Chelsea have won the double and credit where credit is due, they have deserved it. Firstly their manager is a good chap and deserves a lot of credit for the way he has gone about his business this season, it has been quite out of character for Chelsea FC. Secondly in pure footballing terms they have been the best team in the country, they are hard to break down and have some top class attacking players. Anyway enough of the praise, despite their success there is a malignant undercurrent at Stamford Bridge and it has been the case ever since a certain oligarch started artificially pumping millions into this small west London club.
The way their players have gone about their business on and off the pitch this season has been a shambles to say the least, John Terry is the tip of a very very embarrassing Chelsea iceberg. In recent weeks we have seen Drogba's petulance, Lampard's squabbling and diving, Cole's niggling, Anelka's whinging, Terry's breeding and family show. This bunch will never be popular in the eyes of neutral football fans, they will never be remembered fondly as all round great players and good men, they did the former and forgot about the latter, they won things but didn't do it with class, they have shown to me and many others that there is much much more to life than simply winning things and short term achievement, the way one goes about things is infinitely important and Chelsea have forgotten this. From Abrahmovich to Kenyon, from Drogba to Cole, Chelsea have the win at all costs mentality, this is true, but at what cost?
In contrast Pompey are another story and perversely the way in which Roman's money has resulted in hyper-inflationary transfer fee and wage rises has been a big part in clubs like Portsmouth going under. Of course they also have themselves to blame for some woeful financial mismanegement. The Chelseas and Man Cities of this world have chucked millions around and it comes at a price, other clubs have tried to compete, but the results are unsustainable and many clubs are dying as a result. Arguably the game we love is a at risk of losing its heart, its soul, as a result of this wanton spending at the top.
Surely something must be down to stop the unsustainable loss making spending that some clubs are engaging in, the beauty of winning is being lost, winning at any cost does not make sense for the long term interests of the game. Chelsea may be thriving but the game we love is not, clubs with big hearts and great fans like Pompey are withering away before our very eyes. So this year Chelsea win the double, but they continue to make massive losses, while record numbers of clubs go into administration, is it just me who thinks something is going badly wrong here? For me everything come at a price, winning is not the be all and end all, the process is all important, if we lost sight of this fact then we will have a game left but it will have no soul, and a game with no soul is lifeless.
20 comments:
agreed!
I take it Woolwich didn't win anything again this season ..
Chelsea bought the league half a decade ago and since then so much has been ruined.
Clubs gone under. Transfer and wages gone up. Huge amounts of debts across the board in the league.
It's just frustrating to know that chelsea decide to do all this , when we had an amazing squad and had planned to be able to cope financially while building a new stadium to boost our finances.
What would have been a huge boost in finances now just seem like a push just to keep up with the billionaires.
Before we could buy athletes with skill, now they cost too much.
I am proud to support a club that puts morality high on their list.
However as long as chelsea have the cash, the league is theirs to lose.
I take it the spuds came below arsenal again.
St.Totteringhams day doesn't seem as special when you get to celebrate it every year
I take it my shares in the Kings Road silver polish shop have just soared ..
Good read. I think it needs to change really competition is a little lob-sided. How a club can operate without making a profit is beyond me. Lets face facts Chelsea: small club, rich owner. Made evident today that in 2010 Chelsea has won the clubs very first double. How have they achieved that? by throwing more money around than other clubs can match.
Not just because i'm Arsenal i say this but, there should be some clear rules set out about spending.
Clubs should not be allowed spend more than they make. Its the equivalent of a runner taking steroids.
This is where hte likes of the billionaires will likely shape rules to fit them......What is to stop Abramovich etc when these new rules come in seeing they have to spend in their means but the club is not bringing in enough money, so they put 100m in for a ticket that they buy themselves and say "its the clubs money it was spent on the club"
these are businessmen and have almost unlimited funds and obviously very powerful lawyers etc to support them, they can easily go against the rules and just decide to find loopholes, i see nothing changing once these new rules come in, all it will do is make the rich owners more devious and cunning, i mean the whole system is bent..you are telling me that Platini isn't biased against the EPL etc, so i expect nothing from their rulings
Man Utd are very much the same, in fact worse imo. They have some horrible thugs in their side. Evans' kick on drogba never received the attention it deserved (it received none in fact). Him along with a couple of others will easily replace the thuggery of keane and g.neville in their side over the next few years - yet somehow they are built up as a side who wins in the right way! Its quite incredible.
Dont get me wrong. In every title winning side there are players who are willing to go a bit over the top and vieira in particular is well known for being a player who could go over the top and get sent off, but overall our sides have not been like that. Further, we received more attention than we deserved for that side of our game, when Utd and chelsea's transgressions are ignored, relatively speaking.
I mean, pires seems to get more (or at least as much) attention for his 1 or 2 cases of diving than van nistelroy - who based a good portion of his goalscoring on that "talent" (not to say hes not a great player, but he certainly didnt mind diving for penalties).
boys as an Arsenal fan this sounds a bit like sour grapes.
Anonymous @18.49 I Concur a large portion of sour grapes methinks ...
Lampard's dive to get the penalty at the end of the Final was very similar to Pires's infamous dive, also against Pompey. He ran into the box, saw a defender's leg dangling and made sure he went over it; we all know that he could have stayed on his feet, had he a chance of scoring.
Pires was demonised for 5 years after that small indiscretion. I wonder how long the condemnation for Lampard will last?
Tinman. Your a right knob as your clearly a spurs fan reading and spending time on Arsenal forums.Should n 't you be out celebrating the fact your in champ league for the first time.
what sore losers. give credit where its due, chelsea are the best and are miles ahead of us. Anyone would think we had a team of angels. we had a few players with problems in the past so lets not throw stones. lets lay the blame where it belongs which is with wenger and not be a crowd of sad begrudgers like wenger
My spuds m8 say next year there will be a St Arselicks Day, Nah chance!!!
James I think you are the bigger knob as I am clearly a Chelsea fan
Chelsea have won and won well-yes they have spent a fortune-and they also have no soul, no class-which is why Ashley Cole joined them. On the pitch Chelsea outclassed us this season, home and away but off it they showed their true colours.
We are fooling ourselves if we think we can look forward to a better future than them. What are we going to do when Cesc leaves? When Wenger realises his dream is not achievable with Cesc and Gallas both going is he going to stay? To do what exactly? Produce some more young talent for Barcelona?
We need our own oligarch to take over and pump some real money into the playing staff of this club
Tinman et al,
If you look at the Gooner comments and the article you will see what I wrote was not just sour grapes.
I was pointing out that clubs like Pompey are going down and out of business because of the hyperinflationary pressure being exerted by the likes of Chelsea.
I just don't think you can feel the same satisfaction from buying success as Chelsea have done, any Chelsea fan saying so is probably lying through gritted teeth.
The overall point is that the game is in big financial trouble at the moment, if the SkyTV money drops then we could see several clubs in real trouble. The game is in big big trouble at the moment and ignoring the lack of competition as a result is not a good idea, the costs will have to be paid at some point.
Tinman et al,
If you look at the Gooner comments and the article you will see what I wrote was not just sour grapes.
I was pointing out that clubs like Pompey are going down and out of business because of the hyperinflationary pressure being exerted by the likes of Chelsea.
I just don't think you can feel the same satisfaction from buying success as Chelsea have done, any Chelsea fan saying so is probably lying through gritted teeth.
The overall point is that the game is in big financial trouble at the moment, if the SkyTV money drops then we could see several clubs in real trouble. The game is in big big trouble at the moment and ignoring the lack of competition as a result is not a good idea, the costs will have to be paid at some point.
Tinman,
Your still an absolute Knob who clearly has no life or friends. You have just won the double and your viewing and posting on Arsenal blogs. Get real mate and find a new hobby or celebrate like a normal chelsea fan.
Congratulation to chelsea for winning the double, its a massive achievement. I wish our manager would take the cup a lot more seriously and with more respect.
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