Abby Brammell

EXCLUSIVE By Matt Lawton Chief Football Correspondent

Cover-up: Ashley Cole faces a fight over his Chelsea future over a fresh furore


Ashley Cole will have to fight for his Chelsea future in a courtroom-style hearing with the Stamford Bridge board.

Just days after Chelsea’s players were informed by the club hierarchy that Roman Abramovich will no longer tolerate behaviour that harms the image of the club, Cole was at the centre of a fresh controversy yesterday over an alleged extramarital affair on a pre-season tour.

It was claimed he lied to a senior club official who was then implicated in a damaging cover-up designed to stop details appearing in newspapers.

While a heavy fine and a suspension would seem the most likely punishment,
Abramovich is so angry that club officials have not ruled out the possibility
of Cole being transfer-listed.

One insider said: ‘Remember, this is the guy who kicked out Jose Mourinho and Adrian Mutu. Ashley might be the best left back in the world but the players were told on Wednesday that nobody is above the law. A line has been drawn in the sand and the owner has had enough.’

Last night a club spokesman said: ‘This is a private matter for Ashley Cole. Where anything is alleged to have happened on Chelsea FC time is an internal club matter and will be dealt with internally. Disciplinary issues are an internal matter and will be dealt with internally.’


But Chelsea are taking an extremely dim view of the latest allegations, not least because of the embarrassment it has caused their highly regarded head of communications and public affairs, Steve Atkins.

Atkins, who was the deputy press secretary for the British Embassy in Washington DC prior to moving to Chelsea, became embroiled in the saga on last summer’s tour of the US when Cole solicited his help in keeping a report he feared would ruin his
marriage out of the papers.

Cole is alleged to have smuggled American Ann Corbitt into his room in the team hotel in Seattle, and when a newspaper reporter later approached her, the England left back — currently sidelined by a serious ankle injury — turned to the unwitting Atkins in desperation.

Cole denied the allegations being made by the reporter were true, and in good faith Atkins offered advice to both Cole and Corbitt. Atkins kept the Chelsea hierarchy fully abreast of developments, which could leave Cole accused of misleading the board as well.

Yesterday the emails Atkins sent to Corbitt, based on the belief that the allegations were untrue and advising Corbitt to contact a law firm in London, were reproduced along with the American woman’s lurid account of her time with Cheryl Cole’s husband.

Sportsmail understands that Cole has not yet apologised to Atkins, and yesterday there was no word from Cole’s advisers at the Stellar Group Limited.

But after a series of scandals involving club captain John Terry were followed last week by reports that Cole had enlisted the help of at least one club employee in smuggling another woman into the team hotel ahead of matches at Hull and West Bromwich Albion last season, Abramovich decided enough was enough.


Raging Rom: Abramovich is unhappy over certain behaviour tarnishing the club


On Wednesday the Chelsea squad were called to a meeting with manager Carlo Ancelotti and chief executive Ron Gourlay, who communicated the feelings of the club’s Russian owner. No player, they were told, is now above Roman law and the heavy sanctions that have been introduced.

Abramovich lost patience with Mourinho for the controversy he caused and the players were told he will no longer tolerate the behaviour of certain members of the Stamford Bridge dressing room. Terry was caught on film giving an unofficial tour of the training ground for £10,000 in cash — which it was claimed he would then be donating to ‘charity’ — and Cole’s trysts in team hotels amount to a serious breach of regulations.

Last night a source at Chelsea said that a disciplinary procedure was now in place that would see Cole dealt with swiftly. The team travel to Italy on Tuesday for a Champions League encounter with Mourinho’s Inter Milan but Cole will probably be called to explain himself to the board before the end of this week.


Love sick: A distressed Cheryl Cole is in LA away from her accused husband

It is not yet certain if Abramovich will also be present. While he is the owner he does not sit on the board, but if he is in London he might well choose to join Gourlay, chairman Bruce Buck, director Eugene Tenenbaum and non-executive director Peter Kenyon.

While Atkins’s position is not under any threat, he will also be asked to give evidence.

There has been concern for some time that the players have become too powerful and that their behaviour is out of control.

Club employees have made the mistake of believing they work for the players rather than the club — something that became apparent with the revelations concerning Cole’s behaviour before those games at Hull and West Brom.

‘They have become sycophants and we have felt for a while now that action needed to be taken,’ said an insider at the club.


source: dailymail