Chelsea hit w/Record fines for illegal player approach.

[SirFozzie]

From the SoccerNet story. (basically, Chelsea was guilty of an illegal approach, FA rules state you can only approach a player to switch teams without their existing team's consent in the last six months of a contract)

'Tapping' trio hit with record fines

Chelsea have been fined £300,000 and hit with a suspended three-point deduction by the Premier League after being found guilty of making an illegal approach to Ashley Cole.

The points penalty will only be imposed if Chelsea commit a similar offence during the 2005/06 season.

Cole was fined £100,000 for his compliance, despite the Premier League declaring that he had been 'manipulated to a large extent by his agent'', and Mourinho was ordered to pay £200,000 as punishment for their roles in the saga.

The Premier League stated that the financial penalty imposed on the Arsenal and England defender would mean 'it is unlikely that Ashley Cole will ever be tempted in this way again''.

An independent commission concluded that the Arsenal and England defender did meet at a London hotel with Chelsea officials, including manager Jose Mourinho, to discuss a potential transfer to Stamford Bridge.

All parties acted without Arsenal's permission, and a complaint from the Gunners in February led the Premier League to carry out a thorough investigation.

Cole jetted in from New York to hear his fate at Premier League headquarters personally, hours after playing for England in their 3-2 win over Colombia.

He was found in breach of Premier League rule K5, which prohibited him from approaching Chelsea with a view to negotiating a transfer.

Chelsea were determined to have broken rule K3, forbidding them talking to Cole by any means while under contract and without Arsenal's authority. Cole's deal still has two years left to run.

Mourinho was deemed to be in breach of rule Q, governing managers' conduct.

It was first reported in January that Cole, Mourinho and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon met at the Royal Park Hotel in London.

The FA launched their investigation seven days after the initial allegations, and charges were brought in March, with an independent commission hearing the case last month.

Chelsea's `super agent' Pini Zahavi was also alleged to have been at the Lancaster Gate meeting, as was Cole's representative Jonathan Barnett.

However, neither fall under the jurisdiction of the Premier League and therefore there could not be any imposition on them today.

The Premier League statement nonetheless added: 'We recommend that the responsible bodies concerned should investigate the roles of Pini Zahavi and Jonathan Barnett.'

The fines dwarf the Premier League's existing records in such a case, the £20,000 which Liverpool were ordered to pay for making an illegal approach to Christian Ziege, while he was at Middlesbrough in 2000.

The Germany defender was fined £10,000, while Aston Villa were more recently warned and ordered to pay costs for making an illegal approach to James Beattie in 2004.

The record fine meted out to an English club still stands at the #1.5million which Tottenham were ordered to pay after being found guilty of illegal payments to players in 1994.

Cole's legal team had been understood to be considering a defence that players should be entitled to talk to other clubs at any time during their contracts.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had warned of 'chaos' if they had succeeded.

All parties have 14 days in which to appeal, and Ashley Cole's agent has confirmed that his client will do so 'immediately'.

Wow. 600,000 pounds, (900,000 dollars or more), and there's still a couple other folks that the FA can punish (the agents).. the Premier League dropped a BIG hammer on Chelski, especially since that it's FIFTEEN times what Liverpool got just five years ago.

[Desnudo]

I guess that's a lot, it's just hard to take seriously when Chelsea is involved. Cole's fine is heavy though.

[DaddyTorgo]

good no...check that...great. way to sock it to em to ensure the rules are followed!

[ISiddiqui]

Wasn't there a rumored threat that if Cole was fined, he'd take it to court, asserting that these rules violate players' freedom to negotiate with other employers like any other employee has the right to do? If he does, I think he'd win the case.

[Huckleberry]

I read the same thing. It will be interesting to see if the Premier League just shot themselves in the foot.

[daedalus]

Yeah, the 100 000 on Ash is relatively expensive but considering that the piece-of-shit scumbag turd-on-Boras'-dirty-sandal Barnett (I'm in no way bothered at all, why do you ask? ) is angling for something in the neighborhood of that per week from Chelsea, it's "eh" at best. I don't think the FA had much more they could have done with him, though.

On the other hand, with regards to the club . . . sorry but 600 000 is hardly a "BIG hammer" for Chelsea. I think they pay more than a few people more that to NOT play for them.

[tategter]

Anyone else read the title of this thread and think that Chelsea Clinton had followed in her fathers footsteps?

[Marc Vaughan]

sn't there a rumored threat that if Cole was fined, he'd take it to court, asserting that these rules violate players' freedom to negotiate with other employers like any other employee has the right to do? If he does, I think he'd win the case.

Its rumoured he's considering this, although I don't think its as clear cut as you'd expect - chances are there are clauses in his contract stipulating that he can't talk to other clubs unless certain things have happened (like contract expiry).

Personally I think hitting Chelsea with a fine was pointless, such a fine won't even be noticed by the club - whereas a 9 point deduction next season would have hit them hard and made the chances of them getting into the CL the season after more remote .... much more effective imho, as it stands they'll be tapping up other players fairly promptly.

(on a seperate note - please consider the odd position of the FA on this, remember they tapped up the current England manager before he took his current role )

[Huckleberry]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Personally I think hitting Chelsea with a fine was pointless, such a fine won't even be noticed by the club - whereas a 9 point deduction next season would have hit them hard and made the chances of them getting into the CL the season after more remote .... much more effective imho, as it stands they'll be tapping up other players fairly promptly.

They finished 37 points clear into CL position this season. Perhaps a 38 point deduction would soothe the bitterness of lesser clubs' fans.

[Katon]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Personally I think hitting Chelsea with a fine was pointless, such a fine won't even be noticed by the club - whereas a 9 point deduction next season would have hit them hard and made the chances of them getting into the CL the season after more remote .... much more effective imho, as it stands they'll be tapping up other players fairly promptly.

Well, there is a potential three-point deduction if we tap anyone else up (or get tapped up by anyone else, considering it was Cole who actually made the first move). I think anything more than that would have been completely unjustifiable given that the monetary fine was about fifteen times the level of the fines in most of the previous cases.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by daedalus

On the other hand, with regards to the club . . . sorry but 600 000 is hardly a "BIG hammer" for Chelsea. I think they pay more than a few people more that to NOT play for them.

I agree, it doesn't seem that severe to me. Whoever is in charge over there is a lightweight compared to David Stern.

[Marc Vaughan]

Originally Posted by Katon

Well, there is a potential three-point deduction if we tap anyone else up (or get tapped up by anyone else, considering it was Cole who actually made the first move). I think anything more than that would have been completely unjustifiable given that the monetary fine was about fifteen times the level of the fines in most of the previous cases.

But in other parts of life whether you start something or not doesn't matter, its how you handle yourself which does.

If a 'man in the pub' offers you a stolen TV and you purchase it then you can still be done for recieving stolen goods .... regardless of whom made the initial approach, Chelsea knew what they were doing was wrong.

With regards to the level of fine, I personally have never seen the point of fining clubs either, (1) the club is large enough that it doesn't matter to them or (2) it cripples the club financially if they're a small insecure club ...

Neither is what the FA really want to happen in such circumstances, hitting a club with a point deduction is much simpler and more effective imho - not that I'll ever have anything to do with such decisions

[condors]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Neither is what the FA really want to happen in such circumstances, hitting a club with a point deduction is much simpler and more effective imho - not that I'll ever have anything to do with such decisions

tapping up in fm2006?

[Mac Howard]

I think Cole's only line of action is to take the FA to the European Court in a "restraint of trade" complaint. It seems to depend on which lawyer you listen to as to whether he has a chance of winning. Doesn't it always?

[daedalus]

Alternative to a deduction, I would have been equally, if not more, amused by a transfer ban (or at least the suspended one like the deduction) for, say, 2 years.

Originally Posted by Huckleberry

They finished 37 points clear into CL position this season. Perhaps a 38 point deduction would soothe the bitterness of lesser clubs' fans.

Define "lesser", would you?