What's The Point

The fallout from the weekends fracas continues apace with further disciplinary action likely following the referees report being submitted, making full mention of the pack mentality in their pursuit of mob justice. In both cases, all the Chelsea and West Brom players were missing was a length of rope and the Wild West would have hit the Black Country in all its’ full gory.

On top of this, The Setubal Smirk has been reported following his touchline antics and Chelsea’s late return to action at the start of the second half. Obviously this is further proof of the West London clubs pursuit of winning on all fronts that not only do they have to win the match 2 – 1, they subsequently have to beat their opponents on the disciplinary charges, leading 3 – 2 although extra time might still be necessary to separate the two sides; Didier Drogba may yet be the difference between the two teams should he face charges for his ludicrously theatrical dive having followed through onto an opponents knee.

Summing up the incidents, Robben deserved to be sent off for his two-footed lunge at Greening. By the same token, Wallwork’s card should have been red rather than yellow for a similar incident with Gallas in the first half. Drogba should have been booked for his theatrics, as a minimum his agent should be contacting the makers of the next Bond film touting him for stunt work. Mourinho should have been sent off for his ironic applause of the referees’ decision to send off Robben, Rooney suffered that punishment for a similar incident at Villarreal earlier in the season. Bryan Robson should be lined up for Joe Calzaghe’s next opponent.

What is emerging is that I am not alone in finding Mourinho extremely tiresome – to begin with his confidence was a breath of fresh air compared to Wenger and Ferguson’s bitching at 30 paces. Subsequently his witticisms were amusing but in the last twelve months, the gloss has dimmed. Starting with the corresponding fixture in Barcelona last season, the arrogance has taken full hold on his public persona culminating in the weekend’s disgraceful events. Whilst not condoning their actions, it seems a terrible was of phlegm for the Barcelona fans to miss Mourinho yesterday when the team arrived in Catalunya.

That Chelsea will be fined is in little doubt. That this course of action is a waste of the FA’s time, there can be no doubt. With rampant commercialism having taken over the clubs and the players, the time has come for an overhaul of the disciplinary system. Premiership clubs generate too much money for fines to have any impact, even the £250,000 that can be levied against the clubs for the harassment of the referee. For club offences, fines should be partnered with a one-point deduction for every £ 10k in fines, i.e. those under £10k should be accompanied by a one-point deduction, fines under £20k a two-point accompaniment, etc. For players, managers and coaching staff, the fine should be accompanied by a one-match suspension for every £10k of fine. This would have the effect of focussing minds wonderfully knowing that their offences will have a serious impact and improve both on and off field behaviour.

Peter Kenyon had an interview with The Sunday Timespublished last weekend, somewhat unfortunate timing given the events of the previous day. Amidst all of the usual banalities are some insights, such as Abramovich is a really nice guy (I still like the tale I heard about him having elocution lessons to improve his voice which sounded like a cross between Elmer Fudd and Sylvester The Cat), and Mourinho is a really good coach and Chelsea want to be loved. The only way to finish the article was to skip to the end which meant that I nearly missed the gem that explained Chelsea have spent the same as Real Madrid, Manchester United and Internazionale on transfer fees in the last ten years. Young Peter is being somewhat disingenuous here, as Chelsea have spent 80% of their total in the least three seasons. Perhaps when Peter leaves Stamford Bridge for a new challenge, he could take on the PR role for Saddam Hussain which would fill the vacancy left by Comic Ali.

Todays Tunes are two of my favourite film themes, inspired by Didier Drogba's acting:

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Ennio Morricone

Across 110th Street - Bobby Womack & Peace