Buying success argument rings hollow

AS you read this I will be preparing to make my second trip to the northwest in four days — cheers FA — thus further expanding my already extensive knowledge of the M6. And Bolton comes at the end of seven days which started with a hop over to Bremen.

Beautiful city, excellent beer, friendly people and a debacle on the pitch which threw into serious doubt my belief that José had more scruples than to lose a game for the pure mischief of sending Barcelona — officially the best and most moral team in the universe ever — into the UEFA Cup. The Germans didn’t even play that well.

After my jaw dropping at the team that Mourinho selected I then had to cope with my blood pressure rising when I read of the latest comments from Peter Kenyon.

All this “big club” bollocks — who really cares? WE ARE NOT A BRAND, WE ARE A FOOTBALL CLUB.

So let’s focus on the main event on “Showdown Sunday”. A reputed one billion people watched it, and it was a pretty good game for the neutral. But apparently there aren’t many of those when we play.

I went through hell in the first half. It was like Bremen game all over again. Chelsea looked half asleep in the first half — hardly surprising, as they had been awakened by an “unexplained” fire alarm at 2am in their hotel. How highly original. Just as it was when something similar happened at Blackburn a couple of weeks ago.

I feared the worst — I just couldn’t see where a goal was coming from.

There were a lot of disgruntled Blues at half time, bemoaning Ballack’s contribution. Shevchenko, too, seems to be testing the fans’ patience. I still maintain he will need a season to get used to the speed of the Premiership.

The draw was a fair result, but I do feel a little disappointed that Jose seems determined to carry on with this narrow formation despite the fact that we always play better with wide players.

The jungle drums have been making a very vexing sound in the past weeks — to the effect that Mourinho will not be Chelsea’s manager come the summer. The rumour is the old one, based on Abramovich’s funding of Guus Hiddink as manager of Russia and apparent Chelsea-boss-in-waiting, once José takes the Moratti shilling at Inter.

I’m agnostic on this one, but one thing I do know is that Mourinho is currently one of the top three managers in the world, and Hiddink is not. If Roman seriously thinks that the Dutchman will deliver him the kind of fantasy football he craves, then he’s never seen a Hiddink team in action.

Now, Gerry from Cork, this is for you: if you’re going to attack Chelsea then at least let’s have some facts. Here’s one: record attendance at Stamford Bridge: 82,905. Year: 1935 against Arsenal. They had 100,000 in against Moscow Dynamo and more than 70,000 against Tottenham in the Cup. In the first 20 years of the club’s history (1905-1925) they had the highest average home gates in the land in ten seasons. They’ve been in the top third of Premiership attendances since the competition started. And here’s a statistic that will blow most reds away. Chelsea are in the top five of the attendance league for all time. So no more nonsense about crowds please.

Yes, the club has/had an element of “No Surrender” supporters. It’s not the only one, and as for it being anti-Irish I don’t think that was Damien Duff’s experience. The reason Chelsea supporters were critical (and still are) of Stephen Hunt fracturing Peter Cech’s skull was because he was dangerous and reckless, not because he was Irish.

As for the “death threats”, Purleese! Where is the evidence that Chelsea supporters (as opposed to a random nutter) were responsible for emailing either Anders Frisk or Reading FC?

And the final argument, buying success. This is particularly rich when it comes from anyone connected with or supporting Manchester United, Liverpool or Arsenal. Anyway, money doesn’t buy you success.

Ask Massimo Moratti.

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