Column Chelsea Bad, Everton Good and the Law Ben Dyson 10/01/2008 26comments | Jump to last That article by Giles Smith is still up on the Chelsea FC official site. Note, there is no disclaimer stating that the article is someone?s personal opinion and doesn?t reflect the views of Chelsea FC. The implication is that Chelsea FC do agree with the opinions of Mr Smith. The attitude of Chelsea FC is reflected elsewhere on their site. For example in the article ?Minute Detail: Chelsea 2 Everton 1? a foul on a Chelsea player warrants the description ?Abused? and the excessive bias continues throughout the article. I have also checked out a couple of match reports written by fans who are quite clearly deluded. I do expect some bias from the fans and club to themselves but with Chelsea it is beyond belief. After my brief virtual trip into these strange dark waters it is nice to be back in the comparative sanity of my fellow Evertonians and this great website (do I get a present for brown-nosing?) where the match reports, articles and fans comments do have some basis in reality. As it is something that came up in the Carling Cup game against Chelsea and will no doubt come up again, I just wanted to clear up what constitutes a sending off for a bad tackle. Under FIFA?s Laws of the Game a player is sent off for ?serious foul play? (page 39). FIFA?s decision 4 (page 41) states that a tackle, which endangers the safety of an opponent, must be sanctioned as serious foul play. Note, there is no mention of ?both feet off the ground? or contact having been made. Page 119 gives further guidelines for referees as to what constitutes serious foul play and there are a couple of photos for illustration. See www.fifa.com/worldfootball/lawsofthegame.html. So, for example, it is clear that the ref was absolutely correct in sending Mikel off (but he did get a lot of other stuff wrong). It continually irritates me (I?m past 40 so nearly everything in the world irritates me apart from kittens, puppy dogs, and pert 18 year olds) that the majority of pundits, journalists, commentators and even managers comment on the decisions of the referees without ever having read the Laws of the Game. Reader Comments Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer David London 1 Posted 10/01/2008 at 15:59:37 Report abuse Few people seem to notic how bad Sidwell’s "tackle" on Carsley was.Watch it and see how he put all his weight on the leg that was standing on Car’s leg.He stood and rolled his foot slightly over Car’s leg! Graham Nolan 2 Posted 10/01/2008 at 16:07:00 Report abuse Well said David. Sidwells tackle was worse than Mikel’s and he got a red card for that one. Disgraceful. Don’t worry, Carsley will clatter him in the 2nd leg! Trevor Clarke 3 Posted 10/01/2008 at 16:27:53 Report abuse I think its a Disgrace that the official Chelsea website puts an article like that on there site, I can understand an unofficial supporters site displaying it, as lets face it we are all biased to our own clubs but the official site thats a big NO NO for me a bit of respect for other clubs is what should be shown not down right cock sure southern piss taking, Is it just me who thinks this but over the last few games we have played Chelsea it has not been just one way traffic even though we have lost or drawn.Im sure the Everton players have read this if not they should do, then RAM THE F****NG article down their throats when the pay us a visit at a noisey night game at goodison park.Makes me laugh that 6000 Everton supporters can make the Journey down south for a midweek game yet they have to entice there rich wasters with very cheap travel upto Liverpool otherwise they would not have more than 1500 turn up perhaps they should concede defeat as none of there fans can make it due to a black tie do down the local conservative club!!! Phil Gordon 4 Posted 10/01/2008 at 16:14:45 Report abuse Sidwell had just come on the pitch after Chelsea had gone down to 10 men. Carsley had already been booked and had a few late challenges. Call me an old cynic but I wouldn?t be surprised if it was pre-meditated with Grant telling Sidwell to go and rile Carsley and hopefully get him to retaliate and even up the teams.As soon as I seen Sidwell do that I thought I bet Carsley gets sent off. What annoys me though is people like Alan Smith who say there was nothing in the challenge but says Carsley was lucky not to be taking an early bath??this after about 5 mins. I?ve never heard big nose give a decent/fair commentary whenever we?ve played but Tue night was all about Chelsea. Anyone would think he was an ex Chelsea player. I think all the banter he used to take when he played at GP obviously riled him more than he?s let on!! Keith Glazzard 5 Posted 10/01/2008 at 16:25:50 Report abuse Thanks Ben for going back to basics and clearing up so many points in one fell swoop. The crap-brains who say things like Kuynt didn’t hurt Phil Nev miss the point that it was only him that prevented the possible leg break by avoiding the seriously dangerous player.Many have already recorded their disgust of the Chelsea OS article on our site - nothing more to say, except perhaps that it might be read out to the players as part of the preparation for the second leg? Ken Buckley 6 Posted 10/01/2008 at 16:45:02 Report abuse Pin the article up on our dressing room wall I would say. Paul Lenehan 7 Posted 10/01/2008 at 17:13:26 Report abuse Definitely ken. If that doesn’t get them going nothing will. Goodison is going to be electric that night! Aidan Wade 8 Posted 10/01/2008 at 17:41:00 Report abuse Ideally everybody should be a football fan first, and a club fan second and thus be able to say "good goal" or "bad tackle" regardless of whether or not its in your clubs favour.I don’t expect such from a Chelsea fan boy who has clearly lost the plot, so I could care less for their opinion. That it appeared on the offical site, and not the ignored blog of a sociopath is disappointing, but to be offended is to imply their opinion (for want of a better word) carries any kind of weight outside the most deluded of Chelsea fans. Paul ONeill 9 Posted 10/01/2008 at 18:48:40 Report abuse Well they say you can’t buy Class. Chelsea are existential proof boys and girls... Tommy Garry 10 Posted 10/01/2008 at 19:33:50 Report abuse I have emailed the link to the above story to all the national rags and pointed out the only title they will win this year is the most hated team in Britain!! Mick Gallagher 11 Posted 10/01/2008 at 20:37:28 Report abuse They should sell their 5000 as they're getting the train for a tenner, it's on there website. Dave Campbell 12 Posted 10/01/2008 at 20:45:15 Report abuse What a shandy drinking lager top TWAT. Clearly doesn’t know his arse from his elbow. OK our closing down was poor at times so we gave them too much space and possession. But they still never really created many golden chances. Lescotts chance at the end was probably the clearest if is touch was better. Bring on the 2nd Leg and lets shut Giles up ( The name just says it all ). Peter Morris 13 Posted 10/01/2008 at 21:21:15 Report abuse I often think of an old saying my mum used to use whenever Chelsea come to mind."Fur coat and no knickers"They’ve got no class,no pedigree,no history,and considering the advantages their location should have afforded them over the years,they should bury their heads in shame at their record with regards to silverware.Most of their supporters should get back to bloody Twickers.COYB Chris James 14 Posted 11/01/2008 at 01:16:20 Report abuse Peter Morris sums it up brilliantly, this sort of activity is just the sort of class-less behaviour which absolutely typifies the ’Chelski revolution’ from the overpaid players on the pitch to the corrupt oligarch who foots the bills.Mourinho may have been increasingly arrogant, but at least he had some panache, now all that’s left is a soul-less shell that will, if there’s any justice at all, spectacularly self-implode and see Abramovich abandon his toy......hopefully encouraging some of the other mortgaged millionaires to go with him. Then all we’d have to do is introduce Rupert Murdoch to the concept of independent journalism and line all the leeching agents up against the wall. john sweeney 15 Posted 11/01/2008 at 00:43:33 Report abuse I presume giles smith is the same person who wrote a piece each saturday in the daily telegraph in the nineties, don?t know if he still does, (not read it in years) even then in a national newspaper, every other one of his articles would have a slant on chelsea, of course he?s biased, nothing wrong with that most of us are. he didn?t question what would have happened if the player had made contact, the thinly veiled comments of the warm welcome that neville receives, being ex man u would have turned into a standing ovation if he had actually had his leg broke. neither could he see the sense in the sending off bye the ref, that he has to see a player crippled before a sending off is warrented. I wonder too that all those crap chelsea sides in the seventies and eighties that surely he must have seen getting relegated three times I think? did he think we are wasting our time at this football lark, we should pack it in altogether. you see mr smith has not realised yet that theres a change in the wind (he is not alone) after years in the doldrums theres light at the end of the tunnel and maybe we may come up short in the 2nd half of the semi against chelsea but sooner than they know we are going to kick the door down on them andthe rest of the so called big four smug gets. Sean Condon 16 Posted 11/01/2008 at 02:26:17 Report abuse I?m glad that I wasn?t the only one to see how horrible that Sidwell tackle on Carsley was. It looked like he left his foot on Lee?s ankle for as long as possible. To paraphrase Reggie Dunlop in the film ?Slapshot?, I?d like to offer an ounce of the finest BC Kush to the first one of our guys that really nails that creep. Brett Schwerdt 17 Posted 11/01/2008 at 02:40:27 Report abuse As a pure football fan from Australia having watched the game. Carsley was lucky to still be on the pitch. Mikel getting sent off was harsh but you could see why the referee made the decision. Sidwell?s challenge looks bad in slow motion but seems not too bad in real time what the ref?s have to go by. And i believe one of your stars Arteta got sent off for raising elbow against Fabregas and Lescott did the same which would have been a penalty so if your Everton I wouldn't complain really on the basis of the game you deserved to lose, simple as that. Gary Sedgwick 18 Posted 11/01/2008 at 02:26:52 Report abuse Agree with all the comments placed. I only read the said article because of this post - and we all thought EFC?s official site was shite. It is positively champagne compared to this ?site?I read other articles and all are the same. They ridicule other teams and the effort those teams put in.I agree with those that propose to put up this article in the dressing room, hell, they should put all of them up. The sheer arrogance displayed on the site to ANY team should motivate us even more.BTW. They cannot even list articles in the right order. If they cannot do that on a website well God help them when they go to Goodison. I hope we play them of the Park.A purely emotional post but I have to show emotion sometime....My guess for the second leg? We need a goal, get one. We are through if we survive ET. Chelsea sses have to get one, go forward and we get one on a break. We shut up shop and go through without ET.COYB and I will be watching from Texas. When we win I will drink several "Boddies" imported from England! Neil Pearse 19 Posted 11/01/2008 at 08:12:27 Report abuse I live in London and it has long been clear to me that Chelsea is an utterly classless team with basically two types of fans: their ’long termers’ who are largely unreconstructed union jack wearing fascists; and their recent gloryhunters, who are ignorant Barbour wearing twats who should be watching rugby.I have loads of great conversations in London with Spurs (especially), West Ham and Arsenal fans. Can’t remember when I ever had one with a Chelsea fan. They know nothing.The twat article is just an example of who they are. When their corrupt owner moves on they will return to obscurity and their rightful place in the London pecking order below decent teams like QPR. Colin Garland 20 Posted 11/01/2008 at 09:03:31 Report abuse What sort of a name is Giles anyway. You can tell that his family has a footballing pedigree cant you - NOT. Chelsea shit fans - no history. The sooner the Russian pulls out, the sooner they come bouncing back down to earth.Oh and just how biased was that TV commentator. A clear penalty for Joe Cole who had dived into the box. Even the replay showed that he wasn’t touched and he still wouldn’t have it. Thank goodness for the good sense of Peter Reid. Ben Dyson 21 Posted 11/01/2008 at 09:09:53 Report abuse Nicked from whenskiesaregrey.com: "Finally, someone quite correctly pointed out today that Avram Grant is in fact a cartoon buzzard" Craig Ashford 22 Posted 11/01/2008 at 10:18:11 Report abuse It was all Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea, its all i heard, any one Sky+’d the game? Count the number of Chelsea this and Chelsea thats, then the number of Everton thises and thats. The sheer bias was enough to make my blood boil. Even my girlfriend who has limited football knowledge (she used to support Man Utd because her father does, dont worry though shes fermly a Blue Nose now, has her tops and refers naturally to Everton as ’we’ or ’us’) stated that she was ’Pissed off’ because all they were talking about was Chelsea and commented on how ’Dirty’ Chelsea played, pointing out Carvallihos tackel on Faddy was also 2 footed. Dawson Boyle 23 Posted 11/01/2008 at 12:11:23 Report abuse I’ve read match reports too that based their entire story on Nicholas flipping Anelka.Everton’s first semi final in years was summarised in just a few lines on the bottom of the page.See www.teamtalk.com for a paticularly bad example of biased journalism. Steve Syder 24 Posted 11/01/2008 at 12:13:06 Report abuse I’d like to think that the article was tongue in cheek; surely no-one can be that moronic?Picking up on the "Biased Sky" points abouve, I couldn’t agree more. I was astonished at the clear bias throughout the match, especially from the summariser, whoever he was. Tom Davies 25 Posted 12/01/2008 at 00:02:25 Report abuse Sidwell’s tackle was discusting, how on earth was he allowed to get away with that? surely some action must be taken?I also think that the decision to send off Mikel was spot on, if that was an Everton player he’d have also gone straight off. Jason Leung 26 Posted 12/01/2008 at 04:57:17 Report abuse The Referee was spot on in sending off Mikel, although how Sidwell didn’t get sent off for standing on Carsley i don’t know.And about that biased article on the Chelsea FC website, well, that’s a joke. It is so biased it’s not funny.I’ll be watching the 2nd leg from down under in Australia, watching Chelsea getting their asses kicked by us Toffees. COYB Lydia Bleasdale 27 Posted 12/01/2008 at 22:46:26 Report abuse I?m not sure if it has been noted elsewhere, but this Giles Smith seems to be the same Giles Smith who regularly writes in the Times, and is apparently a former Sports Columnist of the Year! I stumbled across his name by accident looking for today?s match report on their website, the photo on there and on the CFC website match. Either Chelsea don?t bother reading whatever he writes before putting it on the website, assuming it will be fantastic, or they don?t care that this article smacks of unprofessionalism on their part (coming as it does without a disclaimer, as made clear above). Either way, total wankers. Looking forward to the atmosphere at Goodison even more for the second leg. Denis Byrne 28 Posted 15/01/2008 at 14:41:42 Report abuse I?m a lifelong Blue currently living in Brighton. Comment on local southern telly sports news after gooners v spurs semi ... "Arsenal and Spurs are fighting to see who will play Chelsea in the all London Carling Cup Final". Pin THAT up as well in the dressing room.You have NO idea how much my kids are willing us to beat them or their life will be misery down here.COYB - do it for the kids! © ToffeeWeb