Diving and four other things to hate about Chelsea.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been quoted as saying there is a ‘campaign against Chelsea’ at the moment after more accusations of his players diving in their 1-1 draw with Southampton.
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Cue inevitable reaction from fans and pundits calling the Blues boss paranoid or accusing him of trying to play his usual mind games – nonsense; of course there is a campaign against Chelsea and so there should be.
Has there been a more consistently hateable side in English football in recent times? Even without Mourinho, the same reasons to hate the club have been there for years and years since Roman Abramovich fancifully decided to turn them into a top club at the flick of his chequebook.
If there is a campaign against Chelsea, everyone should be all for it. Here are five reasons why:
1) Diving
Their players DO dive. Chelsea have twice as many yellow cards for simulation as any other Premier League club this season, and they could easily have had more. It has been blatantly obvious in recent games that a number of their players have tried conning referees like this and it’s a disgrace. As well as that, they are perhaps the most guilty club in terms of hounding referees and trying to influence their decisions; all dirty games from Mourinho and his players, which have been replicated at his other clubs as well.
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2) Money
Chelsea are only good because of money, everyone knows that right? Prior to Roman Abramovich buying the club in 2003, the Blues were never anywhere near winning the Premier League title and were a cup team at best, sometimes reaching the top four and sometimes not. They were also in a financial mess and looking like going downhill before Abramovich’s billions saved them and quickly turned them into a force overnight with big-name signings led by a big-name manager in Jose Mourinho, who would almost certainly never have joined them if not for the fortunes he was offered to spend at Stamford Bridge.
3) Loan tactics
As well as spending big on some of the world’s best players, Chelsea also exploit the loan market in a highly cynical fashion and snap up a bunch of players they never plan on using. Pictured above is Christian Atsu, one of many examples of a player currently on the club’s books who has never played a single minute of football for them. Many young talents are brought in, immediately loaned out or even loaned back temporarily to their old clubs, and eventually sold for a profit when they impress elsewhere. Either that, or players like Nemanja Matic are re-signed years later after they reach their peak as Chelsea can’t be bothered to develop players and give youngsters a chance themselves.
4) Boring football
Let’s be honest, even with the wonderful Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard in their side, Chelsea are still boring. It’s just in their DNA. This is a club that won the Champions League in 2012 through nothing but defending as they looked to stifle the play of superior sides such as Barcelona and Bayern Munich on their way to the trophy. They took the final to penalties as that was their only chance, and they then celebrated like mad in what was only a victory for anti-football. At the end of last season they were at it again, refusing to play against Liverpool as they pounced on two errors to win 2-0 in the most boring, defensive display you’ll ever see…from a side assembled with hugely expensive Abramovich-funded signings. Bravo.
5) Jose Mourinho
He’s come up a few times already but he deserves a category of his own really. Jose Mourinho may be a terrific manager, one of the best in the world even, but so often he is painted as ‘charming’, ‘witty’ and ‘a breath of fresh air’ when really he is one of the most dislikeable and unpleasant characters in the game today. The Portuguese coach takes his mind games to a whole new level, showing disrespect for a huge number of his opponents and smugly proclaiming himself as ‘special’. A bad loser, a bad winner, an arrogant and nasty piece of work who spends millions on players and then makes them sit back and defend against any decent side they come up against.
A campaign against Chelsea? It can’t come too soon.