It seems that Chelsea’s relationship with the FA has become somewhat strained over the past few seasons due to dramas such as the Ashley Cole saga and Mourinho’s outbursts. Now it cannot be said that I am a fan of many of the decisions taken by the FA in the past and they have not failed to disappoint me again concerning the John Terry incident.

For those of you who don’t remember John Terry was sent off in the match against Spurs on the 5th November but the Chelsea and England Captain claimed that Graham Poll had given conflicting reasons for sending him off. In the wake of the match there were alleged reports that Poll had made certain remarks suggesting that Chelsea need to be taught a lesson. Terry at the time was extremely vexed and indeed was adamant that Poll had made these comments.

Its now a mere two months on and here we are with Terry now having pleaded guilty to a charge of improper conduct and receiving his sentence. This is where I start to laugh as the FA have simply fined the player £10,000.00 and despite having the authority to suspend him they have decided that the fine is enough. Now how can the governing body seriously believe that this paltry fine represents enough of a deterrent from the same situation occurring in the future. This decision proves that players who publicly condemn the decisions of officials and in this case fabricate stories against them can escape with a light rap on the knuckles. £10,000.00 to these modern day footballers means nothing.

A disciplinary representative has issued a statement which reads “Whilst noting the excellent previous disciplinary record of John Terry, we were extremely disappointed that the integrity of the referee Graham Poll had been called into question, and that no public apology had been forthcoming”. It seems that John Terry’s previous good conduct is the main reason behind escaping a suspension in this matter. Maybe the threat of receiving a heftier fine and a possible suspension in the future will go some way in ensuring that the Blues Captain does not lead the charge around the referee when a decision doesn’t go his way as has become the case with Chelsea.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 10th, 2007 at 9:04 am and is filed under Chelsea. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.