The FA charge Chelsea for telling Lee Mason just how good he is at his job

Chelsea have been charged by the Football Association for “failing to ensure their players and/or officials conducted themselves in an orderly fashion”.

The specific incident occurred at half-time, when several players and coaches surrounded the officiating crew and proceeded to tell Lee Mason just how gloriously competent he was at his job and how much they appreciated his consistency, attention to detail, and fairness.

Mason, as we might recall, awarded Chelsea a corner kick inside of the two minutes (minimum!) time added-on in the first half, but then blew his whistle 15 seconds later to signal the end of the half, just as Willian was about to take the corner. The ball had been somewhat slow in getting to the flag thanks to the away fans, but this minor delay was nothing compared to the egregious time-wasting that was already going on in the first-half and would only get worse as the game wore on. Mason, of course, didn’t card anyone for this until the 89th minute.

Chelsea have until next Tuesday to respond to this charge, but hopefully we just send them a couple new watches and maybe a weight loss DVD so that Mason can also keep up with play next time. The 46-year-old continues to be given high profile assignments, despite recent highly public criticisms and clashes with Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, and Antonio Conte, and increasing calls for “permanent demotion”.