Quality Beyond Price

On the eve of the crucial London derby at Stamford Bridge, Arsene Wenger is widely quoted as suggesting that Chelsea’s ambition to be the world’s biggest club is premature, to say the least.

Coming from virtually anyone else, such comments could be dismissed as sour grapes or mind games, but the Arsenal manager has produced a typically cogent and intelligent argument whose validity will not be affected by the outcome of the game, whatever the result.

To begin with, it is not simply a question of recent success or accumulated wealth, both of which Abramovic’s millions have provided in abundance. There is also the crucial matter of history and tradition – areas in which Chelsea are presently unable to compete with Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal in this country, or the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, and Bayern Munich abroad, as Peter Kenyon would know perfectly well. Then there is the size of the fan base, both nationally and internationally – another area in which Chelsea fall short, since they cannot always be relied upon to sell out Stamford Bridge. Finally, it is a matter of the quality of the football and in this respect, Jose Mourinho’s team are demonstrably short of both Manchester United and Arsenal, who play exciting attacking football and are not content merely to grind out results and bore opposing teams into submission.

The lesson is simple. Power, massive wealth, sound bytes and present success are not enough. Chelsea will not be a major world force until they have tradition, history, respect and genuine admiration for the continuing high standard of the football they play.

All of which means that they need to make some changes if their ambitions are to have any hope of fulfilment.