Terry To The Fore
‘ALEX Ferguson said it was impossible to through the whole of a Premiership season unbeaten until Arsenal did it last season.
| Cole the goal |
He said it was impossible for a side to win all four major trophies but Chelsea are well on their way to proving him wrong again.
Having already reached the Carling Cup final and with a 10-point lead in the league, Jose Mourinhos team are now through to the fifth round of the FA Cup.
Despite resting several players, they beat Birmingham City 2-0, courtesy of goals by Robert Huth and John Terry.
And, according to his boss, there may be still more silverware for Terry to lift come the end of the season.
If I had a vote for Footballer of the Year, Mourinho tells the Telegraph, I would vote John Terry first, Frank Lampard second.
I dont want to make all the other centre-halves in the world sad but, for me, John Terry is the best.
If Terry does find himself lifting four or even five trophies at the end of the season, it will not have come without its cost.
The Blues will this morning post the biggest loss in football history – £87.8 million.
This is due not only to high-priced signings but to an absurdly high wage bill.
In the year to May 31 2004, they paid out £115.5m in player salaries more than three-quarters of the clubs total income.
And if reports in the weekends papers are true, that could be set to increase after the club were accused of making an illegal approach to Arsenal and England left-back Ashley Cole.
Mourinho denied the News Of The World story, insisting: I have never met the boy. I just play against him, no more than that.
However, if the allegations are true, Chelseas position at the head of the Premiership could be under threat.
The Indy says the offence is punishable under Premier League rules by a heavy fine, point deduction or even suspension and you can be sure Arsenal will push for one of the latter two.
Talking of heavy fines, the row over Clive Lloyds decision to fine Michael Vaughan the whole of his match fee over comments made about the umpiring in the fourth Test against South Africa rumbles on.
And now it appears that Lloyd himself may be in trouble after accusing the England cricket captain of being rude and dismissive at the disciplinary hearing.
And what should have been an open and shut process for a trifling breach of regulations has developed into a piffling spat that threatens to damage both mens reputations.
Perhaps only cricket could get itself in this tangle, it says.
Hardly. Football can turn even a trifling breach into a full-blown crisis…’
Posted: 31st, January 2005 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
