Having rallied to complete a late fightback against Newcastle United yesterday evening at St James’ Park, Chelsea managed to complete the minimum requirement after a dour first half-and-a-bit to the game where the Blues went 2-0 down to the Magpies.
Most definitely the Blues’ bogey ground of recent years, Jose Mourinho described his team’s first half performance as unacceptable with Chelsea still on just 8 points and only three positions clear of the relegation zone.
In what is uncharted territory for Mourinho, the Blues boss also claimed that he laughed in the second half out of complete and utter confusion at the current predicament his team is in with the Portuguese tactician usually used to his team going shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Manchester City at the summit of the top flight instead.
Last season’s Premier League champions of course, the Blues’ drop off in form has been dramatic to say the least, considering this same team had just gone all the way to winning the title only four months ago now.
Enduring a poor pre-season before rarely losing to Arsenal in the Community Shield and dismissing Eva Carneiro from her medical duties in a highly controversial affair, perhaps these distractions have knocked Chelsea off course but as we’ve also seen in the past, it can often prove the case that having won a league title, that same hunger and desire just isn’t there that next season.
With the Carneiro incident proving unsavoury for everybody involved, we’re jumping in here today to devise a list of five other outrageous scandals that have rocked Chelsea in the modern era.
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 most outrageous scandals to hit Chelsea in the modern era.
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Mark Clattenburg accused of inappropriate language against Mikel
Nobody likes referees, granted, but there was a huge furore around the refereeing performance of Mark Clattenburg when Manchester United travelled to Stamford Bridge back in 2012.
The game eventually ended in a 2-3 victory for the Red Devils with the winning goal being scored by Javier Hernandez which was clearly offside to the referees’ ignorance.
Chicharito’s winner came after Clattenburg sent off both Branislav Ivanovic (straight red) for a professional foul and then Fernando Torres (two yellow cards) for a high kick and then for diving .
Naturally irate at Clattenburg seeming to steal the game away from the Blues, tensions boiled over with the play being halted with a plethora of players surrounding the official after Torres’ red.
Later after the game and two days after the fixture however, Chelsea issued a formal complaint to the FA against Clattenburg not for the decisions but rather his use of ‘inappropriate language’ against John Obi Mikel.
With the tabloids also then reporting that Mikel threatened to break Clattenburg’s legs during the tense affair, Clattenburg was later cleared following an FA and Metropolitan Police investigation while Mikel was fined £60,000 while sitting out three games for his threatening remarks.
John Terry having an affair with Wayne Bridge’s ex-wife
You just knew John Terry was going to appear in this countdown somewhere given the fact he has never been too far away from the headlines in what has been a controversial career at times.
But back in 2010, the media caught wind of the fact John Terry had an affair with Vanessa Perroncel – the ex-lover of the player’s former Chelsea team-mate Wayne Bridge – a year earlier with an initial super injunction being granted so that the media couldn’t spill the story to start with.
With this injunction being lifted just a week later, the papers went to town with details about the affair but Perroncel still claims the affair with Terry was fiction.
Try telling that to Wayne Bridge however who was then faced with the prospect of having to shake Terry’s hand while playing for Manchester City in an away fixture at Stamford Bridge in February 2010.
Refusing to shake the hand of the man that had been reported to have had an affair with his ex-wife, it was a public humilation for Terry and a moment we’ll never forget.
Eden Hazard striking out at a Swansea City ballboy
They say the Capital One Cup is a poor competition on the whole with not much drama to entertain the masses but back in January 2013 in a semi-final second leg against Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium in the League Cup, Eden Hazard was criticised for appearing to strike out at a Swans ballboy with the Blues trailing in the game.
Eventually going on to lose out on a place in the final with Michael Laudrup’s side already winning 2-0 from the first leg, Chelsea were understandably hurrying to keep the ball in play while creating a few more chances late in the game but Hazard seemed to take it too far, kicking a ball out from the clutches of ballboy Charlie Morgan for which he was then sent off by the referee.
The ballboy, who had earlier boldly bragged about his time wasting abilities on social media, was clearly on the wind up again by keeping hold of the ball and to Chelsea fans’ frustration and bemusement, their Belgian international was dismissed on a night to forget in South Wales.
John Terry & Anton Ferdinand race storm
One of the biggest Chelsea controversies of recent times was of course the John Terry and Anton Ferdinand race storm that dominated the headlines back in 2012.
Proving to be an incident that ended his international career with England with Fabio Capello then removing the Chelsea player of his captain duties with the Three Lions, Terry was accused of racially abusing QPR’s Anton Ferdinand with internet footage suggesting he called Rio’s brother a derogatory slur when the Blues travelled to Loftus Road in November 2011.
With Terry then denying the allegations, the Crown Prosecution Service dismissed Terry’s claims with the incident then going to court.
With the same body then clearing Terry of the allegations, it wasn’t over for Terry with the FA then pursuing their own enquiry that later threw the book at the Chelsea captain.
Forcing the player to be banned for four games while being fined £220,000, he has never represented England ever since and quickly announced his retirement from the national fold.
Ashley Cole ‘shooting’ a student at Chelsea’s training ground
Just the sheer titling of this scandal seems laughable but back in February 2011, Ashley Cole was the target of increased media scrutiny yet again when the papers claimed he had accidentally shot a sports science student with an air rifle at Chelsea’s training ground.
With Cole shooting Tom Cowan from around five metres away while being later described as ”larking about’, this was quite simply a PR disaster for the Blues.
In the aftermath, the England international claimed he never realised the air rifle was loaded and in the end after the student was treated, no charges were made against Cole who received a slap on the wrist and some words of advice from Surrey Police over his antics.
