Bad guys rarely know that is what they are. It is only with
the benefit of hindsight that the moral arbiters can assign them their status;
history is written by the winners, said Churchill, and those winners are very
rarely labelled ‘bad’. Good and bad are the most subjective, even nonsensical of
concepts in some ways. Where one man may ardently pursue an ideology he sees as
right, another may view him as morally misguided, even evil. So I write this
article today with a caveat. The following conjecture is just that; the opinion
and moralising of one man, who may himself inadvertently be the bad guy in the
tale he is about to unfold. Yet, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be said. “All
that it takes for evil to triumph is for a few good men to do nothing”, said
someone, perhaps Andy Townsend. And while Chelsea are far from evil, and their
fans far from bad, it is surely time to confront head on a club spiralling away
from an illustrious history into a place only a few clubs can claim experience:
near-universal disdain.
I don’t want this to be a hatchet job, so let me first clarify
something about Chelsea. They did not ‘begin’ in 2003, with the ascent of
Abramovich. This is the favoured line of the self-important armchair critic,
smiling a snide smile as he suggests you can’t buy history. Well obviously you
can’t buy history you smug prick, but you also don’t define history by trophies
alone. Notts County are the oldest still-extant professional football club in
the World. They are suffused by history; a shining embodiment of our
footballing heritage in this country. Juventus, the grand old lady of Turin,
based their stripes on those of County, an honour that needs little elaboration.
Yet according to the smirking twitter pundit County would have no history
because they’ve never won the Champions League. They’ve never even been in the
Premier League, which of course was the founding point of football in 1992. Of
course this is nonsense. Dominance does not equal history, or else only
Liverpool, United, Arsenal and maybe Huddersfield Town (really), would be
deemed worthy of the title. Chelsea have a past bathed in glory, struggle and
occasional mediocrity, just as every other football league club does. Except MK
Dons.
So it is not out of spite that I attack the Blues. It is
nothing to do with their perceived lack of a place at the clique-ish, arrogant
top table of English football. They deserve their seat. I roared last year when,
fuelled by solidarity and grit, they somehow overcame Barcelona, triumphing as
a team against a side which had for years been the very embodiment of teamwork.
I have no reason to dislike them any more than I would any rival of my team’s,
especially given the magnificence of their travails against the odds last
season. It is not because of history that I think Chelsea are the bad guys, nor
because of their financial supremacy. It is because of their present and, more
worryingly, what it suggests about their future.
Rafa Benitez is a phenomenal manager. He broke the La Liga
monopoly of the Clasico giants with his Valencia side. Twice. He drove his team
to Uefa Cup glory, back when that meant something. He then took over a
Liverpool side mired in mediocrity and breathed new life into them, driving
them to the Champions League title, against all odds. To confound those who
said it was a fluke, he then steered the Reds back to the final just two years
later, where they were only undone by the last throes of a majestic AC Milan
side. He even dared challenge the superpowers of English football, and though
he never quite crossed the finish line first, he left an indelible mark on the domestic
game. For those who deride him as a tinkerman, I point to that night in
Istanbul. He was wrong to leave out Didi Hamann, but so right to bring him on
early. His willingness to shuffle his team is a sign of humility, unlike the
obstinate arrogance of his peers. If he hadn’t admitted his mistake and drafted
in the German Liverpool would never have won that game. He did the same against
United on Sunday, from a position in which few, if any, managers could have
recovered. His tinkering is to be admired. He also, despite popular belief,
never suggested he would refuse to countenance the idea of managing Chelsea; an
urban myth invented by a 15 year old on twitter and swallowed whole by a lazy
press corps. He left Liverpool and then took over another strong side, who are
in no way geographical or ancient rivals. For this he was castigated,
threatened and mocked to the rafters of Stamford Bridge. That is nothing short
of a disgrace.
He is booed every time he stands. His every utterance is met
by a chorus of expletives and hate. He is derided for his looks, dismissed for
comments he never said and chastised for the crime of not being Jose Mourinho.
Yes, Chelsea are not as strong as they were 3 years ago. That is not Benitez’s
fault. He has inherited a club in limbo, unable to buy his own players or even
stamp his own authority on a team, it has been made clear, he will manage only
for the short term. Despite this he has shown a willingness to fight, a passion
to leave the club in as strong a position as possible. They still boo him. When
Manchester United dismantled one great team and built another they didn’t win
anything for several years. Chelsea fans cannot stomach the same, so dizzy on
rapid success they have become. Whereas Keane, Stam and Van Nistelrooy were
dispatched once it became clear they were poisonous to the dressing room, the
cartel of Terry, Lampard and Cole remains. They are good players, and Lampard
is not a bad man, but to welcome the new you must say goodbye to the old.
Chelsea fans cannot accept this; demanding the two live alongside in some
uneasy marriage. The results of this lopsided rebuilding are evident for all to
see.
Instead they turn their bile on a man who does not deserve
it. I will defend to the death the right to a say in a football club’s
direction for fans, but does that extend the hostility Chelsea have shown? Is
it helpful to meet every poor game with a chorus of boos soaked up as much by
the playing staff as by the coach? There were even whispers of some hoping for
occasional defeats to hasten the departure of the scapegoat upon whom they have
heaved all their ills. That is an attitude I cannot stomach. Just as Blackburn
Rovers disgraced themselves with their near death-threats for poor Steve Kean
last season, Chelsea have done the same this term. When Benitez had had enough
he responded, not in the meltdown the press described it as but rather in an
eminently sensible, passionate defence of his role at a club that had done its
best to undermine him from the very moment he attempted to come to its aid. The
booed him twice as hard after that. These are the same fans who booed Anton
Ferdinand for the temerity of being racially abused by their great John Terry.
When a core of fans, however small in the grand mass, have the attitude that
Ferdinand is at fault for taking offence at the vile spewings of their captain
then there is little that can be said. They are bad guys, blinded by something
bordering on obsession for the old guard and their ways and rank, ignorant
hostility for anyone attempting to take the club in a different direction.
I’m not going to dwell on Terry. He is an odious individual,
but I understand that admiration for his strength on the field and symbolic embodiment
of the club cloud the judgement of Chelsea fans, just as the Kop loves Suarez
and Stretford End still defends Keane’s assault on Alf-Inge Haaland. What sets
Chelsea fans apart is this bile for Benitez: a good man, trying to help their
club and being met with 45,000 middle fingers. Along with Abramovich’s whims, Chelsea
fans have succeeded in making it a job fewer and fewer people will take up. Guardiola
is gone, Jurgen Klopp will never consider it and the brightest young talent in
European management has already been dispatched to White Hart Lane. Maybe
Mourinho will return. I hope he succeeds. Because if he fails, Chelsea fans
will be left with a burning hatred for the new alongside their love of a past
which no longer exists. They will write a new passage of mediocrity in the
history of a grand old club that deserves so much better. I doubt they will
care much of my criticism, and maybe rightly so. But it pains me to see a side
that has done so much right, capped by the staggering unity they showed at the
end of last season, undone by so much wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment