It's hard to admire charmless Chelsea

14 April 2012

In matters of guilt and innocence it is becoming increasingly difficult to take Chelsea seriously.

This is a shame because Chelsea are one of London's great clubs and, having waited 50 years, we should now be revelling in their extraordinary Championship success under Jose Mourinho.

But, no, we're not talking about Frank Lampard, John Terry and Joe Cole and the best Chelsea team we've ever seen. We're talking about conspiracies, clandestine meetings, lies and financial bullying.

I expected universal approval for the club that finally broke the Manchester United-Arsenal monopoly. What we've got instead is quite the opposite - growing resentment. After the season they've had, Chelsea should now be in a position to push forward into the global market and challenge the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid as one of football's elite brand names.

But I suspect that Chelsea's new and growing reputation for evasion and subterfuge will not win them many friends outside their regular band of Stamford Bridge stalwarts.

The public now perceive Chelsea as a club that is using the vast financial resources of Roman Abramovich to buy whatever takes their fancy. This in itself is not wrong.

What is wrong is the arrogant fashion in which the club seems to be riding roughshod over football's rule book. The approach for Tottenham's sporting director Frank Arnesen is the latest example of this.

Tottenham are convinced that Chelsea made their approach illegally, while a Premier League inquiry was in the process of finding them guilty of 'tappingup-Arsenal's Ashley Cole. A former Premier League chief executive, Peter Leaver, described Chelsea's arrogance as "breathtaking."

It is, in my opinion, the duty of the Football Association and the Premier League to establish the truth of Chelsea's approach to Arnesen, who appears to have accepted their offer with indecent haste. If they discover that Chelsea have again contravened the rule book the details should be made public. The other Premier League clubs need to know exactly what it is they are now dealing with.

If Abramovich's Chelsea are rich and powerful enough to flout the rules and get away with it then the rest of the Premiership clubs will have little option but to abandon contracts altogether.

Let's be honest. They've never been worth much but if Chelsea are allowed to live by their own set of rules then contracts will be meaningless.

I suspect sometimes that the game's authorities are intimidated by the legal implications of enforcing sporting rules but the time is coming when there will have to be a test case.

It's not as though Chelsea don't have a bit of previous - the covert talks with Sven-Goran Eriksson, the 'chance' meeting with Rio Ferdinand, the tappingup of Cole.

For football to survive and thrive it needs to be credible. The sport must have rules and the rules must be obeyed. That is why it is time for football's authorities to flex their muscles.

Chelsea are bending the rules and, before the dust has settled and the fines have been paid, they're bending them again.

"Carry on Regardless!" seems to be the mission statement from Stamford Bridge and unless the FA and Premier League stand up to them there is little to discourage the Premiership champions from continuing along this squalid route.

If Tottenham lodge a formal complaint and Chelsea are found to be in breach of the rules again the suspended three-point penalty issued after the Cole case should be invoked, given the contempt with which Chelsea have treated the rule book.

It's sad to say, but Chelsea have treated the rest of the top flight with disdain and, in doing so, have added to growing public disaffection with football.

It is becoming a charmless business - and in this respect Chelsea are leading the way.

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It's hard to admire charmless Chelsea

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