Author: Adam

The Football Association have confirmed that both Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur will be fined for failing to control their players during the clubs’ recent 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge that ended Spurs’ slim hopes of the title.

The match, which was dubbed as ‘The Brawl At The Bridge’ by the press, saw twelve yellow cards issued. Nine of them were shown to Tottenham players, the most one side has been issued with this season. The fines are for two incidents that took place during the game and one that happened after full-time.

Mousa Dembele, the Spurs player, had already been banned for six games earlier this month after video footage appeared to show him attempting to ‘gouge’ the eye of Chelsea striker Diego Costa. There was also an incident when Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino had to step onto the field of play in order to separate his defender Danny Rose and the Chelsea winger Willian, with the two players seemingly about to confront each other.

The other incident the FA have taken exception to involved Rose once again, with an altercation taking place that resulted in Chelsea’s interim manager, Guus Hiddink, being pushed to the floor.

Chelsea have been ordered to pay £375,000 as this is the fourth time that the West London club have breached the Football Association’s rule on mass confrontations since November of 2014. It is the third time that Spurs have breached the same rule, so they have been fined £225,000.

Both clubs have been warned about their future conduct by the Football Association, with the organisation keen to clamp down on what it perceives to be unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Incoming Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has been cleared of any wrongdoing in an investigation into match-fixing allegations dating back to 2011.

Conte, who will take charge of the Blues after he has led Italy to the European Championships in France this summer, had been accused of turning a blind eye to a match fixing scandal five years ago when he was in charge of the Italian side Siena. He denied he had done anything wrong, though he did serve a ban connected to the case in 2012.

The 46-year-old was acquitted by a judge in the Italian city of Cremona, owing to the fact that the judge felt the accusations against Conte were baseless. His ban in August of 2012 was originally for ten months, though an Italian sports tribunal later reduced that to four months. He was banned for ‘not reporting alleged match-fixing’ involving Siena during the 2010-2011 season, though he was manager of Juventus at the time of said ban.

Juventus have had their own problems with match-fixing in the past, of course, having their Serie A title stripped from them and getting relegated to Serie B at the end of the 2005-2006 season after being found guilty of match fixing alongside Lazio and Fiorentina.

Conte, who became the national coach of Italy in 2014, will take over at Chelsea after the Euros. The Stamford Bridge club had been searching for a new permanent manager since the owner, Roman Abramovich, sacked Jose Mourinho for the second time last December. The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ had led the club to their worst start to a top-flight campaign since the early 1960s, when a win was worth two points instead of three.

Guus Hiddink was appointed on an interim basis for the second time during his career, having previously arrived in West London to replace Luis Felipe Scolari when the Brazilian was sacked in 2009. The news that Conte has been cleared of any wrongdoing will be a relief to the Chelsea hierarchy, with the club keen to avoid any more controversy.

Both Chelsea Football Club and Jose Mourinho himself are currently in the middle of separate lawsuits involving Eva Carneiro, the club’s former doctor who felt she was belittled and humiliated by Mourinho in the aftermath of Chelsea’s opening game of the season, when the Portuguese manager suggested she was naive to enter the field of play to treat the winger Eden Hazard, despite the player appearing injured and the referee calling the medical team onto the pitch several times.

John Terry used his speech during Chelsea’s end of season celebrations to confirm what the club’s fans have wanted to hear: That he would like to stay at Stamford Bridge past this summer.

There has been some debate surrounding Terry’s future, with the club’s hierarchy leaving it very late to make any sort of confirmation regarding whether or not they would be offering him a new contract. That appeared to be solved last week when it was announced that the Blues had offered the club captain another year long contract.

There remained confusion heading into yesterday’s match against Premier League champions Leicester City, however, with Terry stating that the offer he’d been made was in a ‘different role’ for the club. His contract expired at the end of the season and in January the player himself said that he would not be staying as the club hadn’t offered him an extension.

35-year-old Terry was close to tears as he addressed the Stamford Bridge crowd after the defending Premier League champion’s final game of the season against the Foxes yesterday afternoon. The supporters were chanting, “John Terry, we want you to stay”, causing the centre back to reply, “We all want the same thing. I want to stay, the club knows that, the fans know that”.

Terry didn’t play against Leicester, having been suspended for the last two games of the season after being sent off for two bookable offences in the club’s 36th game of the league campaign against Sunderland last weekend. He did join the guard of honour that the West London club gave to Leicester’s players, however, and also joined his teammates in the traditional end-of-season lap of honour after the game.

A Chelsea spokesman said of the club’s offer of a new contract on Friday, “With it coming so late in the season, this is a big decision for John and his family”. It has left the former England captain time to consider his options, with neither the player himself nor the club confirming what the new role offered to the player would entail.

Terry also had some good words to say about his outgoing boss Guus Hiddink. The Dutchman was brought in on an interim basis to replace Jose Mourinho, with the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ having been sacked by the club’s owner, Roman Abramovich, last December. It came on the back of the Blues enduring their worst start to a top-flight campaign since the 1960s.

With Antonio Conte due to take over the reigns of the management position at Stamford Bridge as soon as he’s led Italy to the European Championships in France this summer, Terry believes that the West London club will be back fighting at the top of the table next season.

He said, “This has been a difficult season, we are where we deserve to be in the league. The fans have stuck with us. Thank you. I can assure you we’ll be back fighting for this title next year. On a personal note, this has been tough for me, very emotional. Before I sign off I’d like to say thank you to Guus Hiddink. He is a great man”.

Terry has so far notched up 703 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions since he made his debut for the club in 1998. During that time he has won four Premier League trophies, five FA Cups, three League Cups and one each of the Champions League and Europa League.

John Terry has confirmed that the new contract offered to him by Chelsea Football Club earlier in the week is for a ‘different role’ at the club moving forward.

The 35-year-old centre-back’s contract is due to expire at the end of the season and Chelsea were keen for contract negotiations to remain behind closed doors. However Terry admitted in January that they had not spoken to him and he would not be staying beyond the summer. This led to protests from some Chelsea fans, with numerous supporters holding up banners in support of the club captain during the game against Liverpool on Wednesday night.

It was believed that the announcement of a new contract offer by the club yesterday would stave off any potential protests at the final game of the season at Stamford Bridge tomorrow afternoon. That has now been put in some doubt, with Terry taking to social media platform Instagram to say, “The contract extension the club has offered me is a different role and I hope everyone will understand I want to take the time to consider it carefully before making a decision”.

It has been a season of disharmony at Stamford Bridge. Jose Mourinho, the manager beloved by Chelsea fans, was sacked in December after leading the club to their worst start to a top-flight campaign since the 1960s. The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ was involved in a high profile disagreement with one of the club’s doctors, Eva Carneiro, after she entered the field of play to give treatment to a seemingly injured Eden Hazard on the opening day of the season.

That disagreement was believed to have caused something of a ruction with the squad, most of whom were quite close to Carneiro. It has also led to legal proceedings against both the club and Mourinho himself that are still ongoing. After Mourinho’s sacking some sections of the Chelsea support made their feelings known to the players over the fact that they felt they weren’t playing well enough to deliberately get the Portuguese manager sacked, with Fabregas, Hazard and Costa amongst those targeted.

Mourinho was replaced by Guus Hiddink on an interim basis until the end of the season. The Dutchman, who arrived at Stamford Bridge in 2009 under similar circumstances when Roman Abramovich, Chelsea’s owner, sacked Brazilian manager Luis Felipe Scolari. That year he won the FA Cup with the Blues, though this year they were knocked out of that competition by Everton in the quarter-finals.

Terry’s contract negotiations are, therefore, merely the latest in a long line of problems the club has endured this season. They have dropped more points compared to the previous season than any Premier League team before them. The club has already announced that current Italian manager Antonio Conte will be their permanent head coach for next season. Conte will arrive in West London after taking Italy to the European Championships and favours a formation that allows for three centre-backs, leading some to speculate that Terry could yet extend his playing career at Stamford Bridge.

The former England captain, who is suspended for the visit of new Premier League champions Leicester City tomorrow, has so far made 703 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions since his debut in 1998. Whether he decides to continue a career at the club away from the football pitch remains to be seen, though Hiddink said on Friday that ‘t’s good to have big players in a club who are big personalities’.

Chelsea Football Club today confirmed that they have offered their current captain, John Terry, a new one year contract to stay at Stamford Bridge.

There has been a huge amount of speculation regarding Terry’s future in recent months, with the player himself confirming that he’s keen to remain at Chelsea but that the club hadn’t opened negotiations with him. The speculation appears to have been put to bed, with the club confirming this lunchtime that they’ve offered him a new deal.

Terry and his agent, Paul Nicholls, met with the West London club’s chairman, Bruce Buck, and director, Marina Granovskaia, to discuss a potential offer at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground earlier this week. A club spokesman confirmed as much, saying, “Marina Granovskaia and Bruce Buck met with John and his agent this week and offered him a one-year contract extension.
‘With it coming so late in the season, this is a big decision for John and his family and it is something that they are now considering”.

During the club’s match against Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday night some Chelsea supporters attempted to stage a demonstration, with banners held aloft demanding he be kept at the club for another year. It’s unclear whether the demonstration made any difference to the situation, though it’s unlikely to be the case seeing as it’s believed the meeting over the former England captain’s future took place earlier in the week.

Terry couldn’t play for the Blues in Wednesday night’s game, having been sent off for a second bookable offence during Chelsea’s match against Sunderland last weekend. As he’d previously been sent off earlier in the season the usual one match ban was extended to two matches, meaning he’ll also miss the season’s final game against the new Premier League champions Leicester at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

The announcement of the new offer should quell the anger of Chelsea fans, with some supporters’ groups planning to sing his name throughout the game against the Foxes as well as holding up more banners and signs in support of their captain. There were fears that it might overshadow the end of a disappointing season for the defending Premier League champions.

Antonio Conte, the Italian manager who is due to come in as Chelsea’s new head coach after this summer’s European Championships in France, favours playing with three at the back and is believed to be planning to introduce that system to his new players during their pre-season campaign. That might allow Terry to play for longer, given that the two defenders alongside him could do a lot of the running for the 35-year-old.

Guus Hiddink, Chelsea’s interim manager who will depart the Stamford Bridge club after this weekend’s game, admitted during his press conference earlier today that he’d been telling the club to ‘cherish’ their legends. He said, “I talk to the people inside every now and then. I’m always in favour, generally speaking, that players, ex players – I’m not talking about John now – have a lot of influence in the culture of a club”.

”When the players say goodbye to a club they love”, Hiddink continued, “And come back, in whatever task, I’m in favour. Maybe that’s also for John in the future. I don’t know. He is already 21 years in this club. I saw an image of him recently coming in as a youngster. It’s huge, 21 years. That’s why they become legends. You must cherish those legends for the future as well”.

Terry made his Chelsea debut in October 1998 and has so far made 703 appearances in all competitions for the club. During that time he has won the Premier League four times, the FA Cup five times, three League Cups, the UEFA Europa League once and the UEFA Champions League once also. He’s been Chelsea’s player of the year on two occasions, the PFA Players’ Player of the Year once and has been featured in UEFA’s Team of the Year four times.

The defender’s career has not been without controversy, however. In 2010 a super-injunction was imposed on the British media by the High Court refusing to allow them to cover allegations that Terry had had an affair with Vanessa Perroncel, the former girlfriend of his Chelsea and England teammate Wayne Bridge. Perroncel denies the affair to this day, though the allegations were enough to see Terry stripped of the England captaincy.

Then in 2011 the police investigated allegations that Terry had racially abused Anton Ferdinand, the Queens Park Rangers player, during a match between QPR and Chelsea. It was alleged that Terry had called him a ‘f*cking black c*nt’, though Terry always strenuously denied the allegations. The police charged him with using racist language, though the judge in the case later found him not guilty. The Football Association, however, charged him with using “abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour”, charging him £220,000 and banning him for four matches. He announced his retirement from England international duties on the eve of the FA’s hearing.

Chelsea are exploring the option of a groundshare move of The Olympic Stadium with West Ham during the three year period that their new stadium is being built.

The defending Premier League champions will need to find a new home from 2017 as the club look to redevelop Stamford Bridge into a 60,000 seater stadium. The West London club had originally explored the possibility of building a new ground at a number of locations, including Earls Court and Battersea Power Station, before eventually deciding on a £600 million refurbishment of the ground that they’ve called home since 1905.

The scale of the project means that they won’t be able to continue using the ground after next season, meaning that they’re looking for somewhere else to play their home games for the three years during which construction will take place. A £20 million a year deal has reportedly been agreed for the Blues to use Wembley Stadium during that time, but the club want to keep their options open.

That has led them to have talks with the London Legacy Development Corporation, the business that owns and operates The Olympic Stadium. There’s also belief within Stamford Bridge that Twickenham could also be a potential location for their home games during the redevelopment phase.

West Ham have agreed a deal to call The Olympic Stadium their home from next season, having played their final game at The Boleyn Ground against Manchester United earlier this week. The Hammers would need to agree to a groundshare with Chelsea, though their contract with the London Legacy Development Corporation would allow them to do so.

Chelsea officials met with the powers that be at the LLDC at the end of last year to discuss a possible move, with no firm agreement put in place. It is believed that West Ham would be resistant to any such move, though the financial implications of sharing the space with Roman Abramovich’s club could yet persuade them otherwise.

West Ham agreed to pay £2.5 million per year for 99 years for the right to move into The Olympic Stadium from next season, beating Tottenham Hotspur who also wanted to use the ground. There was some controversy over the awarding of the use of the stadium to West Ham, with the Hammers having paid very little for it. It is believed to have cost £272 million to convert the ground to being a suitable space for Premier League football, with West Ham contributing just £15 million towards those costs.

The details of that deal were only made public after a legal battle with the stadium’s owners LLDC. Spurs, having lost out on the chance to play their games at The Olympic Stadium, have instead decided to redesign White Hart Lane in a similar manner to Chelsea’s decision to revamp Stamford Bridge. It is understood that they are close to agreeing a deal with the Football Association to play their home games at Wembley Stadium during the 2017-2018 season. That is part of the reason why Chelsea are exploring other options for their home games, reluctant as they are to alternate use of the home of the England international team with such fierce rivals.

Chelsea’s interim manager, Guus Hiddink, believes that the club captain, John Terry, deserves a huge send-off and a massive thank you from the Chelsea fans for his years of loyal service to the club.

Terry won’t play again for Chelsea this season after he was sent-off for two bookable offences during the defending Premier League champions’ match against Sunderland last weekend. As it was his second dismissal of the season the usual one match suspension issued for a double-booking is increased to two games, meaning the 35-year-old will miss tonight’s game against Liverpool as well as the season’s final match against new Premier League champions Leicester City on Sunday.

There is still some debate around the future of Terry, with the club captain publicly stating that Chelsea have no offered him a contract extension despite his desire to remain at Stamford Bridge. That means he looks set to leave the club unless incoming boss Antonio Conte believes the former England captain has something to offer his team next season. That is unlikely to be decided until after this summer’s European Championship tournament in France, however, with Conte concentrating on his duties as Italian manager until he moves to West London.

Whatever happens in the future, though, Hiddink feels the fans should make their feelings known towards a stalwart of the club. The Dutchman said, “Whether he stays, whether he goes – in the last option, he deserves a huge goodbye”.

His presence is unlikely to be missed at Anfield this evening, with Liverpool fans having given the Londoner quite a bit of grief over the years. During the court case against Terry after the alleged racial abuse of Anton Ferdinand, the former-England centre-back was forced to recall how Liverpool fans used to sing “John Terry’s ma loves the Scouse cock” to him when he played at their home ground; a song that referenced the fact that his mother used to date a person from the city of Liverpool.

With both Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard allowed to leave the club without much fanfare in recent years it seems unlikely that Terry’s contract will be renewed. But Hiddink feels the club are right to take their time over his departure. He said, “People who are making the decisions want to take their time. That’s up to them. That doesn’t mean there’s dramatic, bad treatment so far, but everyone has his own approach to deal with this matter. It’s never goodbye with those players, because I think in the near future, whatever happens, they can have a big impact in clubs”.

Terry has played 703 times for Chelsea in all competitions, making his debut in 1998. 483 of those appearances have been in the Premier League during which time he’s won four titles, five FA Cups, the Champions League in 2012, the Europa League in 2013 and three League Cup winners’ medals. He’s also gained 78 international caps, retiring from England in 2012 after the racial abuse incident with Anton Ferdinand was pursued by the Football Association, with the FA banning Terry for four matches.

Ultimately, though, Hiddink believes the future of John Terry at Chelsea is up to Antonio Conte. He said, “When I make a judgement on how he plays and his fitness on his age, he’s able to play, he’s able to continue. Where? What the near future is is up to the club, it’s not for me to make declarations on that”.

Monday night was all about Leicester City’s first ever top-flight title, but the draw between Spurs and Chelsea that handed it to them was an ill-tempered affair that has led the Football Association to charge both clubs for failing to control their players and officials.

Twelve yellow cards were issued during the game, with nine of them being shown to Tottenham players. That is a Premier League record for the amount of yellows shown to one team during a game. Several Spurs players were also lucky to avoid red cards, with the match referee Mark Clattenburg missing numerous key moments.

One such moment was Mousa Dembele’s attempted eye-gouge on Deigo Costa that came during a melee in front of the dugouts towards the end of the first-half. The FA have decided that the attempted eye-gouge amounts to more than the usual charge of violent conduct.

Should Dembele be found guilty of the offence then a standard three game ban will be seen by the Football Association as being ‘clearly insufficient’ and he will almost certainly be banned for longer. The midfielder has until 6pm tonight to respond to the charge and the allegations that have been levelled at him.

Spurs players lost their cool after Chelsea clawed back a 2-0 deficit to draw 2-2 during the match at Stamford Bridge, a result that meant the London club would not be able to catch Leicester City and handed the Premier League title to the Foxes. It was an explosive game that featured two mass brawls, including one that resulted in Chelsea’s interim manager, Guus Hiddink, being pushed over.

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino had to go onto the field of play at one point in order to separate his defender Danny Rose from Chelsea’s Willian, with the two squaring up to each other. Rose was also one of the players involved in the moment that saw the Blues’ Dutch boss get pushed to the floor. It was one of numerous incidents that Clattenburg saw but elected not to punish with a red card.

A statement from the football association said, “Off-the-ball incidents which are not seen at the time by the match officials are referred to a panel of three former elite referees. Each referee panel member will review the video footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider it a sending-off offence.”For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision of the panel must be unanimous”.

Tottenham’s Eric Dier was one of numerous players involved in heavy tackling of Chelsea players, with the defensive-midfielder guilty of a few challenges that might have seen him sent from the pitch on another occasion. Spurs led the defending Premier League champions 2-0 at half-time, hoping for their first victory at Stamford Bridge since before the invention of the Premier League in 1992. As the Blues got back into the game Tottenham’s players lost their heads and went on to lose out on the title.

Chelsea scored two second half goals at Stamford Bridge last night in order to halt Tottenham’s chase of Leicester City and hand a first ever league title to the Foxes.

Goals from Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min gave Spurs a 2-0 lead at half-time and gave hope to the London club’s race for the title, with Spurs needing to win their remaining games if they were to have any hope of catching Leicester. They have never won a Premier League match at Stamford Bridge, however, with their last victory coming in 1990 when former Leicester striker Gary Lineker scored the winning goal.

The bad-tempered match saw Chelsea come back into the game in the second half after a goal from Gary Cahill gave the Blues hope and a tremendous equaliser from Eden Hazard saw them draw level. The goals came as Spurs lost their cool and ended the match with nine men on yellow cards – the most bookings by a single team during one match in Premier League history.

Leicester City could have had cause for complaint should Spurs have gone on to win the match, with several Tottenham players lucky to escape red cards. Mousa Dembele appeared to try to gouge the eye of Chelsea’s Diego Costa during one first-half fracas that was missed by the officials. There was also a moment involving Danny Rose and Willian that Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino needed to intervene in.

Pochettino felt that the spicy nature of the encounter was actually a compliment from Chelsea, with the physical approach they took representative of the fact that the West Londoners now see Tottenham as genuine rivals. He said, “When you play for the title and play a very big team like Chelsea it is normal to show emotion, but fighting on the pitch is not a good example for both teams”.

Eric Dier was another player lucky to avoid a red card, with several strong challenges only resulting in a single booking from Mark Clattenburg who struggled to keep up with the pace of the game. Chelsea captain John Terry hopes the Football Association bear in mind the emotion of the occasion when they consider retrospective action, however. He said, “Players are fighting for league titles, it’s emotions. It boiled over, let’s not get silly and start banning people. It’s a London derby and the fans want to see it”.

Chelsea fans were delighted to see their side ruin Tottenham’s title hopes after what has been a dreadful season for the defending Premier League champions. They endured their worst start to a top-flight campaign since the 1960s, with manager Jose Mourinho sacked in December as the Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, bringing in former interim manager Guus Hiddink as his replacement in order to bring some stability to Stamford Bridge.

Midfielder Cesc Fabregas felt that it was the least Chelsea deserved after dominating most of the match, with the Spaniard also suggesting that it was a microcosm of Chelsea’s season as a whole. He said, “It’s a little bit how our season has gone – first half not too good, a little bit too easy. Then a wake-up call and we start performing. It’s a shame because I believe we have a lot of quality in this team and we can do a lot better. They scored two goals because we didn’t defend well enough but I think 70-75% of the game was ours”.

The true winners last night were Leicester City. The Foxes were 5000-1 to win the title at the start of the season, with some bookmakers convinced there was more chance that Elvis was still alive than Claudio Ranieri’s men winning the Premier League. It is the first time since 1978 that a club that had never won the top-flight title has gone on to do so.

The BBC have confirmed that they will show highlights of tonight’s match between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in a special Match Of The Day broadcast after the game has finished.

Spurs head to Stamford Bridge needing three points if they are to have any hope of catching Leicester at the top of the table. Chelsea, meanwhile, will be hoping that their poor season will at least have a small silver lining in the shape of ending their London rivals’ bid for the title.

Before this weekend’s rounds of fixtures began Leicester needed three points from their remaining three games in order to win the Premier League title. Their draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday means that that has been reduced to two points from their last two matches against Everton and Chelsea.

Spurs, however, are eight points behind the Foxes with a game in hand. That means that they need to win all three of the games that they still have to play and hope that Leicester drop more points in their last two fixtures. That means that anything less than a win for Spurs at Stamford Bridge will hand the title to Leicester City this evening.

The defending Premier League champions, Chelsea, have endured a torrid season. Their former manager Jose Mourinho was sacked in December, with the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ having led the Blues to their worst start to a top-flight campaign since the 1960s. Tonight’s match represents their best chance of some slight success, with the chance to deny Tottenham of the title as close to silverware as they’ll be able to get this season.

The special broadcast of Match Of The Day will be on BBC One at 22.55 this evening and the game will also be commentated on by the BBC’s 5 live team. Football fans across England have been caught up in the romance of Leicester City’s season, having seen the Foxes go from seven points from safety last Easter to leading the race for the title for most of this season.