Terry Charged for Disputing Poll Red Card
Soccer: John Terry has been slapped with a misconduct charge for claiming Graham Poll was guilty of spinning the reasons for his dismissal against Spurs.
John Terry, the England captain, was last night charged with improper conduct by the Football Association for claiming the referee Graham Poll had given him inconsistent explanations for his dismissal in Chelsea's defeat at Tottenham on November 5.
It was Terry's first sending-off as a senior Chelsea player and he requested the referee's reasons for the second yellow card. He offered his own account of his exchange with Poll to Chelsea TV, saying: "On the pitch, Graham Poll said to me that it was for the barge on [Hossam] Ghaly where I just kept running.
"Then after the game he then said to me it was for the fall when me and Ledley King fell, so he's obviously had a look at it, or got people to look at it, and decided that's probably the best option for him and it covers every angle for him."
Poll, who wore a microphone during the match, denies the allegation. Therefore the remarks, according to the FA, arouse sufficient suspicion of a challenge to the official's integrity to prompt disciplinary charges. Terry has until December 15 to respond and Chelsea last night said they will "vigorously defend" him.
The subtext to the charges is the FA's support for the referee, who faced a barrage of criticism from Chelsea players and has suffered a period of scrutiny following his inadequate performances at the World Cup. In supporting Poll, the FA has warned Jose Mourinho about his comments in which he insinuated the official would be able to return home and forget about the controversy in the match but that the result would haunt the Chelsea manager. He has not been charged but is due to meet the referees' chief Keith Hackett to discuss the issue informally.
Interestingly, no action was taken yesterday against Ashley Cole, who claimed in a media interview: "If you're going to have a ref like that, you know it's not worth playing the game. You know you're going to get a hard time."
The FA stated that it was satisfied that Cole and his Chelsea and England team-mate Frank Lampard had retracted their recollection that Poll had told them that Chelsea needed "to be taught a lesson".
It was Terry's first sending-off as a senior Chelsea player and he requested the referee's reasons for the second yellow card. He offered his own account of his exchange with Poll to Chelsea TV, saying: "On the pitch, Graham Poll said to me that it was for the barge on [Hossam] Ghaly where I just kept running.
"Then after the game he then said to me it was for the fall when me and Ledley King fell, so he's obviously had a look at it, or got people to look at it, and decided that's probably the best option for him and it covers every angle for him."
Poll, who wore a microphone during the match, denies the allegation. Therefore the remarks, according to the FA, arouse sufficient suspicion of a challenge to the official's integrity to prompt disciplinary charges. Terry has until December 15 to respond and Chelsea last night said they will "vigorously defend" him.
The subtext to the charges is the FA's support for the referee, who faced a barrage of criticism from Chelsea players and has suffered a period of scrutiny following his inadequate performances at the World Cup. In supporting Poll, the FA has warned Jose Mourinho about his comments in which he insinuated the official would be able to return home and forget about the controversy in the match but that the result would haunt the Chelsea manager. He has not been charged but is due to meet the referees' chief Keith Hackett to discuss the issue informally.
Interestingly, no action was taken yesterday against Ashley Cole, who claimed in a media interview: "If you're going to have a ref like that, you know it's not worth playing the game. You know you're going to get a hard time."
The FA stated that it was satisfied that Cole and his Chelsea and England team-mate Frank Lampard had retracted their recollection that Poll had told them that Chelsea needed "to be taught a lesson".
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