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Season 2000-2001

It's All Doom and Gloom

16th September 2000

Incredible highs and desparate lows are the lot of the Chelsea fan. We're kind of used to it. As a fan of 33 years standing, I've done more than my fair share of suffering on this particular emotional roller-coaster. But this last week has seen us all ride the steepest downhill slope of all time.
Just five months ago, we were celebrating a 3-1 win over Barcelona in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the European Cup. Four months ago we won the FA Cup, and last month we won the Charity Shield. To most other clubs in England, these would seem like highs indeed.
But to Ken Bates and Colin Hutchinson, these highs aren't high enough. Apparently, they decided that the task of steering Chelsea to a Premiership title was beyond Luca Vialli's abilities, so they sacked him. Fair enough, I suppose, they have the right to make that kind of decision and the responsibility to carry it out.
But the timing was all wrong. Coming as it did just five games into the Premiership season, it was either far too early or far too late, depending on your point of view. If Luca was good enough at the start of the season, surely five games aren't enough to decide he's no longer good enough. If Luca wasn't good enough before the season started, why did they wait so long to replace him? It's all very, very odd.
In any case, to sack your manager two days before a vital match in the UEFA Cup, and at a time when a replacement manager hasn't been lined up, that smacks of incompetence of the highest order. Not surprisingly, the Chelsea team struggled in the game against St Gallen, and the small crowd that attended weren't too reticent about making their feelings known. Their attack on Frank Leboeuf (he was roundly booed every time he touched the ball, being blamed for playing what was seen as a significant part in Vialli's downfall) was unfair and ill-informed, and didn't help the performance of the team. Far from getting behind the team, these morons made us all look like spoilt brats.
Don't get me wrong, I am an avid admirer of Luca the man and Luca the manager. He was - is - a gentleman of the first order. He had integrity and honesty by the bucket-load, qualities that certain other people couldn't spell, let alone attain. Luca was also the most successful manager in Chelsea's long and chequered history. Whether that success was down to his management or to the good fortune that he happened to manage a club that could afford to buy the best players from around the world, I guess we'll never really know.
I only wish that we (the fans) had been given the opportunity to thank Luca for all his hard work at the club, both as a player and as a manager. His presence helped transform Chelsea from a bit-part player to a major force in European football. He will be missed.
I suppose I should now advocate that we all put our whole-hearted support behind the new manager. Claudio Rinieri (Claudio who?) apparently cannot speak English, but has some sort of track record. He won't be involved in the upcoming match against Leicester, but he will be given a baptism of fire (to coin a phrase), with subsequent matches against the Scum and Liverpool, and the return leg against St Gallen. He'd better make an immediate impact, because we need to win all those matches.
But I fear for our chances against Leicester on Sunday. The team is in disarray, and there is nobody apparently able to re-unite them. Leicester are playing well, conceding nothing, and playing as a cohesive unit. The result will probably be that we'll take a sound beating. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt that I am.
As lows go, this is the lowest I've been for many, many years.

An Apology

19th September 2000

I was right. Chelsea played dismally on Sunday, and duly lost at home to Leicester for the first time in decades. Very few of the players came out with any credit from their performances, and it was abundantly clear that the team simply wasn't operating as a team.
I came away from the match livid with anger at what I had seen, and immediately wrote a match report that reflected that anger. I want to now apologise to anyone who has read that report. I am afraid I succumbed to the type of reaction that, in others, I find obnoxious and unhelpful. I'm not going to remove the report, as that wouldn't be the right thing to do. I've shown the world (or small portions of it) just how unreasonable I can be, and I have no intention of glossing over that particular flaw in my character. It's how I am.
However, I stand by my opinions and ratings on the various players' performances. Remove the invective, and you'll get a slightly fairer picture of things.

Bastards

24th November 2000

Yesterday, Chelsea sold Tore Andre Flo to Rangers, and claimed that it was "sad, but good business". Sad? That's the understatement of the year, that is! It was a disaster.
Let's get it straight. Flo is a class striker, and while he was at Chelsea, he never did anything but his best for the club. He loved playing at Chelsea, and (after a bit of an indifferent start to his Chelsea career) the fans loved him playing for Chelsea. You could always count on him to play his heart out.
Which is more than I can say for some of the others in the first team squad.
It just goes to show that the Chelsea Board don't give a monkey's about what the fans think, nor about the playing side of the club's business. No, stuff that, 12 million quid is 12 million quid, so let's just sell him on and take the profit. Sod the effect it's going to have on the team, or the fact that we're now relying on just two class strikers and one who's learning his trade.
I'm afraid that this is just another example of the crass stupidity that the Board has exhibited this season. I give you:

Selling Dan Petrescu
Sacking Luca Vialli
Employing a manager who can't speak or understand English
Selling Emerson Thome
Signing Bogarde (who's been seriously crap to date)
Signing Panucci (ditto)
Signing Gronkjaer (a guy who's so badly injured he can't play until January)

I also have the distinct impression that certain of our players have already decided they want out (since qualification for next year's Champions' League looks unlikely), and are simply turning up to games rather than doing anything useful. I cite as an example the defending in the Charlton game; when they scored their second from a corner, Desailly was stood marking fresh air, and made absolutely no attempt to defend at all. He's looked as if he couldn't care less for quite a while now, but after that little episode, I know he couldn't care less.
And as for the team selection against Charlton, well it beggars belief. Who in their right mind plays Dennis Wise as a right back? Claudio Ranieri apparently thought it would be a good thing to do, but when you consider that both of Charlton's goals came from down their left wing, it shows that it was a crap decision.
No, Chelsea are self-destructing. Many of the players need a bloody good kick up the arse to get them to do something. After all, they're being paid the sort of money each week that I would be glad to earn in a year, but does it look like we're getting value for money? Not bloody likely. Maybe it's time some of them were brought back down to earth, and paid what they're worth in terms of performance on the pitch.
Which makes it all the more galling that we've sold Flo. There was a man who was always worth his salary, because at least he was always trying his best. It wasn't always effective, but I'd rather have a trier who fails occasionally than a so-called super-star who tries only when he feels like it.
At least 10 years ago we knew why we were crap. Now we're crap and we shouldn't be.
Yes, I'm pissed off. And yes, I'll be there again on December 9th when we lose to Derby. That's the lot of the Chelsea supporter I suppose - we put up with the crap because we love the club so much.

Chelsea through, Scum out

28th January 2001

Apparently, the only reason that Chelsea won the FA Cup last year was that Manchester United were forced to pull out of the competition before it even started. That's what the football pundits have been saying ever since May last year, as if no other team in the competition had any right to compete in it or (shock horror) win it. Their unfettered adoration of the Scum has been sickening to behold, so when Ferguson's boys were dumped out of this year's FA Cup courtesy of a 1-0 home defeat to the highly unfancied West Ham, I had to laugh, long and loud.
The manner of their defeat was even more amusing. The West Ham goal was scored by Di Canio, who swept a shot under the strangely static Barthez after the referee and linesman had (rightly) failed to give an offside decision against the Italian. Rather than make an effort to thwart Di Canio, Barthez just stood there bleating about how unfair it all was.
Funnily enough, the football pundits have already labelled this event as an example of Barthez's "eccentricity", rather than the fact that he was an unprofessional twat. Yet another example of their fawning adoration of all things to do with Manchester United.
Still, the fact remains that Chelsea are through and Manchester United are not. I have two good reasons to celebrate for now, and I intend to take every opportunity to rub it in to any Scum-fan that I meet. I should have hundreds of opportunities for that, since I don't live anywhere near Manchester.

Ken Bates sets West Stand tariff

7th February 2001

It has been reported today that Chelsea are set to charge between £2250 and £3750 for a season ticket in the new West Stand next season. If Chelsea were to be drawn away from home in the domestic cup competitions (and thus have only the 19 Premiership games to offer the season ticket holder), that would work out at up to £197 per game!
When asked to comment on this, Ken Bates is reported to have said:

"It's not just the wealthy that can afford such prices. We have executive club members who used to stand in the rain in the old Shed. They've got on with their world, made money and want to watch football in comfort. It doesn't follow that the working class sit in the cheapest seats, because most corporate hospitality comprises working guys that have made money."
Source: Sky Sports Official Web Site

No Ken, most corporate hospitality comprises people who are the guests of people who can afford to pay the price of corporate hospitality. It will very rarely include any normal member of the public (whether working class or any other class for that matter). Normal people would just like to turn up to a match, pay a reasonable price for their tickets, and shout their hearts out in support of the team. Such staunch vocal support may well emanate from the corporate hospitality areas too, but it's a different type of person who sits there. They're not just there to watch the game, they're probably there to conduct business of some sort as well.
In any case, you seem to be forgetting that the bulk of the supporters at Chelsea are the type of working class people that haven't made vast sums of money, the sort that have to scrimp and save to make a living for themselves and their families. The sort that finds going to a decent football match a welcome relief from the drudgery of daily working life. These are the people who shout for the team, who make sacrifices to be there at home games and, all too often, away games. The sort of people that you are now going to alienate for ever.
Okay, so the story about Chelsea charging extortionate money for West Stand season tickets may have been sensationalised out of all proportion, and written in such a way as to imply that all West Stand seats will be that expensive, but did Ken have to display such ignorance of the ways of the ordinary supporter? Or does he not give a toss about the proles that turn up week in, week out to provide real support? Answers on a postcard, addressed to Ken Bates, c/o Chelsea Football Club, London.

Good news at last!

4th May 2001

At last there is good news emanating from Chelsea Football Club. Gianfranco Zola has decided to stay on for another two to four years, instead of going home to Italy. He has declared his undying love for the club and the fans, and insists that his stay at Chelsea has been the best and most enjoyable part of his career to date.
Franco, the feeling is mutual. Your presence at the club has been a joy to us all. You have elevated our football to new heights, and you have been the prime influence in our recent successes. You have also been a model professional and a real gentleman.
If you had gone back home, everyone would have understood. You would have put the needs of your family above everything else. That is the right attitude, and I applaud it. Every fan would have thanked you for your unstinting efforts and devotion, and cheered you to the rafters as you left the club to pursue your new interests. There would have been a few tears shed as well, I have no doubt, because saying goodbye to a real friend is a truly painful experience.
As it is, we can all celebrate the good news by making the house rock tomorrow afternoon in support of Franco and the rest of the boys. I shall be there to help with the noise-making, and, no matter what the result, to give my own personal thanks to Franco. (And, by all accounts, to Franca his wife, whose willingness to stay on in the UK for a while longer was instrumental in helping Franco to make his decision).
I just hope to God that Ranieri will see fit to let the little man play the whole game from start to finish. Anything else would be greeted with derision from us true Chelsea fans.

Gustavo Poyet decides to go

20th May 2001

The good news about Zola staying has been more than tempered by today's news that Poyet is leaving. I can fully understand his frustration at not being as big a part in Ranieri's plans as he'd like to be, and I wish him well in whatever future lies ahead of him. It fills me with great sadness that Gus has decided to hand in a transfer request, and with great anger that Hutchinson has decided to accept it without a fight.
Gus is a great player, and Chelsea will be the poorer without him. His ability to ghost in from nowhere and score outstanding goals sets him apart from most of the rest of the Premiership midfield contingent, and we will miss that next season. His ability to fire up the team into some sort of action will be missed too.
Now that Gus is going, I fear a mass exodus of disillusioned players. What price Dennis Wise going across to Watford to help out his old mate Gianluca Vialli, for example? Unfortunately, the one person who should leave looks set to be there for a while yet, as Ranieri appears to have the backing of Bates and Hutchinson to stay on. He has been the one person most responsible for Chelsea's inconsistent season, and the source of most of the unhappiness amongst players and fans alike.
In the meantime, I'd like to personally thank Gustavo Poyet for providing me with countless wonderful memories. Cheers, mate.

And now Dennis is off to Leicester

20th June 2001

So one of Chelsea's finest servants is finally on his way out of the club. I can't blame him. He clearly didn't have the whole-hearted support of his manager, who was also just as clearly scared to death of the influence Wisey could have with the other members of the squad.
It was kind of inevitable as well, given Ranieri's stated aim of bringing in young new blood to replace the old. With Dennis knocking on a bit, it had to happen, I guess. I just hope that Ranieri uses Jody Morris to bring in that new blood, and not some overpaid import looking for bit of fast glory.
In the meantime, I'd like to pay a personal tribute to Dennis Wise, whose heart was tattooed with the Chelsea crest, who lived and breathed Chelsea for eleven wonderful years, and who will be sorely missed by all true Blue fans the world over. Good luck at Leicester, Wisey, and thanks for all the memories.