Mauricio Pochettino said it was sad hearing his fans boo Lionel Messi and Neymar at the weekend as a backlash to PSG failing once again in the Champions League.
Unsurprisingly, everyone outside of Paris found it so funny they needed to insert a Tena pad in their underwear. It’s not sad hearing a pair of mercenaries who left Barcelona for a lesser league to fatten already-bulging wallets being abused by spoiled fans who believe Qatari billions should automatically entitle them to be the best team in the world.
I’m guessing Chelsea followers who’ve been around for a while won’t be surprised to see Roman Abramovich’s demise being greeted joyously among rivals who looked on powerlessly, and enviously, as ill-gotten Russian gains bought them every trophy in sight.
And how placards at Stamford Bridge on Sunday saying “Don’t use Chelsea for your bulls**t politics” while tanks the government alleges are potentially made from steel manufactured by their beloved oligarch’s company fired on Ukrainian women and children, inspired contempt; a contempt that turned to disgust when Chelsea played the suffering victim card by demanding Saturday’s FA Cup tie at Middlesbrough be played behind closed doors for the sake of “sporting integrity.”
As the club’s former doctor, Eva Carneiro tweeted: “Consider for one moment your entertainment ‘suffering’ versus loss of life, human suffering, loved ones, livelihoods, homes…take one moment to imagine.”
I don’t blame supporters whose club has wallowed in years of mediocrity embracing owners who want to sportswash them to glory as the Qataris have done at PSG, Abramovich at Chelsea and the Abu Dhabi Group with Manchester City.
When Liverpool were desperate to escape the clutches of hedge-fund cowboys Tom Hicks and George Gillett, many fans would have accepted Saudi, Russian or Chinese money to get rid of them and catch up with Chelsea; as many at Manchester United would have done to oust the parasitical Glazers and overtake City.
Before Sunday's game Newcastle fans were understandably mocking Chelsea’s current skint status which they so recently suffered. But how banal to chant about Abramovich being a “war offender” when the regime that finances their club wages an equally obscene war in Yemen?
Is it such a leap of imagination to understand your idols too are financed by blood money as your club’s precious name is exploited to present the human rights oppressing Saudis in a positive light? A country run by a brutal cabal who recently beheaded 81 opponents in one day.
Chelsea’s 'Roman Empire' banner and the Toon Army’s Saudi Arabian flags are not just equally offensive, but the most depressing proof that sportswashing works when the Premier League has an open-door policy on allowing dirty money to cleanse itself via our country’s national game.
Chelsea fans are now realising, as Newcastle’s and Manchester City’s may one day have to, the downside to their Faustian pact. It should serve as a warning to all clubs tempted to sell their souls to the devil.
Enjoy the ride with humility, relish the glory, the trophies and the global profile but never lose sight of who owns your club and why they want it. Don’t succumb, like PSG, to a sense of ludicrous over-entitlement. Don’t forget where you came from and may one day return to if chickens come home to roost. And when they do, don’t play the victim.
Expect gloating from rival fans who watched you buy all the best players and travel to the top in the first-class carriage with two fingers pushed up against the window while they stood on the platform waiting for a train that never came.
And when the ride ends, appreciate how exhilarating it was. Then get off and walk like the rest.
Paying Mo Salah big money makes sense
Mo Salah will be 31 when his Liverpool contract ends which partly explains why the club aren’t rushing to smash their wage structure to retain him.
Yet is 31 still old when a player is world-class, rarely injured, utterly focussed on improvement and fit as a butcher’s dog? Last week Luka Modric (36) dictated the play that allowed Karim Benzema (34) to score the goals that took Real Madrid into the Champions League last eight.
Cristiano Ronaldo (37) scored a hat-trick against Spurs to keep Manchester United in contention for next year’s Champions League and Robert Lewandoski (33) has already scored 43 goals for Bayern Munich this season keeping them fighting on all fronts.
The big money paid to these golden oldies still makes economic sense because they win big matches. As it would Liverpool paying Salah £350k-a-week.
Grass is greener for former Toffees bosses
Everton's decline under Farhad Moshiri gets harder to fathom by the game - especially when you look at how three of his managers are faring after leaving Goodison.
Roberto Martinez was sacked after overseeing a 42 per cent win rate, and now manages Belgium, the number one ranked international team in the world, having won 75 per cent of his games.
Marco Silva managed only a 40 per cent win rate at Goodison before being shown the door but has won 61 per cent at Fulham who are strolling the Championship.
And Carlo Ancelotti who left Everton in 10th place having won 46 per cent of games has upped that to 73 per cent at Real Madrid and taken them 10 points clear at the top of La Liga. If any statistics prove there is far more wrong at Everton than the latest manager, there they are.
Toney going from strength to strength
Ivan Toney has scored 17 out of 17 penalties for Brentford since the start of last season and 11 goals from 24 Premier League games this term, which is a decent return so far for a first season in the top flight.
Strikers have come up to the Premier League such as Dwight Gayle and Aleksandar Mitrovic and struggled to match their big Championship totals, but Toney looks like he’s getting better the longer he settles.
Surely he’s worth a punt this summer by a top-eight club just for his penalty-taking ability alone?
Maguire millions say it all
The fact that someone authorised paying £80million for Harry Maguire, a sum greater than any other paid for a defender in the history of football, may not explain Manchester United’s worst trophy drought for 40 years. But it’s one hell of a hint as to why it's happening.
