Man Utd (players) v. Chelsea (ground staff)

The all-new Man Utd versus Chelsea, but not what you were thinking! From Sky Sports:

The Football Association will ask to see 'all details and TV footage' of the post-match bust-up between Manchester United players and Chelsea staff.

Patrice Evra, Gary Neville, Park Ji-Sung and Paul Scholes were warming down after Chelsea's 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge when a row ensued with the ground staff tending to the pitch.

Chelsea later confirmed that they would be reviewing the relevant footage and taking action wherever appropriate.

FA spokesman Andrin Cooper has now revealed that the matter will be looked into fully.

He said: "This will have nothing to do with the referee's report. He would have been in his dressing room a long way from the incident.

"But we will obviously be asking Chelsea to let us see their CCTV footage of the incident."

Tempers also flared during the match and United defender Rio Ferdinand had to apologise to a steward after accidentally kicking her following Michael Ballack's late penalty winner.

Something had better happen after these investigations. After the FA made an example of Mascherano smiling and not attacking a referee, I really hope that some of these players are going to get lengthy bans, even though I don't see it happening. We all know that Man Utd players are extremely egocentric, and think that they can get away with murder both on and off the pitch, but this is taking things too far, especially after Rio Ferdinand managed to accidentally kick a steward after they went 2-1 down!

These 2 clubs make me sick. Everything about both of them. Theyll get away with this as well no doubt. Ferguson wanted to know how a ref could give a peno like that in such a big game? What are you on man it was a clear peno and the first one against you scumbags all season. Ferdinand kicks a steward mmm see what happens here as the press wanted Masch hung for asking a ref whats happening but no doubt the future England captain will walk away clean

If you haven't noticed I hate these 2 with a passion 

Was awaiting the national TV reporting on this.

Funny.  They failed to mention it in the coverage on the news.  Now if it had been us..

Personally, for what Mascherano got a 5 match ban for I find all of this pretty disgusting.  Man Utd have done it for years, and Man Utd will continue to get away with it for years.

These 2 clubs make me sick. Everything about both of them. Theyll get away with this as well no doubt. Ferguson wanted to know how a ref could give a peno like that in such a big game? What are you on man it was a clear peno and the first one against you scumbags all season. Ferdinand kicks a steward mmm see what happens here as the press wanted Masch hung for asking a ref whats happening but no doubt the future England captain will walk away clean

If you haven't noticed I hate these 2 with a passion 

Exactly! Ferguson always manages to find excuses for his team losing, but if the handball had been in his favour he'd be singing a different tune!  : Plus the way he talked about the linesman and referee had me fuming too, no respect for them at all!

At least he couldn't moan and say enough injury time wasn't played, for a while I was seriously thinking the match was going to arrive at the 100 minute mark! I hate Chelsea, but I definitely hate Utd more, so I really hope the Chavs win the title, just to Fergie's red angry face saying how it was all fixed!! 

Spot on JD. At least 3 utd players charged to the ref similar to how Masch did against them and nothing then 2 of them went into the linesman and abused him from a height. Ferdinand, the bookies favourites to be next England captain, tho I thought Capello said the captain would be a role model on and off the pitch, was involved in both cases

The press will never down utd no matter what they do. Ferguson made changes to his side yesterday will that be mentioned? will it f**k but Rafa will be lashed out of it. Im actually starting to hope its us and them in Moscow and do them on the biggest stage manc c**ts   

cant believe I wasted me 600th post talking about poxy man utd!! what a waste

Heard about this after our game yesterday and I was awaiting a hard statement from the FA today - because after the way Ferdinand and Hargreaves had carried on in the game, that was bad enough on it's own! But they're just going to look into it then?

Totally unfair the special treatment the mancs get.



Going after the ref







Going after Chelsea officials

Thanks for those lovely images of top class role models abiding by the rules and of course behaving in a non-bookable way...

 : : : : :

Heard about this after our game yesterday and I was awaiting a hard statement from the FA today - because after the way Ferdinand and Hargreaves had carried on in the game, that was bad enough on it's own! But they're just going to look into it then?

Totally unfair the special treatment the mancs get.


Going after the ref







Going after Chelsea officials

Kenny can we send these to the FA ?  Its obvious they are blatantly ignoring the disgraceful behaviour of "The Special Ones" - pisses me off good style I tell you.  There must be something that can be done about this.  I'm sure Liverpool Fans aren't the only ones who are fed up with the one rule for them and one rule for us sh*t.

Can't you think of anything better to do than be talking about United again, I don't know what went on but all of this "one rule for us and another for them" is just bs. Any wrongdoing will be punished but to climb on your high horse about Mascherano is ridiculous, he was asking for it and you know it, questioning every decision the ref made was bound to finally be the last straw...

Can't you think of anything better to do than be talking about United again,

that from a man whose fellow fans do nothing but sing about us no matter who you play!! You know cantona that if that had been us sky sports and the press be all over it and are you never embarrassed by your managers after match rants when ye know hes wrong

All these pictures are great. Does anyone think these players will feel the full force of the FA? I dont think so United get away with far too much in my eyes and Chelsea are just as bad. I hope for everyones sake there all baned, fined and made an example of just like Massa was

Can't you think of anything better to do than be talking about United again

If it would have been any other team, this thread would still have been created, as it's a talking point. How often is it that you hear of players fighting with ground staff after a match? Not very often at all. And it just so happens it had to be your players after a defeat. You have to accept people will talk.

Me being a Liverpool fan, I'm not all that interested on how bad your club is treated by a good majority of the media. But there's no doubt in my mind that if this incident would have happened with our team, there would be a little bit more coverage on it. Remember the so called truth of Carragher attacking Luton fans after our FA Cup game that made front page news?

And if you don't think Ferdinand had it coming yesterday after his actions - the way Mascherano did - then it's a bit cheap to say people getting on their high horse is ridiculous.

Mmmmmm........ Well said Kenny, I am appalled by this behaviour, and even more so the fact that they will probably get away with it, so unfair, the FA should throw the book at them.

Here's me thinking they were going to be consistent with their punishments, I think I will write to the FA and see what they have to say.

Ferdinand........England Captain !! don't make me laugh and Terry isn't any better.

For those who are following this affair like me, here is the latest from SkySports:

United players accuse Blues
Players deny starting scuffle

Manchester United players have insisted Chelsea staff provoked the post-match scuffle on Saturday at Stamford Bridge.

Following Chelsea's 2-1 defeat of United, a number of visiting players were warming down when they clashed with ground staff.

Patrice Evra, John O'Shea, Gerard Pique, Carlos Tevez, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Park Ji-sung were all present when the incident occurred.

Pictures have since shown Evra at the heart of the melee along with Chelsea groundsman Sam Bethell.

Bethell has been pictured aiming a punch at the United full-back but he has already insisted the incident is not as bad as it seemed.

"It was handbags really," he said in The Sun The Scum. "It was not as bad as it appeared.

"I've been told not to say anything about what actually happened."

However, United's players have pointed the finger - although Evra himself is yet to comment.

Insult

"Patrice received a grave insult from a member of Chelsea's staff," Tevez told The Guardian.

"He demanded an explanation and, from that moment, these men just wanted to attack Patrice.

"Obviously it's normal that we tried to defend our team-mate but within a few seconds all of the United players were surrounded by stewards."

United defender Gerard Pique backed up Tevez' explanation, adding: "Basically, this came about because of the provocation of somebody who works for Chelsea.

"Patrice wanted an explanation but these men were very aggressive. All we were doing was finishing our work-out after the game.

"Even now, I just do not understand the reaction of these people. I have seen the photos and, if the images are stored in the CCTV cameras then it will be impossible for them to say that the players were not provoked."

The Football Association, and the two clubs, have already confirmed they will be studying video evidence of the incident before deciding what action, if any, to take.

Referee Alan Wiley admitted he was unaware of the incident.

"With me being in the changing room, I didn't know anything about what might have happened after the match," said Wiley.

"The security people said they had nothing to report to me. The players from both teams worked really well with me."

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Here we go then - United's players are all agreed that - following Chelsea's 2-1 victory - the Chelsea ground staff have insulted Evra directly, then attacked him without provocation from Evra or the other United players who were only looking to protect their team-mate. I really wonder what the truth is, because an unprovoked attack like this from ground staff who were not involved in the game and had no reason to look for a fight as they were working for the victorious team seems unplausible IMO.

Nice of the FA to already prepare us for the probable outcome (highlighted in bold) that they may not take any action after looking at the evidence. Maybe they should allocate United 3 bonus points in the league too for their wounded pride...  :

Nice of the FA to already prepare us for the probable outcome (highlighted in bold) that they may not take any action after looking at the evidence. Maybe they should allocate United 3 bonus points in the league too for their wounded pride...  :

Well as I'm in the United States until next week I haven't been following this story very closely but I had heard that the ground staff were responsible for the altercation, that's just what I heard from halway round the world so as I've said I am in no position to comment but Sky Sports News is on over here a couple of times a day so maybe I should watch that but I have heard that the Chelsea groundstaff were responsible...

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, very few thing are entirely black and white...

I heard that the united players were asked to leave several times, after their warm down session took longer than was acceptable. so wether they were provoked or not they shouldnt have been on the pitch and were stopping ground staff from performing duties. This would never had happened if they just went home when they were supposed to

I heard it on SSN by the way