I see he's now saying he will sue Chelsea, I presume for defamation. I can't really imagine him calling Mikel a 'monkey', he knows he's will be heard by the 3 other officials! I don't believe Chelsea's take on this, I really don't. Clattenburg is many things, not a particularly great referee amongst them, but a Racist, No just don't see it. I really hope it's a misunderstanding, otherwise Chelsea and Mikel are playing the race card which is disgraceful!
I agree, they are playing the race card, ILD. With all that's been going on they've got a rather sensitive finger over that trigger.
Could he have said Mikel and it got misunderstood as Monkey? just an idea on the whole situation, i wonder how other refs feel about reffing Chelski now? i wonder if we could have a situation like they had in scotland a few years back when the refs actually refused to ref a certain team?
If there's any truth in the allegations, fair enough, and it's right that they make it known. But, I just can't see Clattenburg being that stupid! If this turns out to be a work of fiction, then frankly Chelsea deserve the FA coming down on them like a ton of bricks. Clattenburg can sue for defamation, the FA would definitely have a case for bringing the game into disrepute, and probably other things. Whilst it might ruin this years competition somewhat (not that that should matter), I'd like to see a points deduction for Chelsea. Fining them will have no impact at all, on the players or the clubs, and the punishment should actually be felt.
I really do agree with what you say ILD as there is now a danger of people thinking that ' playing the race card ' is creeping in. There were no arguements regarding Suarez or Terry but there was a bit of dispute regarding whether the Adeyemi case was racist or not and the racist claims against Lee Croft were quickly dropped following the initial investigation. It doesn't help when Chelsea withdrew the case against Clattenburg for the Spanish player when, ALLEGEDLY, it became apparent that the person who heard Clattenburg call someone a ' Spanish twat ' couldn't speak English. As I said before - if the case against Clattenburg fails then Chelsea should be thrown out of the league. As another side issue I notice that the organisation who referred the matter to the Police based on media reports rather than actual evidence was ' the Black Players Union ' - Would somebody be allowed to form an organisation called the ' White Players Union '? There is nothing than helps the racist cause more than people falsely playing the race card.
It's very difficult to see how the case can succeed if the other officials are backing him.Very stupid of Chelsea to pursue this.It will end in tears for them I think.
I think you may have hit the nail on the head there, we need a Geordie's take on it, does Mikel sound like Monkey with their accent!
We have no idea what Clattenburg did or didn't say, so we have no idea if Chelsea are 'playing the race card'. Therefore, the best thing we can say at the moment is nothing.
Mark is a regular attender at my place of work and I've spoke to him on a few occasions. In my opinion, I don't think his accent is strong enough to mistake Mikel for Monkey. Anyway, Chelsea have dropped the inappropriate language allegations. So none of this matters anymore. The facts are that Mark and his colleagues had a stinker of game last Sunday and Chelsea have a bloody good right to feel hard done by. When officials make woeful decisions there should be consequences.
Said on SSN this morning that they've dropped the inappropriate language allegations duue to lack of evidence. I assumed that would include racist comments, I could be wrong!
Even with a strong accent these two words would not sound similar. And are you seriously suggesting Chelseas actions could almost be justified becasue he had a bad game???
No, perhaps I should have gone into more detail. The FA should start acccepting that their referee's make clangers and be open to complaints and do something about it rather than just sticking by their referee's even when they've made an abbsolute howler. Clattenburg and his assistants gave one of the worst refereeing displays I've ever seen. If they go unpunished it will be a disgrace.
Agree with that but you can't try and get your own back by alleging commital of a criminal offence unless you have evidence to back it up. If what Chelsea have alleged is true then Clattenburg is finished but if it is not true then the authorities will have to come down on Chelsea like a ton of bricks.
