Such erudite argument – the spirit of Oscar Wilde lives on

If English isn’t your first language “idiot” might well sound like “immigrant” from 30 yards away.

Teams are allowed to warm down, but are not permitted to run across the penalty areas. That’s forbidden. It was the penalty area that was being run across and it was that area that the players were told to move away from.

The groundsmen had been instructed to start work immediately on repairing the pitch due to the CL Semi 2nd leg 3 days later.

No lawnmower was used. The equipment being used was a kind of hoovering device. All comments about lawnmowers is based on ignorance, which seems to be a commodity in plentiful supply here.

No charges for making racial remarks will stand up because only the Utd staff claim that. It’s denied and there’s no way that it can be proved or disproved. Chelsea will be found guilty of not making groundstaff’s contracts include being subject to FA rules. This is true. But it seems even the Secretaries and Box Office and tea lady need to be subject to FA rules, which is clearly the height of stupidity.

Chelsea are guilty of winning. That’s usually the way these things turn out.

Forever in our shadow.

Not quite sure how you respond to what I thought was a reasonably unbiased observation from someone who at least witnessed part of the story (which no one else on here patently has) to me somehow not being mentally sane.

I find the amount of paranoia quite amusing. The thought that groundsmen would go to work on a pitch just to wind up some footballers is beyond reasonable belief, I dont know how when or why they choose to cut the grass then but as I said first out both parties were on different parts of the pitch for some time with no problem. It was only when the united players refused a request to move to another part of the pitch that the trouble started. That of course still does not condone what is alledged to have been said

Or could it quite possibly be that there was no need for the groundstaff team to be on the pitch when United just wanted to get on with their warm down (and start the long journey back up to London, contemplating the fact they might have just blown the title), and were there as a wind up?

Regardless, if Bethell called Evra an immigrant, which there is strong evidence to suggest he did, does it matter one bit where United players were warming down? Surely no one agrees that ‘being difficult’ means racist insults are called for…

Cut the grass after every game? – I dont know. But in summer grass grows and maybe they had sunday off and they wanted to get home. It does not really matter unless you start from the premise that they got all these lawnmowers out just to piss off the united players. That seems highly unlikely to me. I just assume they were doing their job when “billy big boy” footballer started to be unhelpful. Whilst hopefully doing noone a disservice you are not talking Nobel prizewinners here on either side of this argument.

This team of groundsman had lawnmowers, so I ask the question again, are you honestly telling me that the Chelsea groundstaff CUT THE GRASS after every game, whilst there are still players taking part in the warm down?