Cole gun saga highlights the flaws in modern game

THE hardest question Carlo Ancelotti had to face as he desperately attempted to defend Ashley Cole’s shooting of a work experience boy with an air rifle — and his own decision not to sack him — came when he was asked: What action would the club have taken if it had been a member of staff firing at a player?

For a minute the enquiry stumped him; he knew, surely beyond all doubt, the answer was the culprit would have been sacked, banished from Cobham and never seen again And yet Cole, far from suffering a similar fate, will be rewarded with a guaranteed place against Manchester United in tonight’s make-or-break Premier League game at Stamford Bridge.

That is modern football for you; one rule for us, one rule for them.