Chelsea agree to pay £25k fine for reacting to Anthony Taylor’s incompetence

Chelsea have accepted The FA’s charges for two breaches of Rule E20.1 in our 1-1 draw at Anfield just prior to the international break, and have paid the £25,000 fine that’s been meted out as punishment.

“The club admitted failing to ensure that its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion during both the 48th minute of the first half and following the half-time whistle,” says The FA’s statement.

The FA themselves have not admitted to failing to ensure that their referee conducted himself in a competent fashion during both the 48th minute of the first half, or, indeed, for the 90 minutes plus stoppage time of the entire contest.

The £25k fine is slightly larger than the fine we copped for the fracas at the end of the Leicester City match last season, which is somewhat amusing, but we must protect the incompetent referees, right? It still pales in comparison with the fines we used to get back in 2015-2016, which peaked with a £375k fine that was reduced to £290k on appeal for the Battle of Stamford Bridge (sparked in part by further refereeing incompetence, that time from Mark “Rock Star Referee” Clattenburg).

We’re never sure where all this money goes, but clearly not towards improving the standard of refereeing.