Gallas Ready To Face Chelsea In Court
September 6th, 2006 by Alan HylandsAnother twist and turn in the increasingly spiteful “divorce” proceedings between Chelsea and their former centre back, Arsenal man William Gallas, and it looks like this one could be annoying us all from the back pages for a while yet.
Chelsea, now infamously, released a statement early in the week alledging that Gallas had threatened to concede own goals, make deliberate mistakes and get himself sent off if selected for Chelsea, both towards the end of last season, over preseason and in the opening games of this season. Chelsea further claimed that the player was simply trying to engineer a big money move away from the club which had lifted him to his current exalted position as a top world player and Premiership double champion and went public with the allegations to show their fans why he was sold.
Gallas has, of course, denied that he made such threats and is ready now to mount a legal battle to clear his name and show Chelsea up for the bully boy kings of spin that they really are. He’s even roped his dad into some press interviews to say that his boy never would have said those things:
“I know my son through and through - and he is totally incapable of doing any of the things Chelsea say.
“I am a father who likes to stay in the background and let William do his own talking when he has to.
“But, when it comes to an attack on his honour and that of the family, like this, I can talk of my belief in him.
“I have already spoken to William about what Chelsea are saying about him. But I am not worried for him. He is a man who can stand up for himself.”
The whole episode just further drags the game’s name through the mud and it’s no surprise to see Chelsea at the forefront of it all. Their heavy handed approach to “outing” Gallas backfired as a PR stunt and I’m sure there are a few red faces at the club surrounding the main protagonists who clamoured for the statement’s release.
If it was Jose Mourinho then in what light does it show the increasingly under pressure “Special One” and his man-management skills? If it was Peter Kenyon then does it not further highlight the man’s complete inability to follow any morally righteous path inthe execution of his duties and if it was neither of those two, just who is speaking for Chelsea Football Club these days?
I think we all demand some honest answers.
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September 6th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
From the Chelsea statement on Gallas: “The wage structure is VALUED according to…..”
No native english speaker would use valued in this sense - so it had to be JM that wrote the stupid thing….
September 6th, 2006 at 1:53 pm
Chelski should be punished for bringing the game into disrupte.
September 6th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
When, as I expect, one of two things happen:
Either:
1. Gallas will not take the case to court, or
2. If he does, he will lose.
Will this site then say that Chelsea were right, or will it find some other reason to spin things its own way?
September 6th, 2006 at 2:17 pm
If it goes to court, it’s Chelsea who will have to stand up what they’ve said. If the words were said but only in a private setting then that can’t be done, even if all that’s written is true. It’ll be one person’s word against another. In that sense, Gallas is likely to win the case.
But given that so many people feel it’s highly unlikely these claims are true, Gallas should be satisfied with that rather than drag this out longer than necessary. More accusations will be made that he can’t possibly benefit from further. As such he shouldn’t take it to court but just be satisfied he’s got the move he wanted. That way he’ll look the bigger person. Which he is anyway.
September 6th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
I am continually embarrassed by the team I have supported for years just lately however, Gallas does have a proven track record of being a whinger and for spitting his dummy out when he doesn’t get his own way. Upon saying that Chelsea should’ve just let it slide.
The main problem here, and I don’t just mean with this particular story, is the fact that football is no longer just about the game but about everything to do with it. As soon as we all start showing our contempt for these types of stories it’ll stop. It’s like having your own girly gossip mag on the back pages every day!
September 6th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
What a pathetic article. How many times do we see or read some underclass parent defending their offspring no matter what the severity of the crime - it’s natural bonzo - what do you expect?
But then what do I expect from an article that contains the phrase
“show Chelsea up for the bully boy kings of spin they really are”.
Is this meant to be unbiased? If not - at least inform your readers to which team your own affections lie so we can all have a good laugh.
September 6th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
I think we can all guess where your affections lie Jason, hardly unbiased yourself are you?
It\’s only the chav, glory hunting nouveau Chelsea fans who revel in the shameful way Kenyon, Mourinho and Abramovich run their club and drag it\’s name through the mud so sit down and have a good hard think about your own morals before you get all defensive about the West London Russian mob.
Most real, long time Chelsea fans I know are disgusted at the way these men act in their name but each to their own. Do you laugh at your own loyal fans too Jason?
September 6th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
I find it strange in an article calling for honesty that the article itself fails to make mention of the fact that the very same player adopted similar tactics when he fell out with his previous club Marseilles, but of course it wouldn’t suit your argument (anti-chelsea of course) to include this.
And you’ve still not answered the question : which club do you support ?!!! I’m a long-time and very real Chelsea fan by the way and I was very pleased to get an impression of what was happening behind the scenes, player-power goes too far sometimes, and there is little sense of loyalty in today’s game, and that is witnessed in players not wishing to honour contracts and impatient to leave various clubs.
September 6th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
Jason has a point. The continual need of mostly inarticulate and nearly always reactionary fans (of other clubs) to try and explain to ‘Blues Fans’ what we’re doing wrong has becom as boring as it is irritating. The club is entirely within its rights to protect its name and respond to articles from former players which it believes are inaccurate. Gallas could not wait to use the very first opportunity he had to ‘bad-mouth’ the club that had made him the international name he is. He’s entitled to his view but he’s not entited to lie in public. And, as fans, we too are entitled to our view; it’s just that when our view is as poorly written and knee-jerk reactionary as “It?s only the chav, glory hunting nouveau Chelsea fans who revel in the shameful way…” then it just makes for such depressing reading. Oh, and Jason is right about another thing, as well. Let us know which team you support and then we might be read what you say without the nagging doubt that your just another bloke looking to have a pop.
September 6th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
I am a real, long time Chelsea fan and I think the club had the right and the obligation to make the statement to own supporters, informing us what a vagina Gallas is.
Gallas was always sulky, long before JM and RA came to the club.
Chelsea would not make that statement if they had no proof, it’s up to Gallas to sue for libel now and prove the club (and me) wrong.
Only he won’t, because he knows he hasn’t got a leg to stand on (it’s a metaphor in case anyone French is reading this). He will give some silly excuse and say he wants now to concentrate on his football. And than all but the blind (metaphor) will know that it was true.
So Alan I bet there is a humble pie coming your way but I doubt that you will apologise as it takes class to do that.
September 6th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Chelsea fans talking about class, now I’ve heard it all.
I think you’ll all find no trace of me defending Gallas above for the simple reason that I do believe that he threatened these things, whether in the heat of the moment or not.
My point above is that Chelsea have proved nothing by starting this public slanging match after they had already disposed of a troublesome player. Don’t talk to me about class when it’s Chelsea we’re discussing please.
Also, don’t give me a rant about destroying player power when you used the exact same measures to bring in the equally despicable Ashley Cole as part of the Gallas deal. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Read through some of the rest of this site or join up to the forums for a chat and you’ll see it marked very prominently that I’m a Spurs fan. I fail to see why you need to know though other than giving you ammunition for a petty anti-Spurs rant in retaliation.
Please prove me wrong.
September 6th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
It doesn’t matter to me who do you support.
I answered your post -the one that now mysteriously disappeared!!!
… and you didn’t answer mine.
All you did is repeated the same old tired rant.
September 7th, 2006 at 12:37 am
And you also misunderstood a point I was raising. Player power - the Arse have had problems yes with Cole, Chelsea with Gallas, Utd with Ruud, I can’t think of any in relation to Spurs, maybe you can .. but agents are still calling the shots, bringing about changes and creaming it in. As for Gallas, he should have re-negotiated a decent salary for the last season of his contract and left next summer on a free & through doing so, negotiated a fat salary from an Italian or Spanish club but relationships (Jose - Gallas) had turned sour, just as Arsenal’s had with Cole yes and Fergie with Ruud -shit happens - that’s all there is to it. It aint new and it aint just a Chelsea thing, but I do think that players taking liberties, making threats however idle, deserve to be exposed, whoever they play for.