SOCCER: Chelsea yesterday finally backed down over the Ashley Cole "tapping up" row by declining to appeal against the sentence they received for having met the Arsenal left back in a London hotel in January.

Though a sense of injustice over the gravity of the punishment - a suspended three-point penalty and £300,000 fine - lingers at Stamford Bridge, club officials feel that it is time to move on.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, however, is feeling more militant about his own punishment, which left him £200,000 out of pocket, and will appeal.

Mourinho's lawyer Peter Cadman will argue that a similar punishment was not meted out to Gerard Houllier for an identical offence, the former Liverpool manager having met Christian Ziege in a proven illegal approach in 2000. Chelsea have pledged their "full support" to Mourinho's representations.

"The board came to the conclusion that the greater interests of football were served by the club drawing a line under the issue," said the club in a statement.

"In arriving at that position, the Chelsea board held helpful and amicable discussions with colleagues from the wider football community."

Nevertheless, the London club's reputation in the wider football community - and specifically among their Premiership rivals - will take some rebuilding.

Yesterday's decision will soothe neither Arsenal nor Tottenham, who have reserved the right to report Chelsea to the English Premier League over what they allege to be an illegal approach from the league champions for their sporting director, Frank Arnesen.

That situation still remains unresolved, as do negotiations between Chelsea and AC Milan over the transfers of Hernan Crespo and Kakha Kaladze.

Chelsea are reluctant to meet Milan's £10 million valuation for a player with only 12 months to run on his contract and have threatened to recall Crespo to Stamford Bridge unless their own reckoning of the Argentina international's worth is recognised.

Uefa is set to discuss more stringent penalties for contravention of its rules at an executive meeting in Manchester tomorrow.

Chelsea were fined £33,000 in March for having brought the game into disrepute with allegations that the referee Anders Frisk had held an improper conversation with the Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard.

Uefa will consider introducing points-deduction penalties for similar infractions in the future.