Without a hint of irony, Carlo Ancelotti yesterday said that Chelsea must not “kill” Ashley Cole for accidently shooting a work experience student at the club’s Cobham training ground. Ancelotti also confirmed that Cole would play in the Premier League against Manchester United despite an act of indiscipline that is serious enough to have prompted a police investigation.
The extraordinary incident occurred nine days ago when Cole shot and wounded Tom Cowan, a Loughborough University student who is on a year’s internship at the club, with an air rifle. He is understood to have fired the .22 air rifle towards Cowan in the belief that it was not loaded. “One player, Ashley, made a mistake,” said Ancelotti. “When he said sorry he was really disappointed. What do we have to do now?
YouTube link.
“Kill him? No. That’s not my way to manage players. We have to support him. It would be very different if he had not said sorry. If a player makes a mistake, I try to explain that it’s wrong and give him the possibility to use different behaviour. We are not happy because he stepped over the line. I think it was an accident. The mistake was that the gun was here in Cobham. We didn’t know the gun was here. Who hasn’t made a mistake in his life? Who?”
Chelsea confirmed that it is a breach of club rules to have any sort of weapon at the training ground but Ancelotti said that there was “never” any possibility of Cole being sacked. Instead, it is understood that he has been fined two weeks’ wages. Cowan has been granted some time off by Chelsea, with the club not commenting on whether they will be paying out any private compensation.
2 comments:
Rule #1. Every gun is loaded.
Rule # 2. Never point a gun at someone unless you want to kill him.
No, Mr. Ancelotti, the mistake was that Cole pointed a gun at Cowan and pulled the trigger.
Post a Comment