Montel has great hands, great speed, good height, excellent jumping ability -- all the qualities you look for. He does a great job of going to the ball.

[During July 2003, Abramovich paid a 15p-per-share premium on the trading price of a fortnight previously. Even the £17m this netted Ken Bates was initially insufficient for the then chairman.] I'm told he said he wanted more money, ... and Trevor said, 'Don't be ridiculous, this is more than you could have imagined'.

For the next five days, lawyers worked day and night; they gave us a lot of financial information, so we understood there was an urgency.

[Chelsea had borrowed heavily from financial institutions, principally to fund stadium development. Ruth Giste, the widow of the late club director Matthew Harding, had also demanded repayment of a significant sum loaned to the club.] Fans did not know that in January the club had mortgaged, if you will, the TV revenues, ... It borrowed against the TV revenues that were to be handed out in August. I didn't know as a fan the club owed money to the Harding family and they wanted it back. As a fan I was naive. I knew the club had financial problems, but didn't know the specifics.

[Buck reveals the club was sinking in a quagmire of debt.] I personally was surprised, ... They had a £75m Eurobond outstanding and it was perfectly clear to the markets that they might have trouble making the July payment. [The then chief executive] Trevor Birch had been in discussions for some time about restructuring that bond. The financial community as opposed to the football community knew there were some real issues.

We are almost certainly going to appeal. We believe that attending the meeting (with Cole in January) did not go over the line... we think that the sanctions are totally disproportionate to the alleged sin.