Oh man, they're doing it to me again. Every week since...well a time when the only way to get the results with any speed was to listen in to the radio on a Sunday morning (see even before Sunday matches) I would trundle out of bed, and faithfully record the First Division results (I told you it was a long time ago) and in an era when Chelsea were considered and referred to as a Glamour side - not for the international, highly priced players they have today, but because they were based in the swanky high rent London district of the same name. They were still a very good side, perennial podium finishers but only once on the top step.
Unlike the team my big brother had adopted - more fool he, that rabble from the Mancunian cultural and intellectual desert- Manchester United. Yeah, Yeah I know they had won this, that and everything else over the years but they had the money behind them even then.
Chelsea (http://www.chelseafc.com/) fought valiantly year in, year out on a comparatively modest budget with arguably their best squad that of the late 60's and into the early 70's (pictured below) and only recently discovered that the Russian Rouble courtesy of one Oligarch with the first name of Roman (odd for a Russian don't you think) could fund a team of champions and stars almost unmatched. They began showing a return on the staggering 750 million pound investment of their new owner almost immediately, winning The FA Cup several times, the Premier League two years running and just about everything else bar the World Cup. The Champions League trophy is the one major title that has yet to fill the trophy cabinet, not through lack of trying, but it eludes them nonetheless. That competition has seen Chelsea make several semi finals, a final - beaten cruelly by penalty kicks - and go so close you could see the blue and white ribbons being attached to the handles of the cup. But it has yet to actually happen. Maybe this year, c'mon Chelsea.
Chelsea First Team Squad 1971
The teams of Chelsea's calibre (Barcelona, Real Madrid, that desert mob, maybe Liverpool and a couple of others) play in excess of 72+ matches a season - sometimes 3 in a 7 day period, so depth of talent is imperative and a large roster of talent at that. Gone are the days of 16 players forming the backbone of the squad and playing in all competitions, now it more likely to be 36, all of them getting several games in during one competition or another.
Meanwhile the Mancunian desert mob have continued to win well and frustrate us as they cling to our tail, reappearing with monotonous regularity. They continue to do so, by the way, strangely bereft of the money buys the trophy tag that Chelsea have endured since the Great Roman Intervention, even though the red devils have always had the money to fund the players. And it is no different now, their current American owner has spent heavily to maintain their position - just BEHIND Chelsea - at time of writing. I tell you what, I am grateful I am not living there trying to buy tickets, the prices are mind boggling.
Several times throughout this season Chelsea have moved ahead of the field, scoring freely against teams that should know better than to show up, and then just when I start to relax...they lose to a no one side, draw the next, and the next and find their huge lead whittled down to the point where I have to hold my breath again. And I'm getting too old to hold it for long.
This season is winding down, or up depending on your team's place in the race, mine is tenuoulsy clinging to the lead, while United and Arsenal ramp up the pressure. And as the weeks roll by, my heart rate increases with the unravelling of each weekend's results.
We, Chelsea and me, are so close to Footballing immortality yet so far. This year we can do it all, as that great desert side squad of 99 did, the Premier title, the FA Cup and the Champions League. But oh what a way to see it play out. Raised blood pressure with every draw, the reds seemingly relentless in their pursuit, we falter, they gain, we stretch our legs and they are still there in our shadow waiting to pounce.
Oh come on Ref, blow the whistle for full time pullleeaase make it stop...make it stop!!!
Think Long and Prosper
Biggles
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