Tapping-up verdict widens Cole's rift with Arsenal

Ashley Cole's relationship with David Dein and Arsène Wenger has disintegrated to the extent that the Arsenal player has not spoken to either of them since he was handed a £100,000 fine by the Premier League commission on Wednesday for his part in the Chelsea tapping-up scandal.

Ashley Cole's relationship with David Dein and Arsène Wenger has disintegrated to the extent that the Arsenal player has not spoken to either of them since he was handed a £100,000 fine by the Premier League commission on Wednesday for his part in the Chelsea tapping-up scandal.

As Chelsea and Cole's advisers considered their options in the light of Sir Philip Otton's three-man commission's fines, which totalled £600,000, the most obvious casualty was the relationship between the England full-back and his boyhood club. Dein, Arsenal's vice-chairman, said that he hoped Cole would stay at the club but he was made aware of the player's feelings on Wednesday as the punishments were announced at a Marble Arch hotel.

According to sources close to the player, Cole refused even to acknowledge Dein at the meeting and is understood to have run out of patience with Wenger too. Dein has since spoken of his hopes that Cole, who he said he had watched playing for Arsenal's juniors as a nine-year-old, would stay, although that seems almost impossible barring a complete change of heart from the player.

Cole, 24, and his agent Jonathan Barnett, have begun their preparations to appeal and they have no intention of entering into new talks about extending the player's contract which has two years left to run. There has been interest in Cole from Real Madrid and Barcelona but given the consequences of the last approach made to him it seems inconceivable that they would not direct their inquiries through Arsenal.

The key to Cole's appeal will be the contention that the rules that prevent players from talking to prospective new clubs are unlawful, but that approach has already been addressed comprehensively in Otton's verdict, which could be published in full today. In that he is understood to have committed a large part of his conclusions to arguing that footballers are special cases and are well-rewarded in return for giving up this minor element of their employment rights.

Jose Mourinho was so angry at the £200,000 fine,and the judgement which accused him of "blatant disregard" for the rules that he is understood to have cancelled a family holiday in Florida to play his part in his club's response. The Chelsea manager's official reaction to the sentence was mild by his standards but he is understood to be furious at the commission's judgement.

Mourinho said: "From the beginning we understood it was a serious process. We participated in it with tranquillity but are not happy. The legal department of Chelsea will analyse the situation. You can be unhappy with the decision but have to accept that the Premier League want to know the reason for the meeting. It is fair that they wanted to investigate why a player, agent, chief executive and manager were meeting around a table."

Dein and Chelsea's chairman Bruce Buck were both at the Premier League's board meeting yesterday. While Chelsea have not officially raised the question of rewriting the Premier League's rules on making approaches to players without the permission of their club - "tapping-up" - they are understood to have sounded out other big clubs on their attitude towards the rules.

Buck has restated his club's dissatisfaction with Arsenal who, he said, had wilfully refused a peace pact that would have seen off the need for an inquiry that has resulted in their alienation from Cole. Chelsea are also angry that Dein requested a transfer embargo to be imposed on the club.

"We're disappointed that Arsenal chose to pursue this course of action," he said. "It was counter-productive to them, to Ashley Cole and, of course, to us. We have to consider what action to take as a consequence. It will be difficult for us to forget. It will not be easy for Chelsea to put this behind us.

"We'll be in conversations with other clubs about the tapping-up rules, as we have been in recent weeks. Let's see how that comes out. I think there are areas where the rule can be tweaked, although generally we agree with the rule and have to respect it."

Buck's initiative to change the rules on player transfers is unlikely to find much favour with Dein, who said again yesterday that Arsenal were supportive of the current rules and stressed the need for "discipline" when it came to negotiations.

"If the clubs decide the rule should not be in place and it should be taken out, there would be a free-for-all," he said. "Football is different. The clubs respect their part of the contract, they pay players when they are injured or off-form. It is important the contracts are respected on both sides."

Both Cole and Chelsea have 14 days to lodge an appeal with the Premier League's appeals board, which will be made up of an independent legally qualified chairman and two Football Association councillors.