Spare a thought

Few will have been unmoved by the situation of Chelsea of late. They are a fine football team with coach with several special qualities, but they do seem to be losing a lot (relatively) of late. As the great cliche goes winning becomes a habit and the cold turkey side of that habit is the bickering to refs and ungracious post match mantra of "we was robbed".

Yesterday's Fulham result was all the more joyous because Mourinho took it, with the grace and class he doubtlessly possesses, but had until that point never shown in defeat. He is a good guy there is no doubt about that.

What was said as the media response to the on pitch ruck after the game, left a lot to be desired. Three different experts at three different points trotted out the usual "football people" response in these difficult times. When confronted with this kind of event it must surely be difficult to tread a path that is alright with the King of Football - he's such a hater of pundits and commentators - but we got the same old guff

"These pictures are being beamed all over the world" is always a good one. Our sense of ourselves and our place in the world media order is always heightened by some bad news. Jonathan Pearce's take was slightly more guarded - I know hard to believe isn't it - but still the undertone veered to the sensationlist. The imagery was dark. Nobody died, nobody really got hurt - but the schadenfreude was very palpable.

It is to be hoped that the "Football People" and the people who run football don't react in a way that screws it up for the "people who pay for football".

More to Follow.