Smoke grenade prank back-fires for midfielder Jacob Mellis has left Chelsea by mutual consent after he admitted setting off a smoke grenade at their training ground. The Blues confirmed on Tuesday they and 21-year-old Mellis, who has played for the first team, had "parted company" following a "full and thorough" investigation into the incident which took place on March 2. Team-mate Billy Clifford escaped with a fine after admitting he brought the grenade - understood to be from a paintball expedition - into Chelsea's Cobham training headquarters. According to reports, the smoke grenade was set off in the reserve-team dressing room and trained fire marshals had to be brought in. Thick smoke Players, officials and other staff from Chelsea's reserve, youth and academy teams ran from the building with hands covering their faces because of the thick smoke. Owner Roman Abramovich was reportedly briefed about the incident, which occurred shortly before training at 10.30am and set off fire alarms and triggered a full evacuation procedure.
It seems to be becoming more obvious that when Abramovich took over he told the directors he wanted to turn the club into a more successful arsenal.
I think if I walked into my office and set off a smoke grenade (have you seen one of those in action??) I would be: 1) Sacked 2) Prosecuted So I think the daft tosser got off lightly. How old was he? 7? It's pathetic.
Get him signed up, he probably should of set it off outside and no one would of said anything. Bit harsh to sack him, probably messing about yet it got out of hand, he's only 21.
Surely there's something wrong there though, if a first team player did it nothing much would have come of it. Discrimination or something I don't know, unfair dismissal of some kind.
If one of your colleagues had previously only been docked wages for shooting someone at work I think you'd be looking at unfair dismissal due to the differing treatments though. It does seem disproportionate when you compare it to Coles treatment, now dare I suggest he just gave them an excuse to get rid of him for free that they were already looking for. I'm sure most of the adults on here with a few years work behind them have at some point known an employee that's a total pain in the arse that the management want shot of but they can't find a way to do it without being hit by a wrongful/unfair dismissal case. (If you haven't, then you're probably the one)
I'd say the key difference here is that Mellis just isn't worth the trouble. If it was any established player (No Nick, I don't just mean Terry or Lampard, the foreign lads are included in this too) it would be worth their whie to keep him. But for a youngster who is unlikely to make it with them it probably isn't worth the trouble.
