Ovrebo was widely criticised by Blues boss Guus Hiddink, but Uefa have refused to comment on the official's performance.

"We never comment on the performance of the referee," added the Uefa spokesman.

My bet is they'll ban us next year's competition before we get a chance to tell them where to stick it. And no I'm not screaming "conspiracy" here. What I am doing is moaning like f**k at the sheer injustice of how we're likely to be treated compared with the slap on the wrist Italian clubs habitually get from Uefa for corruption/match fixing and the like. Never mind the pitiful fines handed out to Spanish clubs for racism, Turkish clubs going unpunished when English fans get stabbed to death, and so on and so on. This sh*t has been going on for decades.

It's not a conspiracy, they (Uefa) just don't like us. And the feeling is entirely f**king mutual.

[TheWestwayWonder]

This "having to smuggle the ref out" bullsh*t has already been blown up. The telegraph are carrying the story in their headlines, and then following it up quotes from the London Met Police that say nothing of the sort was done, and reports in Norway that say he is still in the country.

Just another excuse to put the boot in. They will definitely fine us, and probably try to do more

[BLUENUT]

From Sky Sports:

My bet is they'll ban us next year's competition before we get a chance to tell them where to stick it. And no I'm not screaming "conspiracy" here. What I am doing is moaning like f**k at the sheer injustice of how we're likely to be treated compared with the slap on the wrist Italian clubs habitually get from Uefa for corruption/match fixing and the like. Never mind the pitiful fines handed out to Spanish clubs for racism, Turkish clubs going unpunished when English fans get stabbed to death, and so on and so on. This sh*t has been going on for decades.

It's not a conspiracy, they (Uefa) just don't like us. And the feeling is entirely f**king mutual.

Gagging order on the referee, death threats.........haven't we been here before?

Last time it turned out the referee DID actually do what we'd reported and he was kept quiet by UEFA, and retired graciously because of so called death threats. This'll go the same way , i f*cking guarantee it!

We are on a charge for failing to control our player, who were unhappy with the referee and shouted at him.

What about when Barca played here last time and smashed up the visitors dressing room, did they fail to control their players?? or when they fabricated racist comments made by the groundstaff?........Oh no, that's still pending an inquiry isn't it?

[bluegraham]

Gagging order on the referee, death threats.........haven't we been here before?

Last time it turned out the referee DID actually do what we'd reported and he was kept quiet by UEFA, and retired graciously because of so called death threats. This'll go the same way , i f*cking guarantee it!

We are on a charge for failing to control our player, who were unhappy with the referee and shouted at him.

What about when Barca played here last time and smashed up the visitors dressing room, did they fail to control their players?? or when they fabricated racist comments made by the groundstaff?........Oh no, that's still pending an inquiry isn't it?

well said barcalona are a massive power in world football im sure they have a few lads working in uefa to get there thinks in there favour. mourinho had to watch the bayern munich game from the stands over barca and frisk but then it turns out that what mourinho said happened in the tunnel did happen but that was swept under the rug by uefa. they thought without mourinho on the sidelines chelsea would fall to knock bayern out. im just glad the season is almost over because if it went on any longer id fall out of love with it. bring on the f.a. cup once that is finished i dont want 2 watch another game of ball till august i feel cheated

[Star]

Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini, William Galliard, UEFA's Executive Committee, UEFA's Diciplinary Committee, UEFA's Official's Committee, Leeds V Milan '73, Anderlecht V Forest '84, The Serie A Doping Scandal, The 2005 Bundesliga bribery scandal, The 2005 Serie B scandal, The 2006 Serie A refeering scandal, The Far Eastern betting syndicates, Markus Merk, Anders Frisk, Dag_Roger Nebben, Geir Age Masovn and finally, the straw that broke the camel's back, Mr. Tom Henning Ovrebo.

You have won. I am beaten. I can't watch football anymore that is that suspect. The only european competition I will watch from here on is the Eurovision Song Contest. At least there is no pretence. We all know that it is rigged.

Liam, I don't know if you've been on the forums tonight, (I have just got back from the latest CL blockbuster show). But I will make you a sincere offer. I am one of the 926 members of Chelsea's Euro Away Scheme. Next season it is going to cost me £50 to stay in it and for that money I am guaranteed a ticket for each and every away game in the CL. After tonight, I have decided I will not be going to any more CL games home or away. But I know you have always believed the integrity of UEFA, it's match officials and the CL competition as a whole is beyond reproach. I would therefore like to offer you the chance to get UEFA CL tickets and have the option to go to all these games for a mere £50. I would ask but one small favour in return. Ring up UEFA tomorrow and ask who's going to be in next year's final.

Just, guess we all know what you feel like mate.

Just a thought though, had we had an Anfield type Champions League crowd behind us maybe just maybe the ref would have had to give us a penalty. I've not been to a home game since Boxing Day, been away but never again at home. From the Stewards to the Muppets Stamford Bridge just isn't the same anymore.

Still like you, cannot help thinking the powers that be wanted a Man Utd/Barca final.

As for Powers ... Paddy Power refunded all stakes on Chelsea today, shame Betfair didnt do the same !

[just]

Great post as usual Just.

I have to decline your kind offer however as I am hoping you will change your mind. I do accept that your feelings are the logical conclusion of your belief that there is corruption in the game. Belief in that would certainly preclude attendance at matches - there simply would be no point.

We were done last night there is no doubt. Done by the extreme incompetence of the referee. But what about last year? Why did they let us get so close to winning last year? Did JT fluff his lines or was he in on the plan? Evil as UEFA are could they be so brilliant as to reduce Barcelona to 10 men and then wait until the last minute to execute their plan? TBB says we are not allowed to win the trophy. How is that belief compatible with last year's tounament.

I know you think I watch with my eyes closed and my fingers in my ear. You could be right. But in reaching a conclusion you have to be able to explain all the evidence not just the evidence which fits your predisposition. I cannot square last year's near miss or last night's for that matter with a position which states we are not allowed to win the tounament.

Fair play Liam. I appreciate the response, but until UEFA have a fundamental change in both their mindset and actions towards English football and Chelsea in particular, I won't be going to anymore CL games. I'll stick with the FA Cup, the world's oldest cup tournament. A competition with a history, pedigree and honesty the UEFA CL can only aspire to.

This from Dorset just says everything there is to be said:

..... for I found myself clean out of pent up incredulity for the referee by then and had already drifted into a strange mixture of apathy and loathing not for the stooge in charge, but for the Michel Platini driven UEFA that had seen fit to put him there in the first place.

In the years that we have travelled along UEFA’s Champions League road Chelsea have evolved from naïve new boy to boorish bad boy and right on through to dutifully-paid-dues boy. Missing chance after chance to put our stamp on their competition, UEFA has recognised our development, but, especially under its current leadership, it has never held us in high regard. They now see CFC as the epitome of all that is wrong in their competition - an immovable, rouble rich and dominant newcomer in Europe’s midst that has disturbed the status quo and destabilised other traditional forces in the English games. Much worse, these traditional powerbases, challenged domestically, have had to respond and have thereby become part of UEFA’s perceived English Premier League ‘problem’, incurring massive debt and gobbling up squad loads of foreign talent along the way.

How ironic, then, that the first real UEFA controversy on Platini’s watch should feature such obvious disregard for the rules of the game by an individual hell bent on pleasing his paymaster. A foul inside the box is deemed to be outside, handballs are deemed to be something else, and all because Michael Essien scored an unarguable goal that left the officials with the best part of eighty minutes to steer the game clear of a second goal for the home team. Sadly for UEFA, that time span, together with Chelsea’s insistence in the penalty box, meant that there were five possible penalty claims, four of which were really probable and, of these, three actually snuck into the category of being so clear cut as to be embarrassingly damning in any match fixing enquiry.

Yet there will never be one and the only recall of events by UEFA is likely to concentrate on the punishment fitting our crimes rather than anything prompting the incitement to riotous behaviour. All we have to look forward to is a slight period of delay after the ‘unfair’ pressure being put on the officials, followed by the death threat investigation being dropped and, at best, an early retirement for the Norwegian. The Telegraph is already asking for a ban on Chelsea, which would be fine by me in my present state of apathy… although thinking about it, there must even be a strong argument for us to jump before being pushed because, if I were in Roman’s shoes, I’d now find it difficult to muster much enthusiasm for a competition so lacking in integrity in every way.

And before we are punished yet again by UEFA, let me add, if that ref had made those decisions in similar circumstances against a Turkish team or an Italian team then UEFA would really have seen a proper riot. Never mind one german player chasing the ref and a big Ivorian bloke swearing into a camera. Rampaging fans, tear gas, burning seats and water cannons would have been the order of the day. And those death threats, (haven't we heard that old UEFA chesnut somewhere before?), would perhaps have been delivered with some very real intent even before Mr Ovrebo and his mates had left the field.

Now onto conspiracies. Let me make my position clear.

Do I believe a shady bloke with a bushy moustache and a UEFA Representative badge delivered a brown paper bag with used 100 Krona notes to Mr Ovrebo for his help in influencing the result?

No I don't.

Do I think they were negligent in appointing a referee who they knew wasn't up to the job, (he has previous history with UEFA has our Mr Ovrebo), and were subsequently totally delighted with the final outcome?

Yes, yes indeed I do.

As Lofty said:

It's not a conspiracy, they (Uefa) just don't like us. And the feeling is entirely f**king mutual.

And to sum up. If someone so obviously doesn't like you, you don't keep going to their parties just to be sneered and sniped at do you?

Well I wouldn't anyway. Even if they have all the best looking birds, loads of booze and invite you every year.

[WV2 Blue]

then get JT go and shove the trophy up platini's arse

Just a couple of question's on this matter....

1-Can he do it in the centre circle at The Bridge??

2-Can he shove it up sideway's?

[just]

then get JT go and shove the trophy up platini's arse

Lovely dream but time is rapidly running out for older players like JT and Lampard.