A Premiership football fan passing the Royal Park Hotel in London on 27 January, 2005, would have been greeted with a surprising sight. Present in the hotel for a meeting were Jose Mourinho, the manager of Chelsea Football Club, and Arsenal defender Ashley Cole, a player frequently cited as the best left-back in the world.
Details of the meeting then appeared in the News Of The World on 30 January, 2005, prompting the FA Premier League (FAPL) to investigate whether there was any evidence of breach of its rules by the club for making an approach to a player who is presently under contract to another club – ‘tapping up’, in football parlance.
