The Short Changing of English Cricket Fans

After winning the Ashes down under it seems harsh to write such a bristling piece but on the basis of what has happened since it is unfortunately the stark reality.

This blog has read with incredulity some other pieces about the England players ‘having had enough’. What utter rubbish and what an insult to the thousands of fans who follow the team all over the world. If England were not going to bother making a fist of the one day internationals in Australia due to emotional and physical exhaustion from their Ashes exertions, would it not have been polite to have told their fans beforehand so they need not waste their money? Many Bangladeshi people may have also spent a relatively large amount of money to attend the match last night, to see some of the ‘global superstars’ only to be hideously short changed also. It is not good enough.

Listening to the Test Match Special podcast – usually a centre for excellence in terms of views there was more nonsense about James Anderson being physically spent, that there was nothing left in the well, what rubbish. He is a fit and extremely well paid professional sportsman. Millions of other people feel tired at work but they are not remotely as well rewarded nor do they receive the regular adulation that he does. Being ‘tired’ is not an excuse and it is an insult to suggest that it is. These same players that were too tired to play Bangladesh or Ireland were seemingly well enough rested to play well against India and South Africa.

Winning in English sport on in the international stage seems to be hugely problematic. The 2005 Ashes win sent English cricket into a tailspin that only a further home Ashes series could seemingly motivate the players sufficiently to snap themselves out of. The English rugby team is only now starting to rebuild after winning the World Cup in Australia in 2003, many players happy to readily accept their medals, knighthoods, book contracts and ride off into the sunset. England’s latest Ashes heroics look to do have done nothing for a team that was for so long greater than the sum of its parts.

It is true that a grueling schedule and long periods on the road will take its’ toll and injuries and loss of form to key players such as Stuart Broad, Kevin Pietersen and in the latter instance Paul Collingwood cannot be ignored but the simple truth is that the England effort is simply not good enough. They have embarrassingly lost to both Ireland and Bangladesh and came very close to a hat trick (the only one they look close to taking in this tournament) by only narrowly beating the Netherlands. Despite that, they chased now a mammoth 338 under the lights against the hosts India and fought tooth and nail to dramatically beat South Africa proving there is definitely gas in the tank if the players feel the occasion is worthy of their attention.

What is without question is that the team is short changing the fans dreadfully whether they be the ones who traveled to the games or the ones setting their alarms back home in the early hours of the morning. Watching James Anderson bowl seven wides in the 46^th over of a must win game against opponents – who with all respect to Bangladesh – whom England should beat comfortably belies someone who simply does not want to be there. This is the man who tormented the Aussies all winter on pitches that supposedly did not suit him. If he does not want to be playing at the World Cup (once every FOUR years) then what on earth is he doing in an England shirt? He should be upfront and honest beforehand he does not want to play and have his substantial central contract reduced accordingly.

Graeme Swann’s petulant reaction to the dewy conditions also showed him up as the type of spoiled professional sportsman that so many have come to loathe. Tough conditions of any kind at different venues are part of any outdoor pursuit be it wind and rain at Murrayfield or bone hard football pitches in Moscow. It is part of sport and to blame the night time weather in Bangladesh for his inadequate performance in the match should be simply beneath him. The ECB put on a West Indies Test Match at Durham in June in 2007, it was grey and very cold, hardly conditions conducive to good cricket from the visitors from the Caribbean yet I don't recall the same level of bleating.

England's’ selection policy for one day cricket must also once more come under scrutiny. Sir Ian Botham years ago stated many times his disdain for England’s preoccupation with ‘bits and pieces’ players, cricketers being picked despite neither their bowling nor batting being good enough for the team in either discipline.

The experiment with Matt Prior opening failed in Australia. Yet when they needed to win a World Cup match last night they reverted to it, his idiotic and lazy stumping summing up the mindset of the team. Prior is not Adam Gilchrist, opening batsmen should open the batting. Alastair Cook scored a hatful of runs down under and if Strauss can be considered a valid one day opener I see no reason why he can’t be too. Pietersen’s selfishness means he does not want to bat up the order in any form of the game except maybe 20/20 for fear of not getting a bat.

Michael Yardy is another example, a spin bowler who seems to be picked more for the fact that he can hold a bat than for any talent with the ball. Monty Panesar is shocking with the bat but surely spin bowlers should be picked for their ability to bowl spin. It seems to this blog that in Cook and Panesar, we have a world class opening batsmen and a very capable spinner both sitting at home watching the shambles unfold on the sub continent.

This blog always attempts to write balanced pieces rather than simply ‘rants’. England may well beat the West Indies and go on to reach the final and then lift the trophy and put humble pie on the menu for the rest of the year but we somehow doubt it. The attitude of the players and the ineptitude of the selectors so soon after such a glorious Test Winter in Australia has sold the many England cricket fans ridiculously short and they should all be thoroughly ashamed of their efforts since the final day of the Sydney Test.

On a final note, congratulations to Bangladesh on a great effort and for holding their nerve for a famous victory – No Nonsense.

Kenny Dalglish - A Report Card So Far

So King Kenny has been back in the chair for just over two months since the ill fated tenure of Roy Hodgson was terminated. This blog and many other 'informed' observers felt the move was a mistake, possibly akin to Mike Ashley bringing back 'Wor Kev'. Two fallen clubs entering a time warp in a desperate attempt to fast track themselves back to former glories in the case of Liverpool and former perceived glories in the case of the Toon. Whilst it was easy to draw the two parallels, the actuality of the situations has so far been vastly different.

Both clubs draw on a fierce sense of identity. Liverpool's famous This is Anfield sign above the tunnel could be mocked as foolishly arrogant for a club so steeped in the mire. The history and stature however of Liverpool endures much in the way that ManYoo's did in the 70s and 80s despite their chronic woes. Dalglish and Keegan are also different people. Both enjoyed phenomenal success as players but only Dalglish in his previous incarnations at Liverpool and Blackburn has enjoyed managerial success at the highest level even with the advantages he held of inheriting one of Europe's greatest ever club sides and then Jack Walker's gold plated chequebook. It is interesting to note that Dalglish also failed at Newcastle where the level of disfunction seems to be the greatest of almost any club imaginable.

Liverpool's fall from grace is also very different from Newcastle's who simply aren't the big club they think they are. Liverpool through the nineties and early turn of the century were not a bad team and they still won trophies. Where they failed was they simply weren't as good as ManYoo and they suffered by comparison. Arsenal then entered the golden age of Bergkamp, Henry and Vieira and then there was the rise of Chelsea. The problem accelerated and came to a head with the internal strife associated with Hicks, Gillett and Benitez leading them to briefly stare at the abyss in the Autumn of last year.

Liverpool are a long way behind in many respects with a stadium of inadequate size and a poor squad. They do however have several things on their side not least an unswervingly loyal support, the irony being that they kept turning up in their droves despite all the Hicks and Gillett protests. Also, even at this low point in their history there is an unending desire by players to play for the Reds. Those European Cups have not been forgotten.

Dalglish so far has played things very smart and no one should be surprised at this as the man has always been nothing if not shrewd. Dalglish understands Liverpool like almost no other and his constant references and soundbites about 'respect for the club' has galvanised both the fans and the players  - and that is the difference between he and Keegan who simply manages to get the supporters excited.

Liverpool are not going to pull up any trees this season, they simply aren't good enough and results like last night against Braga show the lack of depth palpably. What Dalglish has managed to do however is motivate the team and in many instances get the best out of them. Wins against Chelsea and ManYoo have been the stand out performances. Dalglish at the moment (like Hodgson) sets his team out to get a result, he knows he isn't managing the Liverpool of the 80s and he cannot set out to dominate matches. Unlike Hodgson however he encourages a cool air of expectation whilst tempering expectation at the same time. He does not get beat 2-0 by Everton and call it the best performance of the season, nor would he not defend his star striker for fear of upsetting Alex Ferguson. As mentioned above, Dalglish understands the club, he knows that Liverpool cannot win every game right now but he tells the fans and the players that is where they should be aiming, that Liverpool should not settle for second best - and they love him for it.

It is clear that Dalglish wants the job on a permanent basis and whilst that long term solution is a very different situation to his part time appointment, there can be little doubt that Dalglish has done nothing but enhance his credentials so far. There can also be little doubt that a poll right now amongst Liverpool fans would have an approval rating for him that only George Dubbya Bush at a Texas gun owners club could top.

If Dalglish is given the job, then two things will shape his chances of success, those are the financial backing that the 'new and improved' American owners give the club and his working relationship with Damien Comolli. This blog still remains highly sceptical of Dalglish's ability to accept transfer policy being dictated by a 38 year old bespectacled Frenchman who has never played football at the highest level (call me controversial and we would also add we have nothing against people with glasses).

Whilst the Liverpool front line for next season of Suarez and Carroll gives genuine hope the reality is that there is little else to cling to. Pep Reina remains possibly the best goalkeeper in the country but has been agitating for a move. The back line needs revamped even with the emergence of the exciting Kelly at fullback. The midfield once Gerrard is taken out looks decidedly average and the reality for the England captain now is that injuries and age now suggest that his best days are behind him and that forty plus games a season may now be to big an ask. Liverpool would be well served by his international retirement if he wishes to prolong his career in the same way that Shearer or Scholes did, there does seem little chance of that however and it also seems unlikely that Liverpool would wish to cash in finally on their talisman and leader even if Mourinho and Real do come calling.

Manchester City definitely and Chelsea possibly will spend again this summer, Tottenham also will be flush with cash from their Champions League run. ManYoo have many problems but are a long way ahead still, as are Arsenal. Two decades after his first stint, it is funds and transfer policy which will dictate whether Dalglish can be a success again and not his understanding of the club - no nonsense.

Sir Alex Ferguson - Not Above The Law

It is without question that the very top football managers manipulate and manoeuvre the media to their advantage whenever possible. This blog has written in the past about the mastery of the likes of Ferguson and Mourinho with seemingly wild and ill considered rants actually being calculated behaviour designed to have a specific reaction and effect. These are men of extreme intelligence and guile, masters of their professions. Arsene Wenger also does much to deflect the blame from his team (and himself) through the media and whilst often annoying, also does it often with great aplomb. As an example, many have not looked past the Van Persie sending off as the reason for Arsenal losing to Barca on Tuesday night. The match stats tell you the real reason but Wenger was quick to push the attention to the red card (which we actually have a lot of sympathy for Arsenal over as it was indeed ludicrous).

Others such as Kevin Keegan are simply victims, their mass popularity and limitless naive eagerness for football leaving them wide open to attacks from a media primed by the likes of Ferguson, Keegan's famous 'I would love it' rant being the culmination of Ferguson's subtle but sustained attack on Keegan during their title run in which Newcastle duly blew. There are also wildcards like Brian Clough who simply say whatever they think but provide such good copy it doesn't matter who they upset or why.

There are other managers who foster popularity in the media by be-friending journalists to receive favourable coverage. Harry Redknapp and Terry Venables are prime examples of this, both with poorer management records than the newspapers would ever have you believe. Ian Holloway has turned himself into a self caricature meaning little negative is ever written about him. This jokey light hearted approach to his job in the public domain has probably excluded himself from any of the bigger jobs he may actually be otherwise qualified to do. This does not mean however that we on this blog wish him anything but the best, he's great to have around.

The last group are those that seem to only ever wish to antagonise the media with bristling answers and put downs. Gordon Strachan went from being witty and entertaining whilst at Southampton to one of the most hateful and spiteful people in football during his time at Celtic. Whilst the goldfish bowl of Glasgow and the Scottish media can certainly bring out the worst in people, Strachan's put downs and ludicrous reactions to reasonable questions belied a man uncomfortable in such an elevated position. It is no coincidence that Strachan is not remember fondly in the poor half of Glasgow in comparison to Martin O'Neil despite having an arguably superior record, few mourned his leaving.

All of this being said, there is clearly a line that can and is crossed. Joe Kinnear's X rated rant during his time at Newcastle was designed to shock and grab attention. Whilst getting him attention for a short period it also reinforced what many thought that he was simply a foul mouthed dinosaur of little intelligence. Ferguson now appears to have crossed a line also. Previously it was a calculated ire that served to protect his players whilst manipulating the media and in turn hopefully the referees and the authorities. Instead the Old Trafford media blackout looks like one almighty temper tantrum and possibly betrays the current lack of faith that Ferguson may be feeling in his current team. Ferguson and ManYoo need to be reminded that it is the the paying public (in many different countries), the global media and press and the sponsors that pay his and every single person's wages in the Premiership. His petulant blanking of all of those contributors in the recent week (not the first offence either) borders on the pathetic and is entirely unacceptable. Whilst Ferguson at nearly seventy years old undoubtedly feels he is above such petty laws and obligations, the simple fact remains that he is and must be subject to the same rules (and sanctions) that everybody else is. His achievements in the game bear no relevance to the rules of the Premiership. If this latest episode does not invoke appropriate sanction from the authorities - especially as he is effectively on probation in the first place - then they are making a mockery of their own system and feeding the belief that ManYoo and Ferguson are treated differently to everybody else. Throw the book at him with a lengthy touchline ban, financial sanction has no meaning to clubs - no nonsense.

Owl Tragedy

We on the no nonsense blog would just like to pass on our condolences and thoughts to the family of the poor barn owl so tragically and senselessly murdered on the pitch by Deportivo Pereira defender Luis Morales.

We understand that Sr Morales has been fined and suspended. Whilst we applaud that sanctions have been applied to this most despicable of human beings, it falls a long way short of the public lynching that this man deserves.

No Nonsense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trZtVeTyDl0

A Trio of Distinction

Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes, three names that will always be synonymous with Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson and rampant success. It is unlikely that ever again in club football with the current environment that we will see three such long and durable overlapping careers all in the colours of one club.

Two of the three have had very a very different few weeks with Gary Neville realising that his body was no longer able even if his mind was announcing his immediate retirement. Giggs, still performing at the highest level has decided to sign for one more year and will probably ride off into the sunset at the same time as his manager and mentor Sir Alex. There is no sign as yet from the publicity shy Scholes whether he will look to carry on after this season.

Gary Neville has unified opinion throughout his career by becoming one of the most despised opposition players of his era. His shop steward attitude and penchant for winding up opposition fans and constant arguing with referees has made him a universal target. Neville however has not cared a jot and instead has simply made a career of being one of the most consistently excellent fullbacks this country has ever produced. Whilst his brother Phillip was still at ManYoo and being picked for England, the Nevilles developed a reputation for being error and gaff prone but the reality was that the elder brother has always remained a player of the highest calibre. Indeed Phil has also go on to forge a successful and well respected career as captain of Everton, admittedly at a notch down the Premiership ladder.

There is a suspicion that had Gary Neville been a modicum less hateful then further success could have followed. Seeing him as a young right sided defender blossoming at Euro '96 made me think he was the future England captain in waiting so assured were his performances. He was also underrated as an attacking force forging a devastating overlapping partnership with David Beckham for many years. No one outside of the Red half of Manchester or Surrey will mourn his retirement but he should be remembered as an extremely fine defender.

Ryan Giggs has been one of the most celebrated and recognised players since he burst onto the scene as a precociously talented seventeen year old with an awful barnet. Ongoing hamstring problems and a frustrating lack of end product made Giggs one of the most exciting, enigmatic and frustrating talents that the the British game has seen. After the initial early brilliance there was also a suspicion that he never quite hit the heights again after that memorable goal in 1999 against Arsenal in the FA Cup replay but that may be due to his playing within himself slightly due to those dodgy hamstrings.

In the past few years, Giggs has reinvented himself as a more thoughtful and influential midfielder and whilst Player of the Year and BBC Sports Personality awards were probably more for sentimental reasons than anything else, it is without question that Giggs deserves recognition for his long and medal laden service. Whatever the debate on where Giggs truly stands against the greats, one cannot dispute his record and medal haul and the simply reality is a team with that amount of success would not carry a player for so long were he not integral to that success. England fans will also rue the day he chose Wales as Giggs' career has coincided with an inexplicable period where England have not been able to produce a single decent naturally left footed midfielder since John Barnes. Giggs may well have produced the balance to take England from having been an occasional quarter final team to a real force. Giggs last night equaled Bobby Charlton's appearances record for ManYoo, an incredible feat and done with considerably more hair.

Paul Scholes, despite being the quietest of the three might just be the best. Whilst it helps that he plays in a team that usually has the bulk of the possession, the simple efficiency of Scholes' play has ensured he is still able to contribute fully even in his elder years. Gerrard may be more dynamic, Lampard scores more goals but of the three, Scholes is the only one who can dictate the rhythm of a game in the way that a Xavi or a Zidane or possibly even a Fabregas in a few more years can. That, allied to his ability to time runs into the box, a poachers eye for goal and prodigious shooting means that Scholes can lay claim to being one of the great - and most strangely underrated - English midfielders of all time. This blog would certainly have him ahead of Robson, Wilkins or Gerrard. Hoddle had infinitely more skill but he was unfortunately a luxury player. Scholes is probably just behind Charlton because of fewer goals and the young Gascgoine who was simply a level above anything else that England has ever produced.

Scholes has played out his career with the minimum of fuss accumulating a huge cabinet of medals along the way. His partnership with Roy Keane in it's heyday was one of the most formidable ever formed in club football and it is hard to judge how many of his teammates have been made to look much better than they actually were by his well balanced and timed passing. To have such talent whilst remaining ginger throughout his career is a truly staggering achievement. One suspects that were Ferguson able to turn the clock back ten years on of these three, for all the public proclamations about Giggs, it would actually be Paul Scholes who would get the nod. Couple the riding of these three into the sunset with the surely impending retirement of Ferguson at the end of next season and you start to sense that the cycle of success for ManYoo might be coming to an end sooner rather than later - no nonsense.

The Cricket World Cup, or is it?

The Cricket World Cup got underway last weekend and aside from an awful England performance leading to a near scare against the Dutch it's hardly been an exciting first week and no one will be surprised at that fact.

Cricket suffers in the same way that rugby does to a lesser degree in that there are simply not enough nations playing at a competitive level to make it a 'true' World Cup. Cricket remains a sport that divides people like almost no other, loved feverishly by some whilst met with bemusement by much of the rest of the World that you can play a game of sport for five days and not have a positive result. These subtleties and nuances are what makes cricket such a fabulous spectacle to those that love it but at the same time make it so utterly inaccessible to those who do not. The World Cup is for the 'one day' version of the sport which is also unfortunately the most flawed of the three current formats, too short and with a meaningless middle section in each innings for the purists and still too long for the rest of the world.

The lack of competitiveness and length of the tournament are the two most biting issues that prevent this event from being a more compelling spectacle.

It takes one month before we get to end of the group games and then a little over another week to get to the final, meaning nearly six weeks will elapse from the time of the opening ceremony. This is for a tournament compromising of 14 teams. The football world cup manages to fit 32 teams into a schedule of approximately a month and herein lies the first part of the problem.

There are simply too many dead rubbers in the cricket World Cup due to the lack of depth of competitive nations in the sport. This is something that cannot be remedied overnight but it can be addressed and action can be taken. Rugby has suffered in this manner for many years but it is slowly changing. The emergence of Argentina and to a lesser degree Italy and the likes of Western Samoa have meant that shocks can lie in wait for the middle tier of teams at least if not for the very best.

Using Scotland as an example, we can illustrate this point clearly. In soccer, Spain are ranked No1 whilst Scotland rank a lowly 53rd. In rugby, New Zealand are ranked No1 whilst Scotland are ranked a more credible 9th. With cricket, Australia are ranked No1 in OD internationals and whilst Scotland are not amongst the fourteen competing nations at the World Cup it is safe to place them in the top twenty. Yet despite the disparity of these rankings, football remains far and away the sport where Scotland would have the biggest chance of an upset against the very best. Hence, it is the sport with the widest following because nearly every fan can watch any time with some hope of a result, be it a scraped one nil win or even a famous draw against a mightier team. Scotland in the top ten in the rugby world cup rankings have never beaten New Zealand for instance.

The nature of the sports and the scoring systems certainly add to the chances of upsets in football as it is such a low scoring game in comparison to rugby and one day cricket where draws are rare, in the extreme in the case of cricket. Having said that, the depth of nations playing the game is the overriding factor.

The second problem that the ICC World Cup has is the length of the tournament. One day cricket it seems suffers from a perennial problem. The ICC and the individual nations require funds. The lack of credible opposition or meaningful events means the top teams continually play each other in pointlessly long series -England played Australia SEVEN times at the end of a long Ashes tour and with the World Cup just weeks away. Whilst this serves in some way to remedy the financial issue for the nations, it simply serves to kill interest further in OD Internationals with saturation coverage of the same product and with huge over exposure of the top nations to each other. Rugby must be careful in the same way. The Northern Hemisphere 'Autumn Internationals' serve little purpose other than to feed the financial requirements of the nations involved, nothing meaningful other than pride is being played for.

Whilst pockets of huge interest such as the latter stages of the World Cup, the Ashes, India versus Pakistan or the Kiwis versus Australia remain, global interest in cricket looks to be dwindling. The West Indies, oft the most romanticised of teams looks to have had a dramatic fall away in interest as the globalisation of sport in the media gives viewers so many other more accessible options. Other than the money generated in spades by India and the enduring interest surrounding the England team, all nations and the ICC need to be highly aware of the problems facing the game in the medium term.

Indian cricket is currently in rude health with a team still including Sachin Tendulkar and the hugely successful IPL franchise. India must however wake up to the fact that without opposition, there will be no interest in the sport. It is the same problem Rangers and Celtic face in Scottish football where this lack of credible opposition has killed interest in the league curtailing their further interests. It is also no coincidence that the shorter and more advertisement friendly format of 20/20 has rejuvenated cricket in a way no one thought possible in the short term. They are dangerous laurels to rest on however as there is huge global competition for the viewers' attention - and money.

It was a sad sight in Chennai last Sunday when New Zealand took on Kenya. Everybody knew the result was a foregone conclusion so naturally few people paid to watch the game in person. That however is no excuse for an empty stadium. Why on earth are the ICC not ensuring that for games with no commerical interest that the tickets find their way to the local school children? It is they who will provide the future generation of cricket fans and the lifeblood for the sport, not the privileged few that have access to corporate hospitality or can afford to pay for tickets which are almost always now beyond the financial reach of the common fan.

The current format of the Cricket World Cup will not endure beyond another one or two tournaments unless radical action is taken. India will feel quite rightly that they deserve the lions' share of the financial rewards as they provide the vast majority of the paying TV audience and the sponsorship revenue. There will however be little to sponsor unless money is diverted and pumped into improving cricketing standards in countries such as Bangladesh, Holland and maybe even a rehabilitated Zimbabwe. Bringing cricket to the global masses may well be a bridge too far but improving the second tier of nations and providing some real competition would give cricket some long term hope. That and a shorter format could provide a much more meaningful competition with far greater interest - no nonsense.

Chelsea, the crisis lurches on.

It is not a 'difficult moment' and it has not been for some time now. Chelsea by their own Abramovich era standards are a team in free fall with a coach who as likeable as he is seems to have little idea how to arrest the seemingly irreversible slide.

Things went from bad to worse yesterday when Chelsea were knocked out of the FA Cup on penalties by a mediocre Everton team who have been scrabbling around all season in the Premiership for results. This was a team that Chelsea would have dispatched without a second thought even nine months ago.

It is hard to pinpoint what the problem truly is and it may simply be confidence but for such an experienced squad, it is hard to believe that confidence could be such a factor for so long.

What looks to be the problem is that since the Mourinho era squad was trimmed to a more slimlined version, Chelsea have been overly reliant on a few key players. Ashley Cole remains the best leftback in the world but Frank Lampard, John Terry, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien have all been miles below their best this season for a variey of reasons from illness to injury to simply being over the hill. The need for squad replenishment has already been well documented on this blog.

Abramovich has now put himself in a real quandary with his previous firings and injudicious choices in the first place. It is simple to see that Chelsea have suffered from a lack of continuity whilst ManYoo have continued to flourish. Firing another manager now would just compound the view of the appointments being poor ones in the first place. Ancelotti is also a popular figure and most people would wish to give him time to pull the club out of the current mess.

The flip side however is that Chelsea simply cannot risk finishing fifth or worse. If there is squad building to be done this Summer then Champions League football is a pre-requisite. Chelsea realistically look capable of no more than fourth place now - even that requires a Champions League qualifying round - and the Roublemaster must decide quite simply whether Chelsea are definitely capable of finishing above Spurs or not. If not, then he may well act.

Hiring and firing managers has never been the right way and the current Chelsea predicament is really down to poor planning and inexperience at board level at the highest echelon of the game. Maybe it is no coincidence that Kenyon and Arnesen have left or are leaving, seemingly unable to deal with the man at the very top, or maybe it the reality that no decisions are made other than by Roman himself.

Chelsea looks right now like the rich man's play thing that fans always dreaded it becoming with managers coming and going and the owner's favourite player, be it Shevchenko or Torres coming in on a whim. Chelsea may well ride out this period and finish in the top four but the omens going forward are far from good - no nonsense.