Yes, it is unfair - John Ley
Ok, so Fifa have to start somewhere. But why take until now to
punish a club so severely for “tapping” up a young player?
And how can they justify either the severity of the punishment
and, more shockingly, the ban imposed on a youngster who was, at
the time of the alleged approach, just 15?
And isn’t it just a tad cynical of football’s governing body to
hit Chelsea with the ban just two days after the window had
closed.
Clearly Chelsea knew nothing of this imposing punishment
beforehand - surprising in a world when secrets are few - otherwise
they would not have allowed Andrei Shevchenko to leave, or even let
Shane Cummings sign for Reading on a permanent basis.
As Chelsea are about to discover now, every injury, every
suspension, indeed every player, counts.
What I find most draconian about this is the four-month ban
imposed on the person in question, Gael Kakuta.
He was two months short of his 16th birthday when he left Lens.
Surely he had advisors; surely he had people who told him he was
doing no wrong. Or was the blue carrot Chelsea dangled just too
great an incentive?
It appears that Chelsea broke the rules, and they do have a
history in that department. But what happens every summer?
Is it me or is an Arsenal player linked with moves to Spain
every closed season?
And remember Sir Alex Ferguson’s response mid-season when asked
if it was true Cristiano Ronaldo was heading for Madrid.
“I wouldn’t sell them a virus”, said Ferguson famously. But look
what happened.
Ronaldo and Kakuta do not roll off the tongue together but the
principle is the same.
And what about the hundreds of African and South American kids
lured away from a lifetime of poverty by the rich of Europe. You
are not telling me every transfer of every promising starlet is all
above board.
Chelsea may have to accept that dealing in the January window
will be closed to them. But any appeal has to win and allow them
back to business for the 2010 summer window.
Otherwise Fifa will stand accused of a witch-hunt, and turning
Kakuta into a household name. After all, who had heard of Jean-Marc
Bosman before the famous Bosman ruling?
No, the ban is necessary - Rory Smith
Chelsea fans may cry conspiracy, anti-English or anti-oligarch,
or the more enlightened among them may claim they are little more
than Fifa’s fall-guy, punished as an example to others over the
Gaël Kakuta affair.
They may be right on the first count, and they certainly are on
the second. That, though, is the point.
Frank Arnesen, Peter Kenyon et al are not the first officials,
assuming the Fifa ban on acquiring players until 2011 stands (which
it will not), to “induce” a young player to leave the club which
nurtured him before he has signed professional terms to join a
larger outfit who can pay him more money.
They have every right to wonder, in fact, why none of their 'Big
Four' brethren have been cited for such offences, so strikingly
similar to that of Lens are some of the complaints which have
emanated from Italy, Germany and Spain about the conduct of
Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United.
But Fifa have to start somewhere. They are the game’s governing
body and, as such, they have a duty to protect the poor as well as
the rich.
For too long have all of the game’s big sides - and not just the
British ones, either - trampled over their smaller cousins to
procure the best talent. It has to be stamped out, worldwide, for
the good of the game. That is a phrase Fifa should recognise.
There is no question that the penalty is harsh. Precedent
suggests it will be halved - as was Roma’s, for a similar offence,
over the signing of Philippe Mexes - but there was little else Fifa
could do.
Financial penalties, however apparently severe, have little
impact on the extravagantly wealthy clubs which inhabit football’s
top tier and Fifa have no jurisdiction over the competitions in
which Chelsea compete, all of which are run by the FA, the Premier
League or Uefa.
Only by linking punishment to crime - if you will not abide by
the rules of the transfer market, we will deny you access to the
transfer market - could Fifa have the impact they need, to make
clubs sit up and take notice.
It will be of little solace to Chelsea, but, by being caught and
punished, they will have helped stop the pillage of academies
worldwide which was simply perpetuating the primacy of the
powerful, and for that we will all be grateful in the long run.
