march 12th
The ususal quick round-up for a Saturday morning begins with the news that Chelsea have submitted their evidence to the FA’s inquiry into the Ashley Cole tap-up affair. After denying any meeting ever took place Chelsea are now saying that it was Ashley Cole, via his agent, who tapped them up. Pini Zahavi then arranged the meeting in the London hotel where Cole and his agent, Jonathan Barnett, are said to have expressed their frustration at the contract negotiations with Arsenal.
So there are obviously some serious implications regarding all this. Firstly, atfer denying it for so long, we have an admission from Chelsea that a meeting did take place and secondly, if Chelsea’s story is true it has to have some repercussions in terms of Ashley’s position at the club. Maybe it’s Chelsea putting some Kenyonesque spin on it to try and deflect the blame, that’s not beyond the realms of possibility, but if Ashley Cole has instructed his agent to arrange a meeting with one of our biggest rivals just days before one of the most important games of the season then we have to consider Ashley’s future, both in the long term and in the short term. Maybe it was the news of the this that weighed on his mind during his limp performance against Bayern on Wednesday. The ball is obviously now in the court of Cole and Barnett. Nothing less than a strenuous denial of these claims will be good enough. Silence will tell us everything we need to know about the veracity of Chelsea’s story.
In other news Thierry Henry has denied criticising the board with his comments about transfers. He says his words were ‘manipulated’ by the press. Arsene Wenger meanwhile has said that maybe he wrong not to buy in January or last summer but not being a seer he was unable to predict the long term injuries to Edu, Gilberto, Sol Campbell and others. However he’s positive about the contribution from the young players who will have gained valuable experience.
And that’s it for this morning. Here’s hoping the lads can put their Bolton hoodoo behind them and win 14-0.
