CheLOLsea

[REMTARDROYAL]

To an extent, Kes is right. I actually did 'support' Man Utd when I was a kid - everyone at school supported them so I jumped on the bandwagon. Then one Saturday afternoon my mum wanted me out of the house, and asked our nextdoor neighbour to take me to the football with him. First live match I'd ever seen and it completely blew me away. Reading was the only team for me after that. I was 9, so nothing to do with success, just being bitten by the bug.

I'd hazard a guess that many supporters of smaller teams would have all 'supported' other teams when they were very young children. Glory hunting is natural for a kid, if only to fit in at school.

At my school, most kids supported either Manchester United or Liverpool (as Reading were pretty shit back then). However, the same kids had an 'interest' in Reading as it was the local football club and it was cheaper and more accessible to go. Now, some have carried on supporting United and Liverpool and some, have changed to Reading. However, they still want United or Liverpool to do well.

^^^ this.

Was far easier being Giggs, Shearer or Fowler in the playground than Lovell, Morley or Martin Williams... although you'd possibly have put in better performances on the playground than Williams did at the Madejski.

when Senior left us to go and play for either Watford or Middlesboro', he had a sticker in that year's panini album.

As he was my hero, for around 6 months that was my most treasured possession.

[exileinleeds]

Not only has Clattenburg been cleared of all charges, but now Mikel has been charged.

They really are a disgrace of a club.

For the record I have never supported another club...I picked Northampton as my other team when we were last in the Prem- not really done it for me, so I am going with Yeovil this time.

[Franchise FC]

Not only has Clattenburg been cleared of all charges, but now Mikel has been charged.

They really are a disgrace of a club.

For the record I have never supported another club...I picked Northampton as my other team when we were last in the Prem- not really done it for me, so I am going with Yeovil this time.

To be fair the FA have said there's not enough evidence, not that he's been cleared per se.
Apparently, it was one person's word against another, although if the other assistants are miked up then I'm surprised that this 'evidence' hasn't been released.

It seems that one persons word is not good enough to charge a referee, but is easily enough to charge anyone that plays against Man Utd

[soggy biscuit]

Never supported anyone else. Has the piss taken out of me at primary school when I proudly turned up in my Simon Cup winning season top. Has the piss taken out of me at secondary school when I proudly turned up in my Auto Trader 93/94 top

[exileinleeds]

The point being that he was miked up. Had he said anything untoward, then the assistants would have heard him. No one but Ramires heard him say anything. I am being generous in thinking that Ramires' English is not great, and that he misunderstood something in a regional accent. Doesn't excuse Mikel kicking off and being abusive and threatening.

[6ft Kerplunk]

Can't believe they don't just record the ref and assts mics anyway. Would clear up stuff like this within minutes. Might even make teh players thinki twice about the abuse they dish out if they thought they could be punished retrospectively.

[Wax Jacket]

Can't believe they don't just record the ref and assts mics anyway. Would clear up stuff like this within minutes. Might even make teh players thinki twice about the abuse they dish out if they thought they could be punished retrospectively.

not this again

FIFA (I think, could be UEFA) directive not to record it

[soggy biscuit]

The point being that he was miked up. Had he said anything untoward, then the assistants would have heard him. No one but Ramires heard him say anything. I am being generous in thinking that Ramires' English is not great, and that he misunderstood something in a regional accent. Doesn't excuse Mikel kicking off and being abusive and threatening.

Ramires apparently had a translator with him at the FA enquiry as his English is so poor.

[PieEater]

To be fair the FA have said there's not enough evidence, not that he's been cleared per se.

I thought they said that there was no case to answer, a subtle but important difference for Clattenburg. Unlike JT.

[Hoop Blah]

Not only has Clattenburg been cleared of all charges, but now Mikel has been charged.

They really are a disgrace of a club.

For the record I have never supported another club...I picked Northampton as my other team when we were last in the Prem- not really done it for me, so I am going with Yeovil this time.

To be fair the FA have said there's not enough evidence, not that he's been cleared per se.
Apparently, it was one person's word against another, although if the other assistants are miked up then I'm surprised that this 'evidence' hasn't been released.

It seems that one persons word is not good enough to charge a referee, but is easily enough to charge anyone that plays against Man Utd

It's a bit different when the player playing against Utd admits that he used the words he was accused of using though.

[No Fixed Abode]

Not only has Clattenburg been cleared of all charges, but now Mikel has been charged.

They really are a disgrace of a club.

For the record I have never supported another club...I picked Northampton as my other team when we were last in the Prem- not really done it for me, so I am going with Yeovil this time.

One persons word against another, so the FA decided to drop the case. Much like JT being not found guilty in court of being racist. Case was dropped due to insufficient evidence. However, the FA banned him for 4 games for using inappropriate language. There's nothing to say Clattenburg didn't say a racist comment, just that there is insufficient evidence to prove it. Chelsea had a duty of care to their players if they felt they had been racially abused. Much like you would support any of your family or work colleagues, if they felt they had been abused. However, the complaint shouldn't have been made public. I agree with that.

[Franchise FC]

Not only has Clattenburg been cleared of all charges, but now Mikel has been charged.

They really are a disgrace of a club.

For the record I have never supported another club...I picked Northampton as my other team when we were last in the Prem- not really done it for me, so I am going with Yeovil this time.

One persons word against another, so the FA decided to drop the case. Much like JT being not found guilty in court of being racist. Case was dropped due to insufficient evidence. However, the FA banned him for 4 games for using inappropriate language. There's nothing to say Clattenburg didn't say a racist comment, just that there is insufficient evidence to prove it. Chelsea had a duty of care to their players if they felt they had been racially abused. Much like you would support any of your family or work colleagues, if they felt they had been abused. However, the complaint shouldn't have been made public. I agree with that.

I'm not sure whether I'm losing it but I actually agree with NFA
Nurse ........ nurse .......... pass me the tablets.

[sandman]

Would have thought you guys would be worrying about your own club, what with 1 win all season.....

Think you're missing the point of the General Football sub forum m8.

[Mr Angry]

One persons word against another, so the FA decided to drop the case. Much like JT being not found guilty in court of being racist. Case was dropped due to insufficient evidence. However, the FA banned him for 4 games for using inappropriate language. There's nothing to say Clattenburg didn't say a racist comment, just that there is insufficient evidence to prove it. Chelsea had a duty of care to their players if they felt they had been racially abused. Much like you would support any of your family or work colleagues, if they felt they had been abused. However, the complaint shouldn't have been made public. I agree with that.

It really, really isn't the same as John Terry's court case, but I'm sure that everybody else who supports Chelsea will believe that to be the case.

Just for the record, one person - Ramires, who doesn't speak very good English - thought he heard Clattenburg call John Obi Mikel a monkey. John Obi Mikel, who was next to Clattenburg at the time, didn't hear anything, nor did the other officials who were all miked up and could who hear EVERYTHING that was being said. The FA also asked 2 English players if they heard anything (including that model of honesty, Ashley Cole); they hadn't.

Therefore, it wasn't one person's word against another; it was an unsubstantiated allegation which - at best - was an honest mistake; yes, Chelsea DID have a duty of care to investigate, but they also had a duty of care to make a decision based on the facts as to whether they pursue accusing a referee of making a racist slur or not.

Sadly, everybody are going to draw their own conclussions as to why Chelsea Football Club would continue with such a course of action on such utterly scant "evidence" a couple of weeks after their own Captain had been found guilty of using racist language (as he admitted he had done in Court - you seem to forget that he was found not guilty on the basis that the jury couldn't decide whether it was meant as an insult or not, NOT that he hadn't said anything) and towards a referee who had given a red card possibly erroneously to Torres, and after they had lost to a controversial late, offside goal.

Frankly, the FA should grow a pair and put Chelsea Football Club on a disrepute charge, because that is exactly what they have done; brought disrepute on the game.

[Ian Royal]

To an extent, Kes is right. I actually did 'support' Man Utd when I was a kid - everyone at school supported them so I jumped on the bandwagon. Then one Saturday afternoon my mum wanted me out of the house, and asked our nextdoor neighbour to take me to the football with him. First live match I'd ever seen and it completely blew me away. Reading was the only team for me after that. I was 9, so nothing to do with success, just being bitten by the bug.

I'd hazard a guess that many supporters of smaller teams would have all 'supported' other teams when they were very young children. Glory hunting is natural for a kid, if only to fit in at school.

I was a right little whore. Liverpool, Spurs, Utd.

Until I actually went to a match. I've been faithful ever since.

[Ian Royal]

Not only has Clattenburg been cleared of all charges, but now Mikel has been charged.

They really are a disgrace of a club.

For the record I have never supported another club...I picked Northampton as my other team when we were last in the Prem- not really done it for me, so I am going with Yeovil this time.

To be fair the FA have said there's not enough evidence, not that he's been cleared per se.
Apparently, it was one person's word against another, although if the other assistants are miked up then I'm surprised that this 'evidence' hasn't been released.

It seems that one persons word is not good enough to charge a referee, but is easily enough to charge anyone that plays against Man Utd

miked up doesn't mean the same as recorded.

[harryroyal]

I didn't suppot anyone until about 13 when a mate took me to a game and then i was hooked. Football didn't interest me before.

[Bandini]

I actually went to a match.

lies

[Victor Meldrew]

It does appear that this was all a load of tosh but Chelsea were right to stand by their employee.
What I don't agree with is all the stuff being put forward by the referees and their association that Clattenberg has been scarred by all of this and his reputation affected.
I see it the opposite way that his standing has in fact been enhanced because he has been found to be innocent of the charge.

What should be questioned more is the competence of referees-every week we see them getting so many obvious things wrong , my personal favourite being the booking of the strongest player in a tackle such as the Shelvey/Evans case where both went over the ball but because Evans acted more hurt he was treated as innocent and Shelvey was sent off.

In the Chelsea v Man Utd game (where once again Evans was involved)Torres was wrongly sent off by Clattenberg but that poor decision has slipped under the radar because of all this other nonsense and unless something incredibly bad happens they are unaffected by poorly performing their job and being demoted to referee at a lower level for one week doesn't strike me as much of a punishment.
I know that referees are not helped by cheating players from every club but even with the assistance of two linos with audio links to the refs they still manage to get so many things wrong and being paid a retainer of around £60,000 per year I do think (In English football in particular) they are just not as competent as a professional in that occupation should be.

[philM]

Not many players get through a match without at least one mistake, and they're paid a lot more. Why should we be so critical when a ref makes one? It's what humans do.

Without the benefit of replays and slo-mo I'm surprised they get it right so often.