The ****ers know they had no case as Mikel said he never heard any monkey comment and he was standing next to Clattenburg. The video evidence and other witnesses totally refuted what Ramires made up. They better apologise and cough up. Chelsea will resist demands from the referees' union for an unreserved apology and financial compensation for Mark Clattenburg after he was cleared of directing a racist comment at Mikel John Obi. The Premier League referee spoke of his huge relief after the Football Association found he had no case to answer, describing the "frightening" allegations as the most stressful experience of his life. But Chelsea will resist calls for a direct apology, believing they acted in good faith at all times and had a duty to support Ramires. The Brazilian claimed he heard the referee say "shut up you monkey" to Mikel in the wake of the sending off of Fernando Torres during Chelsea's home defeat to Manchester United on 28 October. "We are seeking a full and unreserved apology and compensation for loss of earnings, damage to reputation and stress. We are also asking for a sizeable donation to Show Racism the Red Card and Kick it Out," said Alan Leighton of Prospect, the referees' union. "The charge was based on the flimsiest evidence that should never have got to this stage. It should never have been made public and should have been dealt with confidentially." In an effort to avoid any ambiguity in future, all conversations between referees and with players will now be recorded. The new equipment will be brought in "as soon as possible" and should be in use within a fortnight, according to Mike Riley, general manager of PGMOL, the referees' body. Asked whether the club should apologise, Riley said: "I hope Chelsea will do the right thing." An hour before Chelsea prepared to unveil Rafael BenÃtez as their new interim manager following a tumultuous week, the club was informed by the FA that Clattenburg did not have a case to answer. Coming in the wake of the John Terry case that hung over Chelsea for 12 months and prompted criticism when he remained as club captain despite being found guilty of racially abusing QPR's Anton Ferdinand, the case added to the already febrile atmosphere at Stamford Bridge even before this week's sacking of Roberto Di Matteo. Chelsea immediately came under fire for not apologising directly to Clattenburg, who had been accused of using "inappropriate language". Ramires continues to insist that he heard the offending term. While accepting the verdict, the club said they were right to back their player and merely said they hoped "all concerned can continue to carry out their duties without prejudice". BenÃtez said he had not had time to form a view, having flown in on Thursday morning and met the squad for the first time in the afternoon. "I just arrived and went straight to the training session. I didn't have time to think about other issues, just to think about the things I want to do," he said. Mikel was charged by the FA with using threatening or abusive words and/or behaviour "in or around the Match Officials' changing room" following the fractious 3-2 home defeat to United, during which Torres and Branislav Ivanovic were sent off. He has until Friday 30 November to respond. Clattenburg, who has been omitted from the refereeing list for four weeks paid tribute to the support of his colleagues and said he "couldn't wait" to get back to officiating. "The messages of encouragement from those inside and outside of the game have helped me through the most stressful time of my professional life. To know you were innocent of something but that there was the opportunity for it to wreck your career was truly frightening," he said. The FA's investigators found that neither Clattenburg nor the three other match officials â who could hear everything being said in their earpieces â heard the comment. Nor did Mikel, who was much closer to the referee than Ramires, hear what it is suggested was said to him. It was only after the match that Ramires was able to explain fully the allegation, prompting Mikel to furiously confront the referee. Nor was there anything in the video evidence to support the allegation and nor did two other players near the incident, one of whom was Ashley Cole, hear anything untoward. "Having considered all of the available evidence it was the opinion of David Waters QC, independent counsel, that the evidence of Ramires was not supported by any other evidence. Moreover it was contradicted by other witnesses and does not cross the evidential threshold required to bring a charge against Mark Clattenburg," the FA said. Riley said: "It is PGMOL's considered view that Mark is completely exonerated of the allegation and he will return to active duty shortly without any stain on his character or reputation. The verbal and visual facts do not support any of the allegations made against him. They make it clear that Mark did not use any inappropriate language towards any Chelsea player." It is understood that neither Clattenburg nor his colleagues recall him using any language that could have been misheard by Ramires as "monkey". However, the FA underlined that it believed the Brazilian had acted in good faith. Chelsea, under intense pressure following criticism of their handling of the fallout from the Terry case, said they accepted the FA's verdict but defended their decision to pursue the complaint.
The FA are bending over backward to excuse and cover for the lying Ramires. Chelski should do the decent thing or they could become more despised than they already are.
Chelsea were wrong to go public half an hour after the allegation, they should have collected all the statements first & then gone to the FA with them. Then they would be duty bound to report it. The club handled it wrongly & should admit that. Ramires however, is very different. Whether he made a mistake or totally fabricated these allegations needs to be investigated, either way he should apologise. Being made to apologise means absolutely nothing.
agree with you here, the Fa clearly have no backbone, if Chelsea don't face some sort of punishment its a complete joke
They can't now face punishment. All the more reason they should show some integrity and pay up and give Clattenburg a grovelling apology. I wonder if Clattenburg has took legal advice on suing the ****ers. (I ****ing would.) He probably wouldn't without a guaranteed outcome.
I think the whole football community should join forces and force the spoilt little rich kids of Chelsea to offer and unreserved apology and substantial compensation to Clattenburg. If the soft ****ers at the FA don't support the referee as well, then a protest at every ground should be launched to get rid of them too and I expect the tv pundits to do likewise. We need to stand up to racism for sure but we also need to stand up to the likes of this with equal vigour, or else there will be a huge backlash. This includes any colour and race related elitist support group that jumped on the non existent bandwagon as well to smear the referee and the governing body as well?
i'm not sure that's possible. whilst our relationship with our friends up the road is second to none, i have always had an intense dislike of chelski - pre and during the sonofabitch era
Like I have said on numerous posts, if the case was proven, Clatts career was over. If there is no case to answer the same should happen to Ramires who made a written statement. Kick the w*nker out of football. Hope the refs take a hardline with Chelsea now. No penalties, if a player swears send them off (its in the rules). let the b*stards know what a set of tw*ts they are. Wonder if JOM dares complain to refs in the near future.
IMHO, although Chelsea handled it wrongly, they acted in good faith on behalf of one of their employees. It's Ramires who needs to answer all the questions & if there's any apologising to do, it should come from him. He is the one who has made the false allegations, not the club.
Only apology they need to make is for the public statement. Everything else was done correctly. In their defence, it was already heading into the public domain because of the access the media have to certain areas post match. For me the FA need to have a look at that. They cannot be trusted with sensitive material. Chelsea should still apologise or at least explain why they had to go public i.e. they'd been told by media sources it was in the next days paper. Really though the FA need to clearly define their rules to clubs. In terms of Chelsea reporting it, regardless if they feel it was frivolous they simply have no choice but to report it. Not only as a responsible employer, but more importantly under the FA guidelines on such matters and also because you need open channels for when there is a complaint which is correct. Clattenburg comes out of this with enormous credit. Supposedly not seeking compensation, has said Chelsea were correct to report it, has stated it should not discourage others, and has simply asked to be allowed to get on with refereeing. Kudos to him for ignoring the frenzy for him to go legal. Ramires should clearly be asked to undertake further English lessons too if he wants to play football here. Just a misunderstanding on his part though.
They are a dislikeable club with a twat of a playboy owner. On this occasion though, they're not guilty of everything they're being accused of.
So explain to me why they proceeded, even thought the person the alleged slur was supposed to be pointed at and who was standing next to the ref at the time, said he didn't hear anything?
As an employer you simply have to investigate a claim like this. Can you imagine if they tried to bury it?! It is the responsible thing to do however frivolous the claim is. Ray Wilkins said they asked both players to take more time and consider if they wanted to make the complaint official, suggesting they consider if Ramires had misheard. Unfortunately Mikel felt it was justified to take this forward regardless of Ramires obvious lack of English skills. But it matters not really because the FA rules dictate they have to report any such claim made by a player. Chelsea just followed procedure although they could have done it more responsibly in a private manner. As I say the FA rules should be changed to reflect this. They should not have gone public but reading the press the next day, its pretty obvious they were in the tunnel and outside the refs room. The chances of them keeping that to themselves are somewhat non existent. Again the access should be restricted. Nothing that happens in that area should be available to the press, there is no need. The FA are a joke too. It should have been put to bed in two days maximum. That he had to miss 4 games while they fannied about is ridiculous
