Square Dance

There is no doubt that in terms of points and trophies, Chelsea have become an immensely successful club, but it has to be acknowledged that despite their material accomplishments many people who love football find them boring and irritating in the extreme and would much prefer to watch Arsenal or Manchester United.

This may have something to do with their ritual collective pestering of referees who have the audacity to award decisions against them – something which a team of real quality does not normally find necessary on such a scale. It may also be connected with the antics of their manager who regularly prances about the technical area shouting and gesticulating in a manner which suggests that he is hell bent on convincing all and sundry that, though small of stature, he is extremely big in the ego department and at least as ‘special’ as he has always insisted he is. But most of all, it’s down to the tedious football they play – a style so tiresome and mechanical and littered with square and reverse passes that sometimes you feel you are watching a rugby match.

Is it too much to ask a club which has absolutely unrivalled financial resources to produce a side which is capable of playing attractive, imaginative, entertaining football on a consistent basis – so that they can offer the paying public significantly more for their money than the opportunity to witness the remorseless accumulation of points?