This whole ‘Colegate’ situation has left an extremely bitter taste in the mouth and I fear it could have serious repercussions on football as we know it.

This week Cole, Chelsea and Mourinho were found guilty of breaching Premier League rules by meeting up to discuss a possible move to Stamford Bridge while the player was still under contract at Arsenal.

The three parties were heavily fined by a league panel and Chelsea were given a three-point deduction, suspended until the end of the season and only to be invoked if the club offends again.

So far so good. Although I think the fines were a bit harsh on Mourinho and a bit lax on Chelsea and Cole considering the financial clout enjoyed by the club and the incredible wages earned by the player. Still, at least the Premier League showed they are serious about protecting the rules.

But that’s where the positives end. The decision by Cole to appeal against the ruling (and possibly the other two parties as well) is what really, really concerns me.

If the player is successful in his appeal then we are looking at a situation which would make the Bosman ruling look like a walk in the park for football.

The rules as they currently exist are not there just for the sake of it, they are there to protect clubs and their fans from players from swapping allegiances at the drop of a wallet.

The days when players were loyal to their club out of love are long gone. These rules are there to force a bit of loyalty on them. If Ashley Cole wins his case then yet more power will be placed in the hands of the already far-too-powerful player. There could be chaos as players sign a contract one day only to start talking to possible new employers the next.

These so-called employment experts who parade themselves on television talking about how unfair the rules are and how they go against European employment law should just go stick their heads up their backsides in an attempt to find their brains.

We are talking about football here, not a job in insurance or selling cars. Footballers are not your average employees, they get paid extortionate amounts of money and they are idolised by millions. To compare them to any normal employee is just legal idiocy. Ashley Cole, Chelsea and Jose Mourinho all knew the rules when they carried out their clandestine meeting. The knew what they were doing was wrong but they thought they could get away with it.

They were caught and they have been punished. In any decent society they would just say they are sorry, it won¹t happen again, pay their comparatively paltry fines and get on with life.

But in a world which seems to be increasingly based on egos they can¹t admit

they did wrong and have to challenge their punishment. Pathetic. I just hope for the sake of those of us who actually know the meaning of the word loyalty and love their football, Cole’s appeal is not successful.

England’s chances

Seven Goran Eriksson believes England are in with a ‘real chance’ of going

all the way in next summer’s World Cup. Speaking after the successful mini-tour to the USA during which they beat the hosts as well as Columbia, Sven said that providing his squad steers clear of injuries over the next 12 months it is all looking swell for Germany 06.

“I have never had a squad so strong, and I am very, very confident in the players,” he said. “My impression is that we are getting stronger and stronger and, if we have everyone fit, we can give it a real go next summer.”

And I have to say I agree with the Swede for once. This is without doubt the strongest England squad that I can remember and, unlike some of the other decent sides of the past, it has strength in depth with at least one excellent and one good player for practically every position.

In fact, with a strong squad, momentum building nicely and reinvigorated self belief, it would seem the only possible thing that could go wrong during the finals is the management.

In the last two major tournaments Sven himself has been the major drawback with little or no motivational skills and absolutely no back-up plan should his favoured 4-4-2 formation prove not to be working.

With everything else going in our favour, lets hope the weakest link doesn’t bring the whole thing crashing down and we end up waving goodbye to our World Cup dreams yet again.

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