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JOSE – HE HAD TO GO!
Unlike a lot of the sheep mentality that exists at the Club that keeps chanting Jose’s name, I am afraid that I am one of the old school who felt the club had no option other than to let Jose go. Yes, I know he was our most successful manager and am grateful to him for bringing the success to the club but the other elements that went with him, i.e. his arrogance, his belief that he was better and bigger than the club, his hypocrisy over family values when he had his own woman allegedly parked-up in Portugal, led me to believe that we had no alternative other than to show him the door. He was alright when things were going his way, but when they were not, especially against Liverpool, he did not have a clue how to change things round and started blaming everyone except himself. I also thought he had gone too stale. Sometimes there are more important things in football than winning – playing well and winning in style and being humble enough to admit defeat are paramount in my opinion but Jose had the knack of upsetting all the football authorities from FIFA, UEFA the FA and the Premier League and by acting in this way, there was never going to be a chance of us winning the Champions League. That, coupled with the boring, sterile football were the reasons why I was not sorry to see the back of him. Even in saying all this, however, the main reason why I was finished with the man was his disgusting bullying treatment of Joe Cole. Joe is a great skilful player and I will never forget Mourinho’s phrase “he is not here to entertain the fans…” – sorry Jose, but that is exactly what all footballers are there for! Not satisfied with this outburst, he destroyed the player’s confidence etc. and dropped him. Joe is a smashing lad who will stay long after all other players have disappeared and sign autographs for everyone. He is a credit to the club and his fellow professional footballers and for Mourinho to set out to destroy him was shocking and it is good to see him playing well again in his favoured attacking role.
After viewing the press conference with Bruce Buck and Peter Kenyon, which was like a scene from the Muppets show, I am afraid that they are insulting my intelligence by suggesting Mr. Grant is a “permanent” appointment. Anyone with a brain will realise that they are waiting for someone to show at the end of the season. It has been well reported the Rijkaard is leaving Barca and I believe it will be he or van Basten who will take over the reins.
We all have to accept that we are going through a transition period akin to one of us working for someone who suddenly takes up another offer and a new guy coming in who we know little about. I am afraid the only thing I know about Grant is that his teams used to play 4-5-1 and that his wife has a penchant for drinking her own urine on Israeli TV. Nevertheless, we have to be guided by Abramovich’s decisions, after all he did save the club and has put a hell of a lot of money into it. I had written off this season and was hopeful of pulling a domestic cup but after Saturday’s demolition of Man City, I am a little more confident. It was great to see the movement of the players and the exemplary performances, particularly by Frank Lampard who was superb and Didier Drogba. Lampard looked extremely fresh, fresher than we have seen him for a long time. We should make sure that we do not bring Terry back until he is 100% fit – we have other players now who can slot it and it would be churlish to bring him back too early. I am sure he, too, needs the rest after some gruelling games.
PRE-SEASON
I am not a statto but I believe I attended 8 games before the season started. I must say, however, that the most impressive support we received was in Brondby, which was predominantly led the Swedish contingent, in the form of Harri Hemmi and co. I have known Harri since 1981 after meeting him on Chelsea’s pre-season tour of Sweden. There were about 1,800 Swedes at the game and they did not stop singing. One guy called Milo, was singing the Zigger Zagger non-stop and when I say non-stop, I mean it. I bet the next day he was unable to sing for a month but the enthusiasm and noise they made in Copenhagen was incredible. Indeed, Didier Drogba came up to them at the end to give them a round of applause. We went back to the Swedes’ hotel, which was across the road from the Brondy stadium, for further drinks, photo shoots and more songs, until finally leaving at 1.00 a.m. as we had an early start the next morning. It was a great trip aside from the price of a pint - £6 – it is now cheaper in Sweden! The next time the Swedes come over, they should be put in a prominent position in the ground and left there to sing the whole game – they are a credit to the club.
It was interesting to note that the support has got louder since Mourinho’s demise – maybe it was just the thing we all need to give us a kick up the ar+e!
Who’d be an England Fan ?
A catalogue of disasters plagued Now Northern Steve’s trip to Moscow. Firstly, he was due to travel out the day before at 6.00 a.m. but got a call the night before saying his flight was delayed until 12.00 noon because of “paperwork”. It finally took off at 2.30 pm and he got to the hotel at 10.30 pm and had to wait 2 hours to check in. At the game, he was thrown out of his section for drinking from a plastic bottle of water but managed to get into the next section. The next day it took 2 hours to get to the airport, the flight was also delayed two hours and England had lost! “I am praying we do not get into the Champions League final in Moscow in May” he said. There were further horror stories from Richie of Loughboro who said that a Leicester fan was in the Cosmos when 200 Russian hooligans attacked and stabbed him in the eye. He went to a Moscow hospital and discharged himself immediately and went home. “If you think our MRSA NHS filthy hospitals are bad – take a gander their the ones in Moscow!” he said. All in all there were sporadic unprovoked attacks on England supporters all day and night with nothing being done. UEFA/FIFA and the Governments of Moscow and UK know all about this but chose to do nothing. Whatever happened following Chelsea’s report to UEFA regarding the disgraceful treatment that was dished out when we went there ? Answer – nothing – as usual! Why hasn’t Jack Warner been charged with inappropriate behaviour following his misuse of position and feathering his own nest with world cup tickets ? UEFA/FIFA interested in the promotion of football and its supporters – please ?!!??
Spooky at Boro
I sat next to a guy who I have known for years by face but not by name. As the Boro wall was lining up and Alex was going in for his shot he said “This reminds me of the YouTube clip where Alex…” – just as he said that the ball went thundering into the net – I couldn’t stop laughing – how bizarre – I find this happens a lot when I am around!
Blast from the Past
After Pompey game we went into the George and talking about the goings on at the club etc. and a guy we didn’t know was listening in. “Women shouldn’t be at football – they know nothing..” he said “Watch it pal, you are treading on dangerous ground there…”. After a while the guy went into the bar to get some drinks. His companion said “how long have you been going ? Don’t you know who that is ?”. No, I said, can’t say I do. The guy had no hair, was very red-faced and looked in his late 50s/early 60s. It turned out to be Lee Frost. When he came out of the pub I apologised for not recognising him and explained I had the photo of the 7-3 Orient win on my living room wall where he scored a hat-trick. “Don’t forget the winner I scored against West Ham at home too” he said. We had a really good night with him and he asked if we were regulars in there as he would like to join us again. It was great walking down memory lane again!
Part-timer
I have got to expose Danny, a long time regular, who made the mistake of confessing to me that he was going to a “gig” the night we play Leicester in the league cup. Shame on you Danny – you pick and mixer part-timer!
Enjoy the game
Victoria Meldrew
