by Chelsea football club have finally bowed to pressure from fans and referees and issued an official apology to Chelsea football club for any adverse effects the Mark Clattenburg incident may have had on the club’s image.
Clattenburg had not taken charge of a game since allegations of using racist language were first made against him in late October, but having been cleared of any wrongdoing has now returned to action and Chelsea have moved swiftly to minimise any damage to what is left of their reputation.
“We accept the decision from the FA and the police that Mr Clattenburg had no case to answer and deeply regret any harm that may have been done to the perception of our club.” said a spokesman for the European champions.
“We have already issued one statement sounding vaguely remorseful without actually apologising, but that does not seem to be enough for some people.”
“So we have taken the decision to issue a further statement apologising unreservedly. To ourselves.”
Chelsea apology
Chelsea are confident that this self-apology will be a step in the right direction, and will take the club back to being hated mostly because of John Terry, rather than any other reasons.
Referees’ union Prospect had demanded that Chelsea apologise to, and compensate Clattenburg for loss of earnings, damage to reputation and stress.
The club feels that this is unnecessary but have agreed not to seek compensation from Clattenburg for not racially abusing their players.
“Why should we apologise to him? We’re the ones who have come out of this badly. If Mark had just said what we claimed he had said then this whole thing would never have ended up with us looking like the bad guys.” continued the spokesman.
“His grasp of racist abuse leaves an awful lot to be desired. So we’re going to send John Terry to see him and give him a few lessons.”
