Money Can’t Buy You Love

If there’s one adjective you didn’t expect to use in reference to Chelsea, it’s ‘poor’. But right now it’s definitely a case of ‘Poor old Chelsea’.

Recently, the reigning champions and clear premiership leaders (so far at least) have hit a bit of a slump. Their last four results before the international break read ‘drew, drew, won, lost, lost’ – scarcely championship form – and defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford ensured that they had failed by some distance to make any impression on Arsenal’s magnificent record of 49 games undefeated. On top of that, the Special One seems to have upset quite a few people with his recent comments about Arsene Wenger – an indiscretion which could be attributed to some weakness in his understanding of the language.

If all that wasn’t enough, even the presence of that nice Peter Kenyon amongst all the movers and shakers at the Soccerex trade fair in Dubai wasn’t sufficient to get Chelsea elected to the elite G14 group of Europe’s leading clubs. So for the time being, the premiership plutocrats can do no more than press their noses against the window and watch Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool hob-nobbing with the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus and AC Milan.

According to Chelsea’s chief executive, as he bravely tried to hide his disappointment, “It is one of those things.” And since membership of the exclusive G14 group cannot be bought it is, to be precise, one of those very few things which they covet but cannot afford.

Shame.