Furious Kenyon accuses UEFA of prejudging Barca case

CHELSEA chief executive Peter Kenyon yesterday vehemently rejected claims Chelsea had lied to UEFA over allegations Frank Rijkaard had a dressing room meeting with Anders Frisk.

Kenyon also insisted Chelsea now had ‘grave concerns’ about the prospect of receiving fair treatment at next week’s disciplinary hearing because of ‘inflammatory’ comments made by a member of UEFA.

UEFA charged Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, assistant Steve Clarke and security officer Les Miles with bringing the game into disrepute for making ‘false declarations’ in a report which alleged Rijkaard visited Frisk’s dressing room at half-time during the Champions League clash at the Nou Camp last month.

William Gaillard, UEFA’s director of communications, labelled all three men as ‘liars’ and accused them of deliberately ‘poisoning the ambience’ between the two clubs for the return leg at Stamford Bridge.

“Chelsea are both surprised and disappointed that at least one individual within UEFA appears to have launched an unprecedented attack on the club, regardless of the fact that Chelsea has co-operated fully with the enquiries related to the charges against us,” said Kenyon.

“Chelsea fully adheres to, and respects, the processes of UEFA and is under no illusion about the seriousness of these charges. We will defend these in the correct and proper manner and within the guidelines laid down by UEFA.

“However the statements against Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, Steve Clarke, and Les Miles by at least one senior UEFA official means we are no longer able to keep our own counsel, which we have consistently done since submitting our report to UEFA following the match.

“These various statements have called into question publicly the integrity of our manager, assistant coach, security officer and the club as a whole and we cannot allow these to stand unchallenged.

“Chelsea utterly refutes that the club, or any of its representatives, participated in a deliberate ploy of false declarations or lies in order to cynically influence the result of the tie, to put pressure on refereeing officials or poison the atmosphere between the teams.

"All statements in our report submitted to UEFA were made in good faith and are honestly held.

“Unfortunately someone within UEFA have decided to ignore their own organisation’s reputation for fairness and correct procedure by playing out this debate in the public arena ahead of any hearing. This hearing would have been, and still is, the right and proper forum for such debate.”

Attacking the “deliberately inflammatory language” used by UEFA officials as unjust, Kenyon added: “Our defence has been dismissed before it has even been considered.

"Our witnesses have been branded as liars without any opportunity to be heard or defend themselves. That offends all principles of justice both in England and across Europe.

“If the factual disputes of this case have been decided in advance, we will have no choice but to pursue alternative avenues of legal redress, including an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which does not allow individual officials to prejudice the outcome of judicial proceedings.”