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Chelsea Banned From Signing Players Until January 2011

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Fifa have banned Chelsea from signing new players until the transfer window opens in January 2011 after convincing Gael Kakuta to breach his contract with Lens when he joined in 2007.

Interesting really, but will they have the strength in depth to cope with over 12 months of domestic and European matches without any new additions. It seems at the moment that they have the strength in depth to survive this ban, but the situation could change dramatically if, say, Ancelloti decides he can't cope with his hands tied and not being able to develop his own team. Or if any number of players decide they want to leave within the space of the next 15 months.

FC Sion of Switzerland were similarly punished in 2008 for the same crime. So has Fifa now thrown down a new baton? It certainly looks like it.

What scope is there now for other "tapping up" incidents? Regarding our club, is there a case against us for how the Luke Garbutt situation was managed. Ken Bates has demanded the Premier League and FA take action against us for our procurement of the player in the summer. God help us if we were handed a similar ban.

Alternatively, what of the Man City tapping up of Joleon Lescott? Imagine all that Middle Eastern money having to stay in the bank for 15 months because they couldn't break any more transfer records.

Interesting times ahead me thinks...
Lloyd Sloan, Wallasey     Posted 03/09/2009 at 13:00:11

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Michael Kenrick
Interesting... especially this classic line in the middle of the BBC report:

"We expected this kind of decision. The player was under contract with us, and they came and stole him away from us," he said."

Isn't that exactly what happened with Lescott? Unfortunately, I think this case is purely about age, as revealed in the following quote:

"Chelsea didn't follow the rules. They contacted the player when he wasn't even 16 yet, and while he had been contracted to our training group from the age of eight."

So tapping up is okay after a certain age? What a crock (if true)...

John Martin
1   Posted 03/09/2009 at 16:36:50

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Bullshit Billy hopes we get the same ban. He’d be made up, I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't offer to take the ban on for Chelsea for a small fee.
Kunal Desai
2   Posted 03/09/2009 at 16:56:34

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Fifa are a bunch of clowns!!... they make the shit up as they go along, they all of a sudden have some vendetta against English clubs (first Eduardo and now this Chelsea banning). Are Fifa trying to set a precedent here, cos if this is the case then Moyes should take Man City and Lescott to the cleaners!! How about 5 window bans for City??!! Surely that would be a reasonable severity of punishment for tapping up an established Premier League England international and possibly fines running into millions!
Rich Roberts
3   Posted 03/09/2009 at 17:09:21

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Chelski banned from buying? CL team and one of the major spenders so it ain’t going to happen (watch how quickly they win an appeal). It’s only "small" teams that get shat on by Fifa.
Luke Garbutt .... Fuck a duck boys
Anthony Doran
4   Posted 03/09/2009 at 17:28:54

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I remember being told off on here that Lescott wasnt ’tapped up’ lol its seems Chelsea are hard done by here being banned for one year over a kid, while our main defender Lescott, clearly being tapped up and hounded by City through the media arent even being questioned! Joke! If we were handed a similar ban it would mean great peace and quiet through the summer with no bullshit rumors linking us with players we are never gonna get, please DM tap up someone fast BK will love you for it :)
Jon Cox
5   Posted 03/09/2009 at 17:12:52

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Six degrees of separation.

It is widely known that everyone can be connected to everyone else by six lines of.... connection. So, from me (as an example) to Kate Winslett.

My dad in WW2 knew Burt on an aircraft carrier who worked in the kitchens to feed the sailors. (thats two) Burt went on to work for, after the war Pinewood studios making bacon and egg sarnies for the "Carry on crew". He met an extra...... blah blah.. you nkow where i’m going, who ended giving birth to Kate. (I use this because in my opinion she is the best looking brit girl ever. Mr Beckam what a crap choice you made) Anyway you get my point.

For what has just happened with Chelski it could be said that there could be only four degrees of separation as to the reason why Fifa will not allow Technology to rule the beautiful game.

First in any crime we have motive. For that it can only be money. Just look at Fifa like we look at our government, it’s called expenses, gifts, who hosts the world cup, etc. So some could say well thats alright then whats that got to do woth technology? Well we couldn’t have South Korea V Norway in a world cup final could we!! I mean what would Nike, Addidas, Coca cola, Barclays Bank, Carling, and all the other money people that make Fifa into the prostitutes and the corrupt org. that we are finding out they most certainly are.
J J



Mike Green
6   Posted 03/09/2009 at 18:25:12

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Rich Roberts - my thoughts exactly (well the ones directly after "fuck me..."). You can see Kenyon peeling off the notes now to some horrible little go-between now - along with a few donated by Peter Scudamore.

Only thing that makes me think it’ll stick is your point Kunal - the fuckers are definetly out to put two fucks into the PL any way possible.

And so it begins....

How much we win the league this year and then get banned from Europe for the next 5? OK not much but you know what I mean...
Dick Anderson
7   Posted 03/09/2009 at 18:53:33

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At the rate Everton sign players would a 15-month ban even be noticed?

Chelsea cannot sign anyone until 2011 but I bet they still sign more players then us over the next 2 years.
Tom Bowers
8   Posted 03/09/2009 at 19:31:45

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Stuff like this has been going on since the year dot. Most of it gets under the radar but I believe it is done more subtely since ’’agents’’ came into the game. There is so much up for grabs that skullduggery and corruption is always an option for some people to get rich quick.

The players are merely the pawns in big business. Much like some referees the footballing authorities are naive to a lot of what’s really going on in the game. Obviously the rich clubs have the wherewithal to tap all the markets in their own way to attract the best players, 10-year-olds and 20-year-olds.

Dan McKie
9   Posted 03/09/2009 at 20:49:56

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BK has just found out we did the same with that 15-year-old from Southend! He says it's only right that he owns up and wants no special treatment for doing so. Rules are rules he says. He is gutted as he was going to make bids for Messi and Lampard in January!
Alan Clarke
10   Posted 03/09/2009 at 21:58:43

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John Martin, spot on. I pissed myself at that.
Marco Buonfiglio
11   Posted 03/09/2009 at 22:36:43

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So anyway, leaving aside all the inconsequential shit already posted (Rich Roberts, she can’t hold a candle to Corinne Russell, but that’s by the by), if this holds up in the International Sports Court of Adjudication (or whatever) it’s going to be very interesting.

Chelsea (i.e Peter Kenyon) are going to try to prove that this judgement is against EU law (i.e anti-competative). If Fifa have any nous whatsoever, they will try to prove that what Chelsea, and now Manchester City, are doing is — within a Uefa/Fifa context — anti-competitive: that is, using excessive resources to buy up and stockpile resources to prevent them being used by competitors.

Kenyon and City will scream precedent with Arsenal, Liverpool and United, but Arsenal are doing the same with Eduardo’s ban. Uefa/Fifa are desperate to draw some kind of line in the sand.

To all those screaming about Uefa/Fifa discrimination against the English, this may be the best thing that’s ever happened to the Premier League, and Everton. We may be looking at a salary cap. If it had applied five years ago, we’d still have lost Rooney. But if it’s brought in, it may enable us to hold on to Arteta, Jags, and Rodwell.
Anthony Millington
12   Posted 04/09/2009 at 00:21:53

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Man City didn’t tap Lescott up though did they. It’s not as if Everton had no say in the matter. OK Man City were unprofessional in using the constant media hype to turn Lescott’s head, but Man City made a bid for him that we accepted whereas in the Chelsea case I think the transfer went more or less under the club's radar eithout an agreement.
Lloyd Sloan
13   Posted 04/09/2009 at 02:27:46

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Marco, interesting point, and the EU, if Chelsea take it that far, are becoming renowned for taking the side of the underdog in competition rulings... look what they’ve done and are still attempting to do to Microsoft.

Another good case is against the pub ruling in the UK where Sky dominate the market. The UK High Court has referred a case, of a pub having a foreign satellite system showing Premiership matches, to the EU for judgement. Imagine Murdoch’s face if the EU rules against Sky. Anti-competition is big business in the EU at the moment so Chelsea had better look out. The EU and FIFA have been at odds before.

Regarding Lescott, are you telling me that Mark Hughes’ multiple press conferences revolving around his desire to sign Lescott didn’t cause a player, who’d previously signed a new five year deal only months before, to hand in a transfer request? Five months after agreeing a new improved deal, and then finishing 5th and in a cup final, Lescott suddenly decided "I don’t like it round here anymore"? His head was turned, and I would wager a lot of money that he knew what City were offering before he handed in his request. That’s called tapping up in my book.

City only had an offer accepted at the third attempt, and after the transfer request. City continually went for the player in the press even after the player’s manager stated that he didn’t want to sell him. Tapping up? Not ’alf mate!
Darragh Farrell
14   Posted 04/09/2009 at 10:34:02

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Kunal, FC Sion and Roma were called up on this too, are FIFA out to get Swiss and Italian football as well?

I’m living in Sarajevo and I’m glad that Uefa and Fifa appear to be taking a stronger line against the bigger European leagues and the Premier League in particular. There are what, some 50 member associations in Uefa, and Uefa’s job is to look after the best interests of football across the continent.

In this part of the world, once great clubs such as Red Star, Partizan, Hajduk, DInamo, Steaua etc. have been reduced to minnows at the European level. The Premier League is sucking the life out of other leagues. I see kids here only wearing Chelsea, Man U, Milan and Barca tops, and they don’t go to matches, just sit and watch the Sky 4 on TV. Who can blame them when the domestic leagues are so weak, all their players gone to the Premiership or Bundesliga?

What Platini tried to do this year in making the Champions League slighly more "fair" was commendable, but he is limited by what he can do as there will always be the possibility of the "big" clubs breaking away from Uefa. Money, although it has always been present in the game, is killing football, simple as.

Any Uefa/Fifa action against the Sky 4 will be greeted in the English press with anti-European "they're out to get us" jingoism. From an Everton perspective, I think this action against Chelsea — the application of the rules — does no harm.
Guy Wilkinson
15   Posted 04/09/2009 at 11:04:07

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I agree with the last 4 posts. Uefa bashing down the EPL will have a disproportionate negative effect on Murdoch’s pet 4. This can only be a good thing.

Chelsea will get the ban dropped to 1 transfer window on appeal.
Andrew Ellams
16   Posted 04/09/2009 at 12:11:50

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Real Madrid spend obscene money leading up to the season that culminates with the Champions League Final being held in their own stadium.

Uefa start to make examples of English CL representatives for offences that are being comitted everywhere. It stinks and is pretty blatant racism.
Peter Roberts
17   Posted 04/09/2009 at 12:13:06

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Darragh, well said, you beat me to the punch by 90 minutes or so.

There have indeed already been two previous cases of this - one was FC Sion just recently as April 2009 and the other was Roma in 2005. Roma got their suspension reduced to one window but I believe this took nearly six months of arguing with the rules. So any guff spouted in the English press about FIFA/UEFA going all anti-English is utter rubbish. Kunal and Mike Green take note.

Chelsea may well get their sentence reduced to one transfer window on appeal but it could well take until February to be ruled upon.

Meanwhile, if we are serious about Lescott being tapped up a la Ashley Cole from Arsenal to Chelsea, then we should report it to the FA. If I remember rightly the FA fined them and gave them a suspended points reduction for one year. Hopefully City get the same, though like with Chelsea the fine will be insignificant against the financial arsenal they have at their disposal.
Eugene Ruane
18   Posted 04/09/2009 at 12:04:33

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Chelsea’s plea that this is EPL bashing? Fuck right OFF!

Nobody else think it’s strange/ironic that a club that has bought so many overseas players, and had so many overseas managers, immediately reverted to little Englander mode, the second their corrupt behaviour was penalised?

"It’s the foreigners — they don’t like the English!" Again — Fuck off!

In my opinion, nobody has done more to fuck up the PL as a competitive league than Chelsea (with the blessing of The PL). They have unlimited ackers, they’ve spent 420 mill on players since the Russian arrived and they STILL had to cheat. Now they’re looking for sympathy!!?

Fact: Chelsea are arsed about themselves and themselves only. They bought their two titles and their CL spots and I hope Johnny Foreigner doubles to the original ban.
Shaun Brennan
19   Posted 04/09/2009 at 12:59:32

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Eugene Ruane, you have summed it up perfectly.

As for PL-bashing you know quite well as that is never the case now as Fifa would bend over backwards (or forwards) when Liverpool and Man Utd are concerned.
Steve Edwards
20   Posted 04/09/2009 at 15:49:44

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Darragh Farrell - Very interesting post. I hadn’t quite looked at it from that perspective.

Andrew Ellams - Poor sod, you’ve obviously been brain washed with political correctness... Blatant racism, what a load of shite.
Dan McKie
21   Posted 04/09/2009 at 16:44:43

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As long as they investigate every case the same and dish out the same punishment across the board, then it's fine. We know that won't happen with Fifa though.
Gerry Quinn
22   Posted 05/09/2009 at 13:02:49

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Ken Bates now wants the Football League to take similar action (to that handed out to Chelsea) against moneybags City and Everton - who have both raided the League One outfit’s renowned youth academy recently.

Last month, Leeds lost promising teenagers George Swann and Louis Hutton to Eastlands, while England under-17 captain Luke Garbutt left for Goodison Park.

The Toffees are facing a tribunal on Garbutt tomorrow and Bates said: "I hope the Chelsea ruling sends a message to the Football League tribunal about compensating smaller clubs adequately.

"Big clubs who strip other clubs’ youth policy should face stiff penalties.

"How can Manchester City pay £24 million for Joleon Lescott and take two of our 14-year-olds - and only offer us £70,000? They’ve spent £200m on new players and that’s all they are offering.

"On Monday we have a tribunal for Garbutt, who Everton nicked from us.

"I hope the ruling that has been handed down from Fifa on Chelsea will set the scene. It certainly sends a message to the Football League compensation tribunal about compensation.

"I’m not just talking about Leeds. Lots of smaller clubs than us have been stripped of their best kids and they should be adequately compensated."

Garbutt, 16, starred for the national under-17 side that competed at the European Championships earlier this year, scoring England’s only goal of the finals against Holland in their 1-1 draw.

The defender was born in Harrogate and joined Leeds at the age of 11 before progressing through the club’s successful academy to find himself on the brink of a first team debut last season.

Coaching staff at Everton rate Garbutt so highly that he is being tipped to eclipse teenagers like Dan Gosling and Jack Rodwell — and even Wayne Rooney.

"We are dissatisfied," added Bates. "The days of nicking Leeds players and paying peanuts are over. We are determined to be adequately compensated for the work we are doing in our academy."

Some of you may have your comments about Everton’s transfer policy over the next year or two come true.......
John Martin
23   Posted 05/09/2009 at 15:53:58

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So my original joke about Kenwright wanting a similar ban to apply to us might come true.

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