When you thought that the season could not get much worse, Chelsea FC have now been implicated in a doping investigation by The Sunday Times.
Before we get going with this, we should make clear that we are a Chelsea FC sports blog. We are not trying to present any of the following claims as supported facts, but are merely reporting on allegations presented in The Sunday Times.
The footballing world has been rocked this morning as The Sunday Times (subscription required) has revealed that numerous Premier League clubs are implicated in the latest doping scandal in sport. The Blues are one of these teams, with former coach Rob Brinded the subject of great attention in the article.
Brinded served on Chelsea’s coaching staff for six years until the summer of 2007. His work was on the fitness/physiotherapy side of affairs.
The investigation centres around Dr Mark Bonar, who allegedly claimed to have helped some 150 sports stars take performance-enhancing substances. However, Brinded has been cited as one of Bonar’s associates.
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At this point, I’ll let the article take over.
"When pressed later, he said he was “neutral” regarding the use of drugs in sport as it was the athletes’ choice. As long as the medications kept the athletes within normal and healthy ranges he did not have a problem with it. He did not question the ethics of the proposal.He had not worked directly with players on sports drugs but claimed he had been told that some of the Chelsea players used banned substances during his time at the club. There is no evidence that the club had any knowledge of this. Brinded has denied making this claim."
Furthermore, it should be stated that Brinded reportedly wanted nothing to do with actual handling of the doping aspect of the proposed operation drawn up by the undercover reporters, but would work in his capacity as a fitness coach.
Evidently, this is concerning news. More importantly, it is stemming from the highly-respected Sunday Times, the same paper who first exposed Lance Armstrong’s extensive doping regime.
With the Premier League previously safe from such revelations, this is huge news in English football. Of course, there have been minor isolated incidents (Rio Ferdinand immediately comes to mind), but this report claims that the anti-drug watchdog in the UK had turned a blind eye to Bonar’s activities.
Again, we should emphasise that these are still only allegations. Furthermore, they have been drawn out by a newspaper working independently of the legal authorities. Hence, it is yet to be seen whether these accusations are either grounded, or as significant as they first come across.
Arsenal and Leicester City are also reported as being employers of some of these affected athletes and thus it will be interesting to see how the clubs, and their personnel, handle the barrage of questions that will inevitably rain down in the coming weeks.
Next: Chelsea FC player ratings after Aston Villa thrashing
For the time-being, all we can do is sit and wait. Please do make the jump to The Sunday Times and subscribe to get the investigation in its entirety.