SOCCER:CHELSEA ONCE acted as if there was a glut of prizes. After the side had beaten Manchester United at Stamford Bridge to retain the title in April 2006, Jose Mourinho was presented with his medal and tossed it straight into the crowd. A replacement was handed over and, predictably, it was soon airborne as well. A couple of years later, one of those souvenirs was sold at auction for €25,124. By then its worth was starting to reflect a scarcity value in Chelsea affairs.
Should Carlo Ancelotti’s men go about their work professionally against Wigan Athletic, the Premier League trophy will return on Sunday. It would be coming back to an altered Chelsea.
Paradoxically, the fact that the line-up has not changed all that much confirms that the club operates in a different fashion. Petr Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry, Joe Cole, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba played that afternoon four years ago and, if fit, would all have hopes of involvement now.
In 2006, there was tumult and anticipation in every aspect of Chelsea. It looked as if stability made Mourinho restless and Roman Abramovich showed a desire to sustain the momentum at any cost when paying more than €34.9 million that summer for 30-year-old Andriy Shevchenko. It was a decision to give a proprietor an aversion to repeating such moves. Shevchenko hit four league goals in his first Chelsea campaign and five the next. The episode was among the factors that nudged the club’s owner towards restraint.
Conceptions about what was wanted or needed came under review. Mourinho and his histrionics were gone by September 2007. There was a weariness with the strife that looks indispensable to Mourinho. Ancelotti embodies the taste for a more temperate and affordable way of doing business.
The Italian has an understanding of the famed Milan Lab and it cannot be a coincidence that Chelsea have seen the veterans perform with such freedom and produce so many goals.
Aspects of the campaign may still have come as a complete surprise to Abramovich.
The manager was recruited with the European scene in mind since he had, after all, guided Milan to the Champions League trophy twice. On the other hand, the Serie A title was delivered just once in a tenure at San Siro that lasted seven and a half seasons. The mission needed to be rescheduled when Mourinho brought Inter to London in March and eliminated Chelsea from Europe.
Abramovich may find it delightfully unexpected to see these players instead undertaking such an extended domestic campaign that it even comprises a run to the FA Cup final. Ancelotti has sustained the freshness and that must reflect the atmosphere he has created around the team as much as any training programme.
Chelsea and United do resemble one another in a dependence on an old guard at each club, but the Old Trafford cadre of Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs is even more elderly. These sides will have taken six titles in a row, but the means for them to open up a new phase are in doubt. Although one of these is about to prevail, each are about to come under threat.
Ancelotti and Ferguson cannot be complacent. Each will realise that Manchester City were 10th last year and stand fifth. There is no Champions League adventure to lure prospective signings to Eastlands but the offers made with Sheikh Mansour’s money may be enticing in their own manner.
Tottenham are making rapid progress and Arsenal will pose a threat if they develop more resilience. Either United or Chelsea will be euphoric but the summer must be taken up with reflection on how each club revitalises itself.
