Chelsea Terrace Talk – Irish Examiner Article By Trizia
For reasons I’m not going to go into, I missed the first 45 minutes of the Liverpool game – and so missed both goals and anything of interest it seems. Frustrating really as despite Jose’s press conference protestations about playing every remaining game seriously and to win – you could see by the team selection and tactics that he wasn’t really bothered about either of those things. What was even more annoying was that Liverpool looked very ordinary indeed. Had Jose’s mind been that way inclined, he could in my opinion have orchestrated a hammering.
But he seemed happy enough to put out only a half decent side who delivered not even a half decent performance really. But then this year’s Jose model doesn’t seem to be brimming with hell-fire when it comes to Liverpool. Maybe it was just the odious Benitez which bought out the devil in him – who knows – but I have to say, this recent and continual fawning over Gerrard is beginning to turn my stomach as well as getting right on my nerves.
Before I get into it, I need to state that I don’t hate Gerrard; not saying I like him either – just that I am completely ambivalent towards him. This has nothing to do with Gerrard, in fact, it’s not even really to do with Liverpool specifically – more about rivalry and how it’s being diluted. People will argue that you can have grudging respect for players/teams and still maintain a healthy vociferous rivalry – I don’t agree – admit to admiring an oppo player over a few pints in the pub by all means, but the nauseating public display by many of my fellow fans yesterday was just wrong in my opinion. Mourinho too spent half his pre-Liverpool press conference talking about Gerrard – and has also in the past berated Chelsea fans for mocking Gerrard and that slip – that slip is exactly the kind of thing that fans do/ and should seize upon and never let it go – just as United do in terms of JT.
As a Chelsea fan it’s maddening to hear that “viva John Terry” song and as soon as United fans start singing it, we try and drown it out – that’s how an atmosphere is created. There are already too many rules (both official and spoken) which have rendered most grounds generally apathetic for all but a handful of games now – we are not far off the day where goals will be greeted with little more than polite applause, that’s if fans can raise their attention from their smart phones and Ipads.
The ovation for Gerrard by Chelsea fans as he departed the pitch actually made me cringe and feel embarrassed.
When I voiced this opinion on Twitter, I was called “unsporting” by some, said that it showed our “class” by others – pur-lease! Let me ask this – why Gerrard in particular? Why was he so deserving of that sort of reaction above some of the other talents that we have seen? Some told me that it was for his outstanding service to England – really? Did I miss all those trophies he contributed to then? Others stated that he was one of the greatest players we have seen in the English game – what? How long have they actually been watching football?
He has been a great player for Liverpool – but not even one of their best really – nowhere near Dalglish, Souness, Rush and a few others. And what about the greats from other opposition teams? Henry/Bergkamp were exceptional for Arsenal, and Giggs for United – I could go on – did we give them standing ovations? No. Can we leave this Corinthian spirit bollocks for clubs who traditionally place themselves on the moral high ground and are already well on their way to a stadium with the rocking atmosphere of an accountants convention. Yes – I’m looking at you Arsenal.
There will be some of you reading this that are thinking that I’m taking all this a bit seriously – you’re entitled to your opinion. The thing is I like being disliked, I like other clubs looking down on us, questioning our “class” – you will notice, they only do that when you’re successful. No-one gave us another thought when we were also-rans.
Given everything I’ve written though, I do have to give Gerrard credit for one thing – that despite the sycophantic (hypocritical) round of applause by many of our fans, he gave no credit whatsoever and actually had a dig in his post-match interview – good for him – he knows the rules!!
I better move on, I’ve probably upset enough of those salt-of-the-earth types who hark back to the days of jumpers for goalposts and think we should all hold hands with rival fans and give everyone a rendition of “Kum Ba Ya”
On the same sort of subject i.e. rivalry, I hope these latest stories of Cech possibly going to Arsenal or Liverpool are just paper talk.
He deserves to go to a good side – of course he does – and it’s actually quite sad to see him sitting on the subs bench week in week out; I could never wish him anything but success but we cannot/must not strengthen our rivals and Petr still has the capacity to do that despite his age.
Either way, I hope we know by the last game of the season whether it will be the last time we see this giant of the game with the Chelsea crest on his chest – because if it is – he most certainly does deserve a standing ovation by every Chelsea fan in the ground – part of the spine that won us everything. I wonder if the Sunderland fans would join in?
Posted by Trizia
(You can see all the Terrace Talk articles here)
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Can’t wait to see United, Arsenal and Liverpool supporters giving JT a standing ovation when he retires…. 😉
Come on Trizia… this is not about some kind of sporting Corinthian Casuals type of attitude where if we conceded a penalty we don’t even put a ‘keeper in the goalmouth.
I try to laugh at the vitriol that goes our way now… and let’s not pretend we weren’t the same towards the teams in red when we were rubbish.
I actually take it as a compliment to see how every team is now scared of Chelsea Football Club.
Would prefer we got behind our team rather than sing about the opposition’s failures.
As for other fans… you can outargue them on any hypocritical rant they have quite easily.
We are still a club in transition with many finding it hard to accept that we are one of the big boys now.
And yes, we were poor yesterday – hopefully Costa is not a Robben who gets injured all the time otherwise we need to sign another striker.
Even Gerrard, himself, admitted that he’d only played 5 good games for England – and I’m pushed to get even that high. And as for punching a DJ:
“England footballer Steven Gerrard was cleared of a nightclub assault by a jury in his home city yesterday despite admitting he repeatedly punched a man in a drunken row over music.
They took just over an hour to acquit the Liverpool captain of affray on the grounds that he acted in self-defence, even though he accepted that businessman Marcus McGee had not threatened to attack him.
The judge told the £5million-a-year player that while he had been ‘unwise’ to pursue the ‘trivial’ dispute over what songs were played during a night out, he left the dock with his reputation intact.”
In the same way that other clubs loathe JT and CFC in general, Stevie Me can do one, and good riddance.
So I’m with you 🙂
Absolutely SPOT ON!!!! I cannot get on board with the hypocrasy yesterday. We’ve abused the man for 15 years (and not much has been lighthearted lets be honest.
I’m glad he laid into the fans – hope they feel immensely proud of their incredibly muggy actions. To think he got more applause than Frank Lampard….! And at the time I couldn’t bring myself to clap him either but that’s another story.
Tell me this, would “that lot” do the same for JT?
Who cares what he has done for England? Which player has been outstanding for England in the last 20 years? He has been world class for Liverpool.
Well said triesa. That odious individual that will never win a league medal deserves nothing from our fans. He constantly whined on throughout his career about plastic flags and fans and then when he gets an ovation of sorts he thanks us by saying ” nice of the fans to turn up for once ” . If he had the balls to sign for us when he got the chance he,d have three league medals now, not a bitter attitude and regretful face. America deserves him , they would believe any old crape over there.