Another week, another race related controversy involving Chelsea. The Blues have made it an unfortunate habit of late to swim in the murky waters of race related incidents, although this time, it’s them making the charge against Mark Clattenburg, the referee for their, to put it mildly, feisty match against Man United last Sunday.
Two Chelsea players were given their marching orders, with Torres’s second yellow seeming harsh with the benefit of a replay, and reports of a flare up in the referees room suddenly transformed to Chelsea lodging a formal complaint against Clattenburg over alleged racist language used against John Obi Mikel.
The logical conclusions to what promises to be a bit of a saga are; One, Clattenburg didn’t say anything, and it can’t be proved that he did, Chelsea manage to brush it under the carpet as a misunderstanding. Two, that Clattenburg is found guilty of racial abuse, and is appropriately sanctioned. Three, that Clattenburg isn’t found guilty, and the FA sanction Chelsea for baseless and defamatory allegation against their officials. Whatever the outcome, these allegations do possibly mean that Clattenburg’s position as a referee in the top flight will now be untenable. The first outcome looks the most likely but sanctions against Chelsea seem a distant dream. However, the possibility of Clattenburg being found guilty is still alive, although one hopes the game hasn’t fallen to such chasms yet.