An Audience with...

Everyone knows that wealth confers certain privileges. Doors open which are closed to the less well-off and that applies as much to football as anything else. Take Chelsea for instance. If a referee’s performance displeases them – and sending off their captain is one of the more obvious ways of incurring their displeasure – they will make their feelings known through their manager and assorted players, the required publicity will be generated and in no time at all things will begin to happen. Things which don’t seem to happen at other clubs, even those which are more famous – but alas, not quite so wealthy.

All this might explain why, amid speculation that Mr Graham Poll (the offending referee) is unlikely to be granted the honour of officiating at a Chelsea game in the foreseeable future, referees’ supremo Keith Hackett is reported to be planning a domiciliary visit for talks with Jose Mourinho – doubtless in the hope of appeasing him and providing assurances that severe measures are unlikely to be taken against Chelsea players from now on.

Of course Chelsea fans might consider that an audience with Jose Mourinho is an entirely proper development in this instance – indeed some may regard it as an honour for Mr Hackett. There are, however, others who beg to differ - among them Sir Alex Ferguson, who used his latest press conference to point out that neither he, nor Arsene Wenger, nor Raffa Benitez had ever been granted a personal visit from the man responsible for the Premiership referees.

But they are merely the managers of the most famous clubs in the country. They are not Chelsea.