FA to investigate Cech comments

The Football Association have tonight launched an inquiry into alleged comments from Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, criticising referee Graham Poll.

Poll allowed Arsenal striker Thierry Henry to take a quick free-kick in Sunday’s 2-2 Barclays Premiership draw with the league leaders at Highbury, while Cech was positioning his defensive wall.

Chelsea players claim Poll assured them he would whistle before the set-piece was taken, although striker Eidur Gudjohnsen appeared to warn his team-mates just before the strike.

Cech, the Czech Republic international goalkeeper, was reported to have told website www.idnes.cz: “Maybe he [Poll] is a supporter of Arsenal. Or maybe he just had a blackout – it is difficult to explain.”

Chelsea officials today claimed the comments were “exaggerated and badly translated”, but the FA will still look into the alleged remarks.

A statement from the FA today read: “The FA can confirm that it is pursuing inquiries into media comments attributed to Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech about referee Graham Poll following his team’s match at Arsenal on Sunday December 12.”

Premier League officials today backed Poll’s decision to allow the goal to stand, explaining the referees’ options to restart the game.

Chelsea themselves took advantage of the quick free-kick rule when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scored against West Ham in an FA Cup replay nearly six years ago.

A statement from the Professional Game Match Officials Limited read: “Referees will ask attacking players if they require a quick free-kick; if they say no then the referee will manage the free-kick and ensure that all defending players are at least 9.15 metres from the ball.

“If the attacking players ask for a quick free-kick the referee will allow them to get on with it. In the Arsenal v Chelsea game Graham Poll was seen to ask Thierry Henry if he wanted a quick free-kick. Once Henry had confirmed that he did, Graham Poll asked Eidur Gudjohnsen to move away from the ball and signalled for Henry to take the free-kick.”

However, Gudjohnsen insists Poll told his team-mates he would blow his whistle when ready to restart the game.

He said: “We asked the referee to blow the whistle, and he told one of our players he was going to.

“I saw in Henry’s reaction that he didn’t want the whistle – and in the end it looked like a set-piece from the training ground, where one player stands in front of the ball and just jumps out of the way.”