Blues bashers out in force again

AND there I was, wondering what I’d have to write about during international week! We have once again been made out to be the “enemies of football” for something that is done the world over and, in one way or another, by every club.

How does anyone think the transfer market works if it is not by encouraging people to break their contracts and by offering inducements? With more information emerging from the murk of FIFA this weekend about “le contrat aspirant” (another example of one of those European rules that the French seem to make up for themselves which have no basis in law), it’s not even clear that we have done anything wrong.

And even if we have, do you ardent Chelsea haters out there – and I know there are a lot of you – honestly believe that we are either the first club to have done this in pursuit of talented youngsters? As relatively recent newcomers to the upper echelons of the English league, I’d imagine that there are worse offenders.

One can’t help but feel the hairs on the back of one’s neck stand up – as they always do whenever Platini has a hand in something. I have visions of him and his Premier League-hating cohorts pouring over every sub-section and every word of the rule book trying to find yet another stick to beat us with.

What makes this episode even more fascinating is the suggestion, which seems to have been leaked by Chelsea this weekend, that they cleared the Kakuta transfer with UEFA before proceeding.

The other thing that has made me sick is the moral outrage from the papers and the usual suspects; the worst by far was one paper who likened the affair of Kakuta to “child slavery”. I suggest this reporter finds me a child slave who earns €30,000 a month, trains with one of the best teams in the world in a top facility spending his days doing what he loves.

If anyone is under any doubt that this is nothing more than a malicious act to punish the Premier League and simultaneously nail Chelsea to the wall, one only has to look at the timing. Apparently the decision was made three days before the transfer window closed, yet not announced until Chelsea were unable to perhaps plan ahead for the imposed ban. Spiteful or what? Chelsea seem to have been unaware this ruling was even in the offing. A complaint was made and Chelsea were not even permitted to put forward any defence – what kind of kangaroo court is this? If we have done something wrong, then I have no problem with being punished but if we are to face sanctions, there has to be a level playing field, which it clearly isn’t at the moment.

Another thing that has not been made clear in all the frenzied reporting of the case is how Kakuta could even have been registered in England if his paperwork was not in order. Surely the FA would have had to see something from Lens? If the French club, who, incidentally asked for €4.3m for the player, felt that Chelsea had obtained Kakuta illegally, it would have been bought up at this stage? The real loser in this debacle is Gaël Kakuta, who had been included in the long list of Chelsea’s Champions League squad and who is just rehabilitating himself after a bad injury last season. Is it really fair to ban a kid who would have been just 15 at the time of the (non) signing for four months? And to fine him such an extraordinary sum of money? FIFA are claiming this action has been brought against Chelsea to protect him and those like him. Or is it, as I suspect, that Kakuta is almost being used as a sacrificial lamb to discourage any other talented youngsters to sign for the enemies of football? European governing bodies clearly do not like new money, or the fact that we are not part of their little gang.

Unfortunately for the governing bodies, we have a good team. If Ancelotti has anything about him, he will use this whole affair to create a siege mentality to bond our players closer together. The best response would be to win that Champions League and watch the fat cats and bureaucrats forced to smile and applaud while we lifted it aloft – after all, even UEFA must be running out of Scandinavian refs with vision issues.

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