13 05 2006 End of season report part 2
Games
In terms of away performance, arguably the most memorable was thrashing Liverpool 4-1 at Anfield - Liverpool's biggest
home defeat since Jimmy Tarbuck could last see his nether regions without the use of a mirror. Not only was it a great
performance, but Drogba annihilated their defence. It helped to numb some of the pain after the Liverpool Champions
League Semi Final last season where they went through after scoring a goal that did not cross the line. Hating
opposition clubs changes from season to season for me (I don't like any of 'em to be honest!) and from going from an
attitude where I was fairly neutral in my view of that club, I now hate them with a passion.
Funnily enough, my second favourite game was beating them at home 2-0 which could have been more had the
linesman not erroneously ruled Crespo offside.
Apart from that, what can I say? The team has been solid throughout apart from a tiny blip in mid-season. The only club
we played that matched us on the pitch was Barcelona. The losses we had were either down to poor refereeing
decisions or the odd, rare defensive blip.
It has been a thoroughly enjoyable season culminating in an annihilation of Manchester United 3-0 at home. We did the
double over Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham and most other teams in the league. Among the highlights in these games was
seeing Wenger seethe when they had a goal disallowed at Highbury against us for offside. I felt extremely sympathetic
for the manager who normally fails to see a single player from his team do anything wrong! The last minute Gallas
winner against Spurs was my goal of the season, and beating West Ham 4-1 having been 0-1 down with ten men on the
pitch was my performance of the season.
Fans/Away Travel
Chelsea fans travel well and we have sold out virtually every league game this season. The only exceptions have been
up in the North East where matches have been rearranged at rubbish times against Sunderland and Newcastle.
It's been strange on the atmosphere front - when you are so far ahead of the competition in the league the atmosphere
can be subdued. Most of the games this season felt like friendlies against lower league sides - such was the gulf in
class. That is why I took a perverse pleasure when we had a blip mid season knowing that we would have some
meaningful games towards the end of the season. Who better to win the title against than Manchester United? And
crush them in the process!
Going away with Chelsea is a magnificent experience. On the whole, you get the real fans going. We sing throughout
the game and fear noone. The strangest away was going up to Everton in the FA Cup where we took half our allocation
(mainly due to the club not making tickets more easily available for members). Even though we had fewer fans there, the
noise we made was magnificent, mainly because our hardcore support was there.
The away trips in Europe were also excellent. Anderlecht was my favourite by far. Barcelona was more subdued than
last season, and the trip to Liverpool was tedious. Real Betis was blighted because of a poor performance, and because
I nearly broke my foot kicking a wall in frustration there. Among the best memories were being around the clubs and
bars and seeing the plethora of flags around.
The worst was Spurs away. There is no bigger shithole to travel to in London, and afterwards their brave fans tried to
take out the odd naive Chelsea fan who decided to wear his replica shirt. Another was the Semi at Old Trafford. I never
feel safe near Liverpool fans. Losing and then having a six hour trip back to London was also quite demoralising. I will
never forget after the game seeing a ten year old in our car park singing, "Fuck off, Chelsea FC" with his proud father
standing next to him. West Ham wasn't too bad for once, and Fulham was a joke. It was made out as the worst football
violence seen in a decade - I've seen worse fights amongst old biddies at jumble sales.
I missed 12 out of 54 games this season in all major competitions - which was not too bad bank balance considered.
With more northern teams in the league, travelling has become more expensive. Luckily Reading are up, and hopefully
Watford will be up too - I just want fewer teams in the North West and North East for purely financial reasons!
Away fans at the Bridge have been hilarious. I repeatedly hear the chant, "where were you when you were shit"
laughably coming from clubs like Wigan and Fulham, who struggled to attract 4,000 fans barely ten years ago! The best
away fans were Man City, who along with the usual banter sang with wit and reminded me why I felt Chelsea and Man
City fans always seemed so similar - because of our pessimistic humour!
Over the season I have made many new friends too. You become quite sceptical of which fans are the genuine ones
who have been going for years, and which are the glory hunters. Hopefully the people I keep in contact now will still be
around for years to come! Even though following Chelsea must have cost me over £4k this season, I am already getting
excited at the prospect of a pre season friendly in Holland! Goodbye new kitchen!
The media
It's very easy to be scornful of the criticism Chelsea has received over the past couple of seasons. Some is self inflicted,
but most is simply hateful diatribe against a club who has traditionally not won trophies, but has had a romance that
surrounds it and also a great following despite its lack of success.
Personally, I have never seen so much hatred directed at my club as in this season. I remember when the most we were
ever mentioned in the media was if the Chelsea Flower Show was on, and now everyone wants a piece of us - but for
the worse.
I have been told that this is what happens when you are the best team in England. People always try and find ways to
criticise - when you are in the media spotlight more, your faults are highlighted more frequently. You are always
expected to win your games, and so losses against the underdog are celebrated . Quite frankly, these arguments do not
wash. I never recalled Manchester United receiving such criticism when they had the odd hiccup or on/off field
misdemeanour. Even Arsenal's disgraceful behaviour on the pitch has been glossed over during the last twenty years. I
certainly don't recall a Pires dive or Vieira leg breaking challenge being shown on Sky News thirty times a day when they
were top of the league! When Liverpool bored us to death with their football in the mid 90s, it didn't seem to matter
because of the romance associated with that club.
Probably the real reason we are criticised is because we are not supposed to be a club that is successful. The media is
geared for the main three - Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd - to win competitions. Look how many former players of
those teams are on the payroll of Sky and the BBC compared to ex-Chelsea players. With a smaller fanbase (so far)
they must also get pissed off when crucial games in the season don't have these three big teams in the mix with their
traditional huge hardcore support of armchair fans watching the adverts at half time, and buying tabloids to find out who
their team is playing that day. Quite frankly, they do not like a smaller club like us with fewer glory hunters being a
success!
Of course, some of these problems are caused by the club. Jose perhaps should be more gracious on occasion, but
that's his style. The stories of Mourinho not shaking hands with Bryan Robson or Rafa Benitez were blown well out of
proportion considering the former repeatedly called Jose a "fucking faggot" during the West Brom game, and the latter
said on the morning of the FA Cup Semi that Jose had only won the league because of the money he had inherited.
Luckily, Jose is much cooler than these other managers. He is a winner, and has taken "mind games" to a new and more
sophisticated level.
My overall gripe is with the general hypocrisy of the media. One day they are up in arms when Jose has the temerity to
say that a decision went against Chelsea, but when Wenger accused Jol of cheating in the recent derby game little was
mentioned.
And the story of Chelsea "Netcases" was greatly exaggerated, but I never read the Sun anyway.
I could go on - but the sentiment is obvious. I don't know if the media is deliberately trying to wind up Chelsea fans. In a
way, I shouldn't care. However, I don't want us to be the most hated team in the land when in the late 90s we were every
fans' second favourite club. Perhaps we were well liked then because we were so unpredictable - winning the odd cup
but losing to teams like Watford in the league. We are now a club that is more ruthless and that is why we have won the
main competition two seasons in a row.
The problem is that the man in the street simply regurgitates what he reads in the paper and hears on the radio. And
without being paranoid, I believe some Chelsea fans have also begun to believe what the media tells them as well.
Stories of us buying the league are ridiculous when clubs like Real Madrid are lauded for bringing megastars to their
club, but win nothing and play mediocre games. Talk of cheating and diving by Chelsea is greatly exaggerated when
compared to what goes on at other English clubs - but then again, who cares about teams like Bolton? Accusing them of
cheating won't increase the newspaper circulation - criticising Chelsea will as the non-Chelsea armchair fans can guffaw
over all the attacks against our wonderful club.
Chelsea used to be hated because of the media stance against our hooligans. In the late 90s, we were lauded for
winning a few major competitions, but they hoped we would go away. Now we are despised because the clubs that
traditionally help sell papers and attract more viewers are being pushed aside - and will be behind us for many years to
come barring a disaster.
In any case, I no longer listen to TalkSport and have stopped buying all newspapers (apart from the FT occasionally).
The days of unbiased football reporting are over, and there are many Chelsea fans who are also joining in the boycott.
Referees, the FA, UEFA and FIFA
There have never been so many decisions that have gone against Chelsea as in this season, and yet we still won the
league at a canter. We are vastly superior to any English team, and you sometimes wonder whether the authorities are
trying to handicap us to give other teams a chance.
The main two refereeing incompetencies that were truly diabolical were the sending off of Del Horno against Barcelona
at home and some bizarre decisions against Liverpool in the FA Cup Semi Final.
In the former, an evenly balanced game was ruined by the red card decision. Of course, Jose could not say anything
even though last season his allegations against Frisk were true! The referee for this huge game was a chap from
Norway, who normally referees sheep shagging contests. Why did UEFA allow him to officiate such a crucial game?
In the latter, Liverpool scored from an extremely dubious free kick, and a Chelsea goal was disallowed for a foul. A
Liverpool player committed the same foul outside of the penalty area a few minutes later and no free kick was given.
Among other decisions were the umpteen wrongly given offside decisions, the unpunished tackle on Essien by
Reo-Coker (which meant Essien missed a few games injured, unlike Hammann) and the lack of penalties given at the
Blackburn and Newcastle games at the end of the season, among others.
The FA is useless, and with David Dein having so much influence in the Premier League we seem to be at a
disadvantage. Sepp Blatter is quick to criticise us, and not Real Madrid, for the money we have. They fine Jose for
comments he makes, and others seem to get away with it. Chelsea were fined and cautioned for surrounding the referee
at West Brom away after a disgraceful tackle on Maka. Somehow West Brom players who did the same after Robben's
tackle got away with it; as did Fulham's players when they complained about our dubious goal. Chelsea certainly seems
to have been made a scapegoat.
Something stinks; and with the corruption (which at the time of writing) is going on in Italy, you wonder whether
something similar is going on here. Especially when in European competition we are not a member of the G-14, and in
England we are still not seen as a club traditionally as big as the Red Three.
Conclusion
This has been a fantastic season with a few disappointments along the way. Yes, we could have done better, but I am
still more than happy with our achievements so far.
Bring on next season, and let's hope for more silverware!