My problem with Chelsea (From Watford Observer)

My problem with Chelsea

5:09pm Wednesday 21st May 2008 in

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May 29, 1968, Wembley Stadium, London, England...May 26, 1999, Camp Nou, Barcleona, Spain...will May 21, 2008, Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia be an equally significant date and location in the history of Manchester United?

Stepney, Brennan, Dunne, Crerand, Foulkes, Stiles, Best, Kidd, Charlton, Sadler and Aston...Schmeichel, Neville, Stam, Johnsen, Irwin, Giggs, Butt, Beckham, Blomqvist, Cole, Yorke, Sheringham and Solskjaer...will the names of van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Scholes, Carrick, Hargreaves, Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez and perhaps one or two others be spoken of in the same breath as the 24 before them after claiming European football's biggest prize?

Those two questions - and a host of others - will be answered after 9.30pm tonight when the Premiership's big two cross swords in arguably the biggest game in the history of English football which, thanks to UEFA, is being staged on the other side of Europe. It could have been worse, I guess? At one stage it looked like the final might be played on a plastic pitch and we all know what happened to the last England team that suffered that misfortune in the Russian capital You've probably guessed already by the tone of this piece that I'll be in the red corner tonight. I'm not a United fan - my football colour of choice remains, and will always remain, yellow despite the disappointment of last week - but I am an admirer of the club's history, the majority of their players and Fergie's attacking style. And I simply can't warm to Chelsea.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate they've got some seriously talented players and are the standard bearers for what I'd term functional football, but I still don't feel comfortable with the way they've achieved what they have.

I have a couple of Chelsea-supporting mates who, thankfully, can remember life at the Bridge PR (pre-Roman Abramovich) and so appreciate today's good times even more - and I can't blame them. But I have a real problem with any team that gets to the top by one route only - spending millions.

I know United are hardly shrinking violets in the transfer market, but where would the Blues be without their benefactor? Quite possibly a top-six Premiership side still because they would still have a few quid to play with and would doubtless have a good manager and decent players, but competing with the real big boys - I'm not so sure.

Is this view fuelled by jealousy? I hope not, although you are unlikely to hear me complaining if the right person with similar financial clout decides to take over at Vicarage Road because the difference that money can make to the fortunes of a team is more significant than it has ever been. Rather, it goes against my clearly old-fashioned and out-dated view that sport should be about more than simply how much cash you can afford to throw at it.

It is ironic therefore, that I will be smiling if Chelsea do win tonight and something else happens afterwards.

The constant speculation over his future and sniping from a variety of quarters that Avram Grant has had to tolerate is worse than ridiculous in the context of what he has achieved since succeeding you know who.

For God's sake, if winning the biggest prize in European club football - indeed World club football - isn't enough to safeguard your future then what is? So if he does lift the European Cup tonight, Grant should simply turn around, stick two fingers up at his detractors and walk away with his held high.