Guilty verdict for Chelsea, Mourinho, Cole

The Premier League said Chelsea “were found to be in breach of Rule K3 which prohibits a club making an approach to a contract player either directly or indirectly without first obtaining permission of the club to which he is under contract.

“Ashley Cole was found to be in breach of Rule K5 which states that a contract player, either by himself or by any other party acting on his behalf, shall not either directly or indirectly make any approach to a club with a view to negotiating a contract without obtaining the prior written consent of the club to which he is under contract.

“Jose Mourinho was found to be in breach of Rule Q, governing managers’ conduct.”

Penalties would be announced after the parties’ statements of mitigation, the Premier League added. All the parties have 14 days in which to appeal.

The Premier League has the power to dock Chelsea points and is expected to fine them together with Mourinho and Cole.

The previous highest fine for an illegal approach was the 20,000 pounds ($36,280) Liverpool were fined for speaking to Christian Ziege when he was at Middlesbrough in 2000.

The German defender was also fined 10,000 pounds. Chelsea won the Premier League from Arsenal by 12 points this season. Cole’s legal representatives had argued that the Premier League rules breached European employment law.

The incident was investigated last month by the three-man independent commission who interviewed Cole, Mourinho, Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon and Arsenal chairman David Dein, who made the initial complaint.