I must of missed this, apparently Jose Mourinho has left Chelsea after 3 years. Why is that news? Does anyone care? Ok, about 16,000 Chelsea fans with fading tatoo's might but the other 20,000 will go and support someone else, go back to croquet or just work overtime in their restaurant on a Saturday afternoon instead. No one cares, sure I will miss his media interviews because he was good value, he was good for Chelsea, but it was always going to come to an end wasn't it? Personally I thought it was pretty bang out of order Chelsea fans giving Les Reed, sorry Avram Grant a tough time on Saturday, I mean it's hardly his fault that he looks like the Toad from Toad Hall is it?
Jose's gone, he was there 5 minutes and he's moved on. No ones mourning because it's a rare victory for true football lovers. It's a moment to rejoice because of everything that Chelsea represent, and everything that has followed implies. Despite having taken Chelsea to 2nd and a semi-final in the Champions League, the much-loved Claudio Ranieri was cast aside to make way for the Special One, a former Champions League winner who would surely take Chelsea not only to Premiership glory (as if Roman cared about that), but to European glory too.
Abramovich was used to getting what he wanted; Mourinho was his executor, and he didn't expect to be disappointed. As it transpired, Mourinho's final game in charge summed up the truth about Chelsea.....a medium-sized club pumped full of egos, shorn of fans and unable to cast aside the very best that Norway had to offer. (There were nearly as many at The Valley that night against the very best that Norwich had to offer).
Chelsea were the first example of real foreign money being pumped into the game (and from one of Europe's richest men no less), but more worringly for genuine fans, the first concerted attempt to create a football 'brand', that unlike say Liverpool or Man Utd, was not rooted in a century of trophies and glory nights. Winning was the only goal, style was irrelevant.
As an away fan, when you walk into Anfield for example, the sense of tradition and passion is overwhelming. The fact that the stadium lies bang in the middle of one of the most deprived inner cities in the country merely adds to the aura of the place. Compare this to Stamford Bridge, as you stroll down the well-to-do Kings Road, past the half-empty hotel complex and into the characterless stadium that, at least when it hosted a dog track, had the semblance of some soul.
Anfield brings memories of Hansen, Highway, Keegan and Daglish; Stamford Bridge, Gordon Durie.
Chelsea's success did break up the dominance of the top 3 but did anyone other than rich Mayfair-ites, waiters, corporate suits and old skinheads think that it was done in the 'right' fashion? From Peter Kenyon's unfathomably large ego to their flamboyant transfer policy that, as is now obvious, focused on the size of the fee, not the size of the heart. Even Frank Lampard, apparently deep down a decent and philanthropic type, has been turned into an utterly charmless figure, booed even by fans of England.
John Terry, a Barking boy from a football family, now thinks he is Gordon Gecko, demanding a contract whereby he will always be the highest paid player even until he is 36 years old and will then be offered the managers job on a silver platter. Well, give him the bloody job and see if he can get them out of League One.
Ashley Cole, once the finest full back in football. Andriy Shevchenko, the laziest piece of crap to ever stain the Premier League - how can Chelsea fans be proud of him? Hernán Crespo, out on loan for the past 3 years, just so know one else can have him. It makes me wretch.
And that's what Roman Abramovich's Chelsea have brought to English football. For most of the 1980s and 1990s, Chelsea were a yo-yo club, their fans bowing to QPR in bragging rights, and playing their football in one of the most unpleasant and fearsome 'stadiums' in the land. As recently as the late 1980s, they played a midweek Division One fixture in front of less than 10,000 fans.
They are not a big club, but by chance they happen to be situated amongst the most expensive real estate in the world. Cue a ticketing policy that was firmly focused upon attracting those that can pay, rather than those that cared. The Champions League game against Rosenborg on the eve of Mourinho's departure was the inevitable result. This is a pivotal moment for Chelsea. Abramovich has made it clear that he will not continue to bankroll the club to the same degree, and there is a very large risk that one day he will wake up and be bored and take his filty roubles somewhere else.
With no obvious manager waiting in the wings and with boos ringing around Stamford Bridge Saturday for Roman's mate Avram Grant plus the press having a field day, it would be wildly optimistic to hope that Abramovich would walk away and leave the club destitute, but then again who could he sell it to who would take on the debt he is owed? Either way, let's just assume he's lost at least a sliver of hope that he can fulfil his footballing dreams in this fashion. In the meantime, let's revel in a rare moment of schadenfreude because tonight, football is the winner.
