No it is not impossible to do, you don't just say 'he said this, there you go, investigate' because ultimately it reflects badly on them as an organisation if something turns out to be as you say 'bogus', hence why we and other forums (including Chelsea's) are having this discussion. They are supposed to be a professional organisation, not kiss and tellers. Chelsea at the very least would've known, or should've found out Mikel did not hear anything, that he was told in a third person way; nobody else heard a thing like was supposed to have been said.
In my mind Chelsea acted with haste because of how 'wronged' they felt in the result. As has been said they did not have to go publically with the accusations and I say they regardless with whoever that might be - Chelsea as a club put out a statement that is faceless, therefore it would be reasonable for them to put out an apology in a representative club statement for potentially ruining a referee's career in a manner that could've been handled very differently.
They could easily say we acknowledge that our hastiness to protect our players in retrospect could have affected the livelihood of another man's career. As it is, it just seems like they don't really care that could (depending on crowds up and down the country) the latter part of that possible statement could still happen.
Certainly I can't see Clattenburg refereeing a Chelsea game again.
gooners, you really do confuse me, you say you are an arsenal fan yet viciously attack anything they do, yet when our rivals do something, you passaiontly defend them. you're wumming skills need to get better
Don't think an apology should be issue, reason being the referees don't come out and apologise or even acknowledge their awful errors when they make them.
If they had to answer to their mistakes then fine, but they get away with some shockers week in week out without ever facing any repercussions.
That's stupid FA (well FIFA really) protocol though.
Agreed, but you reap what you sow, it might not be the refs but I don't ever see any apologies at any stage from them either...they just insist they were right rather than put their hands up. Maybe there's something to learn from this.