Henry: Refâ™s report puts me in the clear

Thierry Henry is confident he will escape Football Association censure after his controversial goal celebration-against Everton.

The Arsenal striker was reported to the authorities by match referee Mark Halsey after he ripped off his shirt and blew kisses in front of the away fans.

Everton supporters complained that his actions were provocative but Henry insisted that the gestures were directed at the corporate box where his wife Nicole was sitting.

Henry is in Switzerland preparing for France’s friendly tomorrow night and said today: “I am glad the referee put it in his report. It means that he saw it and he decided to take no action at the time. There have been other cases in the past where, if the referee has seen an incident, no action has been taken. The referee saw what I did.

I would say that means they can do nothing. It was never my intention to upset anyone. I wanted to celebrate the birthday of my wife, nothing more.”

Everton fans also accused Henry of making a V-sign towards them later in the first half but Henry denies the allegation.

“All I did was point at my name on the back of my shirt.”

Meanwhile, Marcel Desailly today defended the £75million spent by Chelsea on transfers.

The Chelsea captain said: “It is for the future, not just for the short-term.

Outside the club, people have been impressed by the amount of money that has been spent but if you see the kind of player we are getting, you can see the money is well spent. We have a right-sided defender in Glen Johnson and an excellent left-sided defender in Wayne Bridge.

“Damien Duff is so fast and he will be a tremendous player for Chelsea. Veron? Everybody knows Veron. Geremi is so strong in midfield.

“So it is not wasted money. People may be impressed by the amount Chelsea have spent but inside the club we are very calm about it because we need to have a squad capable of producing two good teams. We had a good squad before but we didn’t have the players to make a good second team.

“Now we have doubled all the positions and every top club does that. The difference is they have taken years to do it while we have done it in a few months. And we know the club is working for the future, not for the short-term. They are not spending money for the sake of it.

“We, the players, are very calm about the whole thing.”