CHELSEA: HE WOULD'VE SCORED AN OWN GOAL

From the Guardian:

William Gallas last night accused Chelsea of lying and "lacking class" after the club claimed he had threatened to score a deliberate own-goal or try to be sent off before his transfer to Arsenal. The French defender's acrimonious feud with Jose Mourinho degenerated into open warfare yesterday when the Chelsea manager authorised a club statement alleging the player had effectively blackmailed the champions into permitting him to leave.

Gallas issued a statement from the France training centre at Clairefontaine in which he rejected the assertion that he had threatened to make pre-meditated mistakes and had refused to take part in last season's FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool.

Chelsea had earlier insisted that his intransigence eventually persuaded them, albeit reluctantly, to use him as a makeweight in the deal which took Ashley Cole to Stamford Bridge last Thursday.

"I am surprised and shocked. I certainly never said I'd try and score an own-goal if I ever played for Chelsea again. I was very firm in my desire to leave - that's clear - and I've already explained why. But I never went that far.

"If people want to hide behind these ridiculous accusations to explain why I left to keep onside with their club's supporters, that's what they do. I don't think it'll fool anybody."

Those comments were made after the extraordinarily aggressive move by Gallas' former club that may yet leave the Football Association feeling compelled to intervene. A Chelsea had said:

"He continues to attack Jose Mourinho and this cannot be left unchallenged. We made Gallas a very substantial and attractive new contract offer towards the end of last season. This was rejected. The issue was purely money, despite his public comments that he wanted a new challenge, to play abroad and so forth . . . a smokescreen to cover up the fact he was hawking himself to the highest bidder.

"Having failed to secure his demands, his position became increasingly intransigent and unacceptable. He initially refused to play against Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final in an effort to force an increased offer. As is well documented, he refused to join up with the team in Los Angeles during pre-season, despite agreeing the dates with the club. Despite meetings to try to resolve the problems, Gallas made it clear he would never play for Chelsea again.

"He said if he was forced to play, or if he was disciplined and financially punished for his breach of the rules, that he could score an own-goal or get himself sent off, or make deliberate mistakes. Clearly this was a totally unacceptable situation. So a collectively agreed solution in Chelsea's interests had to be found; hence his departure."

Arftastic! “The issue was purely money” – poor Chelsea clearly mustn't see any irony whatsoever in that…