29th June 2000
Foreign players - mercenaries or saviours ? I'm a tough judge, because I love the club and wouldn't hesitate to call a player if I thought they were lacking in commitment. Chelsea and other clubs don't buy foreign players just for the sake of it; if there were English players of their calibre going for realistic prices, Chelsea would buy them. It's as simple as that. The other theory that needs debunking is that having a teamful of foreign players is stunting the development of young English players. This rubbish is relentlessly trotted out by people who seem to form their opinions from the jingoistic headlines they see in some of our "popular" newspapers. Don't tell me that players like Morris, Clement, Harley, Terry and others haven't benefitted from the technical ability, experience and talent of people like Vialli, Zola, etc. If they're good enough, they'll get into the team, as we saw last season. With the obvious technical shortcomings of the England team horribly exposed during Euro 2000, it's blindingly obvious that we need the input of these skillful foreign players more than ever. Ground Force: This is surely the last straw. Even the normally mild-mannered Charlie Dimmock is reported to be "incandescent with rage" at this outrageous insult to Belgian gardeners, and is demanding that the Belgian police use their water cannon feature on future transgressors. Any sympathy we might once have felt for these shameless hooligans must surely now have evaporated. I mean, if this sort of thing is allowed to continue unchecked someone could get hurt, although I'm not sure how.. Archive stories 
Inflation Runs Riot At The Bridge:
Ticket prices for next season were announced today. You will no doubt be pleased to hear that Chelsea have pegged price increases to around 27% (You WHAT ? - Ed). A ticket that cost £26 this season will cost £33 next term. Category B games have been reintroduced at £30. This means that you will be paying close to £650 to see the 19 home Premiership games, including the ludicrous and unfair £1 extra per ticket for having the cheek to pay by credit card. Staggering. I'm not including any of the European or domestic Cups in this scenario, as it's too scary.
There's been a lot of talk, most of it ignorant xenophobia, about Chelsea not having the heart to win the league with so-called foreign mercenaries (ALL players are mercenaries). Make no mistake: these people are here on merit. I watch them week in, week out, and not one of our players gives less than 100% on the pitch.
Up until now I've refrained from mentioning Euro 2000, as The Sun and the News of The World have been doing such a sterling job of stitching us all up, but I can keep silent no longer. Disturbing news has reached me concerning English fans in Belgium. Not content with making arses of themselves scuffling with various Turks, Robocops, etc., they are now indulging in the new tactic of re-arranging the locals' garden furniture without permission (see pic below).
