Chelsea Hit Back At Portugal

[WV2 Blue]

Chelsea have hit back at Portugal's claims that they acted improperly in announcing the appointment of Luiz Felipe Scolari as their new manager.

The club made the news of Scolari's appointment public on the evening of Portugal's 2-0 win over the Czech Republic, a result that saw Portugal qualify for the quarter-final of Euro 2008.

However, they then lost the next two games against Switzerland (albeit with a weakened side) and then against Germany in the first knock-out round.

President of the Portuguese Football Federation Gilberto Madail yesterday criticised the timing of Chelsea's announcement that Scolari would succeed Avram Grant at Stamford Bridge.

"The moment Chelsea took to announce the contract with Mr Scolari was not for us very correct," said Madail.

"Maybe they could have informed us first.

"The timing of the decision showed a lack of respect. I knew when we entered the tournament that Scolari would leave. We respected his wishes. His cycle with Portugal had ended because he wanted a new experience with a club. There was nothing we could do. It was a financial issue and we couldn't match Chelsea's offer."

Now Chelsea have responded with an official statement, in which they deny any wrongdoing.

The club claim they acted "above board and correctly", and added: "It was the appropriate time for both parties to announce and it had been agreed in advance. The FPF were informed."

Scolari himself maintains that the timing of the announcement had no effect on Portugal's exit, but it isn't taking a huge leap of faith to suggest that it would not have helped.

source:http://msn.football365.com/story/0,17033,13852_3718342,00.html

[TheWestwayWonder]

Glad to see we didnt take this lying down.

It sounded like the scapegoating of a bunch of poor losers, especially considering we actually DID inform them. Not to mention the fact that it might have resulted in us LOSING critical players who were not at the EUROs, namely Essien, because we had the appearance of a sinking ship

The Portuguese need to eff off. Felipao took his licks like a man, they should learn a lesson

[Scottish-Chelsea]

Glad to see we didnt take this lying down.

It sounded like the scapegoating of a bunch of poor losers, especially considering we actually DID inform them. Not to mention the fact that it might have resulted in us LOSING critical players who were not at the EUROs, namely Essien, because we had the appearance of a sinking ship

The Portuguese need to eff off. Felipao took his licks like a man, they should learn a lesson

Why should we give a sh*te about Portugal now, we announced our manager to keep ourself in line not to keep them happy.

Well played Chelsea.

[Gem]

I agree, screw flippin' Portugal, we needed to let potential transfer targets know who our new manager was going to be before they signed for someone else :blink: Well played Chels

[Alan]

Glad to see we didnt take this lying down.

It sounded like the scapegoating of a bunch of poor losers, especially considering we actually DID inform them. Not to mention the fact that it might have resulted in us LOSING critical players who were not at the EUROs, namely Essien, because we had the appearance of a sinking ship

The Portuguese need to eff off. Felipao took his licks like a man, they should learn a lesson

My thoughts exactly TWW.

[gustyheadhunter]

its only a problem cause they got put out when they thought they were odds on favorites to win. had they of won this would never have been an issue...f**k em

[dkw]

have holland complained about ajax and van basten yet? no, must just be the tossers at portugal trying to make excuses then.