No home comforts for old boy Di Matteo

I WAS worried before the West Brom game. Don’t get me wrong, we were always going to be stronger than the newly-promoted side, but I did wonder whether we were going to see some major bottom lips on display after news was leaked of the abolition of various bonuses.

How is a young man to survive on just 80 grand a week? Any toy-throwing has wisely been kept behind closed doors as Double or no Double, there would not have been much sympathy from fans like myself who will be charged over £60 this season for the knock-out stage of the Champions League, as well as having swallowed a significant season ticket increase.

Chelsea fans will even be charged a fiver to watch the reserves this season — looks like Peter Kenyon’s replacement has taken seriously the task of breaking even some time this century.

I did feel for Di Matteo though — a talented, elegant, modest and popular player who was part of a revolutionary Chelsea team. He was given a rousing welcome before his side were torn apart with consummate ease.

In these situations I usually feel sorry for the fans too, but not in this case. The Baggies showed their Nationwide roots by booing Lampard, Terry and Cole — but the boos choked in their throats as the Blues gave the Albion players a footballing masterclass and twisted blood to boot.

Still I imagine it’s just a taste of what the trio are going to have to endure this season but the hypocrisy in the media still makes my blood boil. A well-known commentator judged that it was fair enough to boo the Chelsea players, but to boo Rooney was just “perverse.”

What’s this English obsession with booing about anyway? Although it’s quite apt considering the pantomime that football has become these days.

A 6-0 win was just what was needed, as many were writing us off before a competitive ball was kicked. I even had a popular radio station ring me an hour after the Charity Shield match asking me if I would take part in a live radio discussion on the “crisis at Chelsea following their disastrous start to the season”. I hung up.

Perhaps six was a little flattering, but really, only a little. One could also argue that had we not “rested” with the ball for the last 15 minutes, they could have been on the end of a real hiding.

Either way, it was a great start to the season and sends out a statement of intent nice and early.

Our squad is one of the best in the league, but I am worried regarding sufficient cover should key players pick up injuries. If we are going to use some of the talented youngsters then we need them to have some playing time — and games such as Saturday are perfect for them to rack up some minutes. At 4-0 up why not bring on Sturridge or Van Aanholt?

So Wigan this Saturday and hopefully we’ll put on a better display than last time at the JW. The 3-1 loss last September was our worst performance of the season, and had me cursing all the way back down to London and writing off the campaign even at that early stage — oh ye of little faith eh? We must not let complacency creep in because of their comprehensive loss and our even more comprehensive win as it would be nice to put some daylight between us and the usual suspects even this early in the campaign.

One thing I will be interested in this season is whether Ferguson deems Carlo worthy of his mind games — he only had a mild dabble with him last season (naming Arsenal as United’s only real rival for the title) but I imagine Lord Govan will see the mild- mannered Italian as more of a threat this year. I will be even more interested to see how Ancelotti will deal with it. Watch this space.

Call me bitter and twisted but I can’t go without mentioning Joe Cole. Seven years with the enemies of football and he was never sent off, yet he barely makes 45 minutes for the media darlings before he sees red. Looks like the protection of the shirt hasn’t quite kicked in yet has it Joe?

But those of us that watch football are acutely aware that all footballers are equal but some are just more equal than others. I will leave you with another Orwell quote — “whoever is winning at the moment will always seem to be invincible” — long may that continue.

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