Terry's red card saves Chelsea from FA fine after yellow fever at Spurs
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Your support makes all the difference.Chelsea will escape a fine from the Football Association after collecting six bookings against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
Ashley Cole, Michael Ballack, Paulo Ferreira and Claude Makelele were all given yellow cards by the referee, Graham Poll, while the club captain, John Terry, was sent off for two bookable offences in the second half. But Terry's red card counts as one offence and as a result Chelsea will not receive an automatic fine.
The Premiership champions are already expecting disciplinary sanctions from Europe's governing body, Uefa, after picking up six yellow cards in their Champions' League game against Barcelona last week but will be relieved not to face any further punishment from the FA over the number of yellow cards they received against Spurs.
Meanwhile, Keith Hackett, the head of the referees' union, will meet the Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho before the end of the month. Hackett and Mourinho will discuss various "refereeing issues" but Hackett, the leader of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, will wait for the right slot in the football calendar to meet the Blues manager.
That could be as early as next week although Hackett insists no timetable has yet been laid down. "We have not set a date yet," Hackett said yesterday. "There are a number of things to take into account before we can do that."
The FA, meanwhile, will today forcefully contest a Uefa charge of improper conduct by England fans before last month's Euro 2008 qualifier in Zagreb. Uefa's control and disciplinary body will deal with the charge at a hearing in Nyon, Switzerland.
The FA had wanted to send representatives to a personal hearing but were advised that would only be acceptable for an appeal. If found guilty, the FA is likely to be fined.
The Croatian FA will also be dealt with on several charges relating to breaches of security and fan behaviour before and during the match on 11 October. The charges relate to incidents inside and outside the Maksimir Stadium where Croatia defeated England 2-0 in their Group E qualifying match.
Croatian police detained 187 Croatian fans and 31 English supporters were held for incidents away from the ground while a further 25 England fans were arrested inside the stadium shortly after the match kicked off following a clash with stewards at one of the gates.
The FA has conceded there was some involvement by ticketless England supporters, but there was anger at the response of Croatian police to baton-charge fans.
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