The London Metropolitan Police stopped their race abuse investigation into referee Mark Clattenburg after receiving no complaint from Chelsea.
The have confirmed they are no longer investigating a complaint, made by the Society of Black Lawyers, regarding Clattenburg’s conduct.
Clattenburg is accused by Chelsea of having called John Obi Mikel a ‘monkey’ during the match against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on October 28.
A police statement said:
‘Enquiries were made and no victims have come forward. The matter will remain as a recorded incident. Without a victim and/or any evidence that any offence has been committed, the matter cannot currently be investigated. If the situation changes and a victim and/or evidence to support an allegation of a crime comes to police attention then further enquiries will if appropriate be made.’
Now the police statement is really puzzling as it says that Chelsea have not filed a complaint with them. So what was Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck talking about when he defended the club’s decision to go public with their allegations?
‘We weren’t interested in any confrontation with the referee or anybody else, had no thoughts of revenge on the referee” said Buck.
‘He made two obvious mistakes (sending Fernando Torres off and allowing Javier Hernandez’s offside winner) which changed the tide.
‘I felt we had the moral high ground, so I didn’t really feel that bad about the defeat or have that feeling in my stomach. It was made after a great deal of anguish and after talking long and hard that evening about what we should do.
‘Suppose we had tried to sweep this under the rug and said to the various players, “Look, it’s not a big deal and the press are going to be all over us, maybe you want to reconsider”. If that had leaked out, we would’ve really been crucified.’
When did Chelsea find time to talk long and hard about making their original complaint public? Chelsea made the decision to publicly complain to the FA only a couple of hours after the final whistle.
The FA is said to be closed to wrapping up its own investigation into the affair with reports that they are expected to expected to reveal the results of their investigation on Thursday.
If the FA also clears Clattenburg of making the alleged remark to Mikel, what will that verdict do to Chelsea’s already tarnished and battered reputation?