Chelsea fight back against UEFA

14 April 2012

Peter Kenyon today launched a strong counter-attack against UEFA and revealed his concern that Chelsea's case has been prejudiced by individuals within the organisation.

Speaking for the first time on the controversy Chelsea's chief executive gave his full backing to Jose Mourinho, assistant manager Steve Clarke and security official Les Miles and vowed to take their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if they are found guilty at next week's UEFA hearing.

Chelsea are furious at the manner in which their disrepute charge has been handled and accused individuals at UEFA of compromising the principles of natural justice.

In a carefully worded statement Kenyon said: "Our defence has been dismissed before it has even been considered. Our witnesses have been branded as liars without any opportunity to be heard or defend themselves. That offends all principles of justice both in England and across Europe.

"If the factual disputes of this case have been decided in advance, we will have no choice but to pursue alternative avenues of legal redress, including an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which does not allow individual officials to prejudice the outcome of judicial proceedings."

Chelsea are standing by their original allegations that Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard met with Anders Frisk during half-time of their Champions League clash at the Nou Camp and offered their full support to Mourinho, Clarke and Miles, who stand accused to telling lies to create a poisonous atmosphere between the clubs.

Kenyon said: "Chelsea utterly refutes that the club, or any of its representatives, participated in a deliberate ploy of false declarations or lies in order to cynically influence the result of the tie, to put pressure on refereeing officials or poison the atmosphere between the teams.

"All statements in our report submitted to UEFA were made in good faith and are honestly held. Chelsea fully adheres to and respects, the processes of UEFA and is under no illusion about the seriousness of these charges. We will defend these in the proper manner and within the guidelines laid down by UEFA.

"However the statements against Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, Steve Clarke, and Les Miles by at least one senior UEFA official means we are no longer able to keep our own counsel, which we have consistently done since submitting our report to UEFA following the Barcelona versus Chelsea first leg match.

"These statements have called into question publicly the integrity of our manager, assistant coach, security officer and the club as a whole and we cannot allow these to stand unchallenged."

Chelsea are particularly unhappy at the statements of UEFA's director of communications William Gaillard, who has publicly dismissed their claims as impossible and suggested that their punishment could be expulsion from this season's Champions League.

Kenyon added: "Chelsea are both surprised and disappointed that at least one individual within UEFA appears to have launched an unprecedented attack on the club.

"Unfortunately some within UEFA have decided to ignore their own organisation's reputation for fairness by playing out this debate in the public arena ahead of any hearing. This hearing would have been, and still is, the proper forum for such debate.

Chelsea will today learn their punishment for their initial misdemeanours in Barcelona, relating to the club's late return for the second half and failure to attend the post-match press conference.

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Chelsea fight back against UEFA

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