Arsenal vice-chairperson David Dein may believe that the Premiership runners-up can return to a businesslike relationship with the team who deposed them as champions, Chelsea, but that is certainly not the line coming out of their London rivals.
Arsenal and Chelsea must sit down together at the two-day Premiership conference starting on Thursday.
However, judging by Chelsea’s reaction to the £300 000 (R3,7-million) fine and suspended three-point deduction handed out by the Premier League on Wednesday over tapping up Gunners fullback Ashley Cole, there will be a frosty reception awaiting Dein.
Rather than accepting their guilt in trying to lure Cole — who was fined £100 000 (R1,2-million) — away from Arsenal during a pre-arranged meeting in a London hotel, the champions preferred to point the finger at Arsenal.
”Anything is possible, but it will be very difficult to have a good relationship with Arsenal,” said Blues chairperson Bruce Buck. ”They are in our league and we have to deal with them, but when you look at it, Arsenal had an agenda.
”None of the scenarios I’m thinking about are positive when it comes to Chelsea and Arsenal, but we can try.”
Buck highlighted the manner in which Arsenal had treated Cole over the matter, contrasting it with how Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho — fined £200 000 (R2,5-million) — had reacted at the hearing when asked what he would have done if he were told a player of similar stature at his club was unhappy.
”I think it is an unfortunate situation. He is a fine young man, who was caught up in this situation,” said the quietly spoken American lawyer.
”At the hearing two weeks ago, Jose Mourinho was asked how he would react if John Terry had been discovered talking to Arsenal in the bar after a match, and Mourinho handled it beautifully.
”He said he would call the player in and ask him what the problem was, and if it was a football issue, he would have gone out of his way to resolve it. If it was a financial one, he would have gone to Peter Kenyon and the board and told them to resolve it.
”In this case, the player’s current club [Arsenal] didn’t try to resolve anything, but made it into a spectacle which I think inappropriate and not in the best interests of the player or football.
”Arsenal had a particular agenda here, it seems.”
Dein, who is a former vice-president of the Football Association (FA), had earlier said that he believed with the matter resolved — although all three parties are likely to appeal the sanctions — the two clubs could resume normal business.
”It is a closed chapter and we are looking to the future,” said Dein. ”We will sit down with Chelsea at the Premier League summer meeting on Thursday and Friday.”
”We will move on and hopefully upwards,” he added with a wry smile, referring to Arsenal’s second place in the Premiership.
As for Cole’s future, Dein said he hopes the England left-back will remain with the club and for longer than the remaining two years on his contract.
”Ashley is still our player, He still has two years on his contract and we want him to stay. We have nurtured him since he was nine years old. He is a world-class player and we hope his career with us will go on even longer.
”He has been punished today. People make mistakes in life and the wounds must be healed.”
Chelsea certainly don’t seem to be a destination for him.
”Our view, and the rule is that it breaches the rules if you make an approach with the intent of entering a contract with that player,” said Buck. ”We had no intent of doing that and we made it very clear to the player’s club that we had no intentions on him.”
For the moment, the jury is out on whether Arsenal can indeed go upwards and regain their title. Whether Cole is part of that team is also debatable.
The only thing that is certain is the Gunners’ relations with Chelsea are now even worse than they are with Manchester United — it is a case of ice-Cole in London. — Sapa-AFP