Shooting practice took on a whole new meaning at Chelsea over the weekend as Ashley Cole gave people yet another reason to not like him.
The England left back provided further ammunition for his detractors by making both front and back page news when it was reported he had shot a student on work experience with an air rifle at the club’s Cobham training ground.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Chelsea’s game against Manchester United, Carlo Ancelotti revealed that Cole had apologised over the incident and that despite being disappointed with the player he will start at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.
‘First he said sorry to the guy that was involved in this, second sorry to the team-mates, third sorry to the club,’ he told reporters.
‘Obviously we are not happy with what happened, but I have spoken with him. He was really disappointed with this, he said sorry, he made a mistake, it was an accident, and now obviously we have taken the proper action, but tomorrow he will play and I think he is focused to play a good game.’
‘He stepped over the line about the rules and we will take the proper action.’
The Chelsea boss admitted to having no idea that the gun was brought to the training ground, but insisted that there wasn’t a problem with lack of discipline within his squad.
‘Cobham is not out of control. There is discipline. The players have to respect this, if some players step over the line we have to take some action,’ Ancelotti said.
‘From outside nobody can say we are out of control because we have internal discipline.’
‘You can judge the players on the pitch. They are showing fair play, respect for the referees and the fans. This is what we have to judge not other things.’
