Blue isn't the colour
So this week I did the unthinkable and bought a Southampton football shirt. This may not seem like the unthinkable to you but it is to me. You see, I was a life long Chelsea supporter. Actually, let's back up here, I still am a Chelsea supporter. Let's start this again or rather go in to more background detail.
I have lived most of my life in a small village in Hampshire which is about 6 miles from the city of Southampton. Recently I moved to the city itself and this is likely to be my permanent home now as I have no intention of moving for many years if I can help it. My fiancé was born in Southampton and raised in the nearby town of Eastleigh and has been a life long Saints supporter himself. I have been to more Saints home matches than Chelsea (I have never been to a home Chelsea match actually and only seen them play when at St Mary's against Saints). I can even name more Saints players than Chelsea players (though we are not doing that one right here and now). Saints have always been my 'second' team. I have had a lot of time and respect for them.
Here's how I see Saints. They are hard working and really fight to earn their wins. They have a lot of respect for the fans and for other clubs (apart from Portsmouth, but as they are doing really badly at the moment no one seems to really care any more). The fans have a proud voice and sing even when they are losing. When ex-players return to St Mary's to play against their old team they are very respectful of their old club, ex-team mates and their fans and always show respect. Saints have one of the best football academies in the world and have turned out top class players like Alan Shearer, Gareth Bale, etc. You never feel like you are going to be in any trouble with the away fans at a Saints match because the Saints supporters just don't rise to the taunts. There is real pride there and, to be fair, it is well deserved. A few seasons ago Saints were relegated to League 1 because they were near the bottom of the Championship and they were deducted points for going in to administration. This relegated them and they had to climb back up. This they have done in style and last season saw them towards the top of the Premier League with a place in Europe secured by Summer.
Here's how I see Chelsea at the moment. I was really proud of the boys in blue when they finally won the Premier League last season. They were top all the way through and actually, at one point, the only team threatening was Saints. Chelsea seemed to be able to do no wrong. Mourinho was showing his world class quality as a manager and although we were all used to his controversial comments in the media, he proved he and the team were worthy of their Premier League success. This came after a period of domination by the two Manchester sides and it was good to see the southerners doing well again. Then this current season started.
It hasn't been a great start really for either Saints or Chelsea. We are only a few matches in but to be fair, both have been a bit lacklustre and both sides reside firmly in the bottom half of the Premier League table. However, this is not about glory hunting or about sulking that Chelsea are not doing so well at the start, this is about the general attitude of the club and their manager.
Right at the beginning of the season there was a scandal at Chelsea. Their team doctor, the brilliant Eva Carneiro, was forced to leave her position. I say this because basically Chelsea put her in a terrible position. This is a highly skilled and highly thought of woman in the medical profession who was put in a terrible position thanks to the manager, Jose Mourinho. Carneiro was doing her job in the first game of the 2015-16 season against Swansea when, towards the end of the match, she rushed on to the pitch to treat the injured Chelsea player Eden Hazard. In fact, the referee had requested that she come on to treat the injury. Under the soccer rules this means the player has to leave the pitch and then come back on once play resumes. This would briefly leave their team one player short. As it was, Chelsea had already seen goalkeeper Courtois sent off and this would have briefly left the team down to 9 men. Even so, this is the rule and Hazard had to leave the pitch. The match ended in a 2-2 result.
Carneiro has had an unenviable position in football. She has always been high profile because a. she worked for Chelsea and b. she was a woman. There are few women medical staff involved in the Premier League and last year there were stories of how Carneiro had been the victim of sexist behaviour from fans. Not just the opposition fans either, Chelsea fans were also hurling abuse at her. This is a woman who is doing her job and going by the Hippocratic Oath she took. She is intelligent and hard working and their behaviour was unforgivable. Then again, so was Mourinho's.
After the Hazard incident Mourinho insisted that Carneiro and head physio, Jon Fearn were sat out of the next match. This makes me angry. Two people who were doing their job as professionals and as per the laws of the game were punished because of the petulance of the manager. Not only this, but Carneiro herself was subject to some nasty comments from Mourinho in the press. It is no wonder she felt she could no longer continue her career there and she announced she was leaving by the end of September 2015.
This is not the only thing that has upset me recently. In the latest Premier League match against Arsenal. Now, there is no love lost between the two London teams. In fact, the two managers had to publicly announce that they would indeed shake hands before the match. Chelsea ended up winning the match 2-0 but it was not without controversy. During the match there was an incident between Diego Costa (Chelsea) and Gabriel (Arsenal) which led to the Gunner's player being sent off. This decision has since been overturned. Rest assured, Mourinho has something to say about that. Also, when you look at the incident it is clear that it was set up by Costa and actually I would argue he should have been the one to receive the red card and not Gabriel.
This is not the first time that Costa has been involved in a controversial incident. Last season the blues were playing in the League Cup semi-finals against Liverpool after he obviously stomped on one of their players deliberately. He was handed a ban for this incident. The trouble with Costa is that he does get results. He was very high scoring for Chelsea last season and he got them out of a lot of sticky situations. Even before he joined the boys in blue he was clearly going to be trouble. It was already rumoured that he would be joining Chelsea when his previous club, Atletico Madrid, played the blues in the Champions League. During the match there was an aggressive incident involving Costa and Chelsea defender John Terry.
For me, it doesn't matter how good a player Costa is. I feel like he is bringing the reputation of my favourite team down. Chelsea have always had a history of being more aggressive in their play on the pitch. There are a history of incidents going way back to the 1960's and 1970's in fact. It also doesn't help that in recent years there were scandals such as the Terry/Wayne Bridge incident. Along with the comments Mourinho has made in the media recently all of this is just grating now.
Ideally we should be focussing on the game itself. The game is no longer beautiful though because Chelsea seem to just have scandal after scandal and it is detracting from the game. I personally loved Chelsea around 12 - 15 years ago. Ok, they weren't winning everything and were hardly even contenders but there was more honesty in their game and I think they worked harder. Zola was my favourite and I think that generally the players were more respectful at the time. I don't remember the same sort of scandals anyway. Maybe I was too young to remember...who knows? The point is that Mourinho seems to love courting the press, even if he claims he doesn't.
It was once said that there was no such thing as bad publicity but I really think this is not the case for Chelsea any more. I have been a life long fan and believe me when I say I will continue to be so. For now though I think they can learn an awful lot from my second favourite team, Southampton. I really think they need to re-learn their respect all round and Saints are a prime example of a respectful team. They need to remember what it was like to have to earn each win and appreciate hard work like Saints do.
For now I am happy to own my Saints shirt and I will wear it with pride when I walk round my new adopted city. I am happy to say that I am a Saints fan alongside my fiancé. Until the boys in blue can learn to be more respectful and get their manager and their players under some form of control I will not be able to fully give them my support and so I show my love to my 'second' team.
Oh...and the name I chose to put on the back of my shirt? Yoshida. There are many reasons for this. Regular readers will of course know of my love for all things Japan and the centre back not only plays for Saints but also plays for his country. Also, I have to admit to having a bit of a thing for Yoshida (shush...don't tell my fiancé...whoops...too late). Most importantly though it will really annoy my fiance's dad who seems to have an irrational hatred of Yoshida and blames him for everything. Not just in the football either. Most of the time when things go wrong around the house it seems to be Yoshida's fault. So yes, Yoshida is written on the back of my shirt. Bless you Maya...
I have lived most of my life in a small village in Hampshire which is about 6 miles from the city of Southampton. Recently I moved to the city itself and this is likely to be my permanent home now as I have no intention of moving for many years if I can help it. My fiancé was born in Southampton and raised in the nearby town of Eastleigh and has been a life long Saints supporter himself. I have been to more Saints home matches than Chelsea (I have never been to a home Chelsea match actually and only seen them play when at St Mary's against Saints). I can even name more Saints players than Chelsea players (though we are not doing that one right here and now). Saints have always been my 'second' team. I have had a lot of time and respect for them.
Here's how I see Saints. They are hard working and really fight to earn their wins. They have a lot of respect for the fans and for other clubs (apart from Portsmouth, but as they are doing really badly at the moment no one seems to really care any more). The fans have a proud voice and sing even when they are losing. When ex-players return to St Mary's to play against their old team they are very respectful of their old club, ex-team mates and their fans and always show respect. Saints have one of the best football academies in the world and have turned out top class players like Alan Shearer, Gareth Bale, etc. You never feel like you are going to be in any trouble with the away fans at a Saints match because the Saints supporters just don't rise to the taunts. There is real pride there and, to be fair, it is well deserved. A few seasons ago Saints were relegated to League 1 because they were near the bottom of the Championship and they were deducted points for going in to administration. This relegated them and they had to climb back up. This they have done in style and last season saw them towards the top of the Premier League with a place in Europe secured by Summer.
Here's how I see Chelsea at the moment. I was really proud of the boys in blue when they finally won the Premier League last season. They were top all the way through and actually, at one point, the only team threatening was Saints. Chelsea seemed to be able to do no wrong. Mourinho was showing his world class quality as a manager and although we were all used to his controversial comments in the media, he proved he and the team were worthy of their Premier League success. This came after a period of domination by the two Manchester sides and it was good to see the southerners doing well again. Then this current season started.
It hasn't been a great start really for either Saints or Chelsea. We are only a few matches in but to be fair, both have been a bit lacklustre and both sides reside firmly in the bottom half of the Premier League table. However, this is not about glory hunting or about sulking that Chelsea are not doing so well at the start, this is about the general attitude of the club and their manager.
Right at the beginning of the season there was a scandal at Chelsea. Their team doctor, the brilliant Eva Carneiro, was forced to leave her position. I say this because basically Chelsea put her in a terrible position. This is a highly skilled and highly thought of woman in the medical profession who was put in a terrible position thanks to the manager, Jose Mourinho. Carneiro was doing her job in the first game of the 2015-16 season against Swansea when, towards the end of the match, she rushed on to the pitch to treat the injured Chelsea player Eden Hazard. In fact, the referee had requested that she come on to treat the injury. Under the soccer rules this means the player has to leave the pitch and then come back on once play resumes. This would briefly leave their team one player short. As it was, Chelsea had already seen goalkeeper Courtois sent off and this would have briefly left the team down to 9 men. Even so, this is the rule and Hazard had to leave the pitch. The match ended in a 2-2 result.
Carneiro has had an unenviable position in football. She has always been high profile because a. she worked for Chelsea and b. she was a woman. There are few women medical staff involved in the Premier League and last year there were stories of how Carneiro had been the victim of sexist behaviour from fans. Not just the opposition fans either, Chelsea fans were also hurling abuse at her. This is a woman who is doing her job and going by the Hippocratic Oath she took. She is intelligent and hard working and their behaviour was unforgivable. Then again, so was Mourinho's.
After the Hazard incident Mourinho insisted that Carneiro and head physio, Jon Fearn were sat out of the next match. This makes me angry. Two people who were doing their job as professionals and as per the laws of the game were punished because of the petulance of the manager. Not only this, but Carneiro herself was subject to some nasty comments from Mourinho in the press. It is no wonder she felt she could no longer continue her career there and she announced she was leaving by the end of September 2015.
This is not the only thing that has upset me recently. In the latest Premier League match against Arsenal. Now, there is no love lost between the two London teams. In fact, the two managers had to publicly announce that they would indeed shake hands before the match. Chelsea ended up winning the match 2-0 but it was not without controversy. During the match there was an incident between Diego Costa (Chelsea) and Gabriel (Arsenal) which led to the Gunner's player being sent off. This decision has since been overturned. Rest assured, Mourinho has something to say about that. Also, when you look at the incident it is clear that it was set up by Costa and actually I would argue he should have been the one to receive the red card and not Gabriel.
This is not the first time that Costa has been involved in a controversial incident. Last season the blues were playing in the League Cup semi-finals against Liverpool after he obviously stomped on one of their players deliberately. He was handed a ban for this incident. The trouble with Costa is that he does get results. He was very high scoring for Chelsea last season and he got them out of a lot of sticky situations. Even before he joined the boys in blue he was clearly going to be trouble. It was already rumoured that he would be joining Chelsea when his previous club, Atletico Madrid, played the blues in the Champions League. During the match there was an aggressive incident involving Costa and Chelsea defender John Terry.
For me, it doesn't matter how good a player Costa is. I feel like he is bringing the reputation of my favourite team down. Chelsea have always had a history of being more aggressive in their play on the pitch. There are a history of incidents going way back to the 1960's and 1970's in fact. It also doesn't help that in recent years there were scandals such as the Terry/Wayne Bridge incident. Along with the comments Mourinho has made in the media recently all of this is just grating now.
Ideally we should be focussing on the game itself. The game is no longer beautiful though because Chelsea seem to just have scandal after scandal and it is detracting from the game. I personally loved Chelsea around 12 - 15 years ago. Ok, they weren't winning everything and were hardly even contenders but there was more honesty in their game and I think they worked harder. Zola was my favourite and I think that generally the players were more respectful at the time. I don't remember the same sort of scandals anyway. Maybe I was too young to remember...who knows? The point is that Mourinho seems to love courting the press, even if he claims he doesn't.
It was once said that there was no such thing as bad publicity but I really think this is not the case for Chelsea any more. I have been a life long fan and believe me when I say I will continue to be so. For now though I think they can learn an awful lot from my second favourite team, Southampton. I really think they need to re-learn their respect all round and Saints are a prime example of a respectful team. They need to remember what it was like to have to earn each win and appreciate hard work like Saints do.
For now I am happy to own my Saints shirt and I will wear it with pride when I walk round my new adopted city. I am happy to say that I am a Saints fan alongside my fiancé. Until the boys in blue can learn to be more respectful and get their manager and their players under some form of control I will not be able to fully give them my support and so I show my love to my 'second' team.
Oh...and the name I chose to put on the back of my shirt? Yoshida. There are many reasons for this. Regular readers will of course know of my love for all things Japan and the centre back not only plays for Saints but also plays for his country. Also, I have to admit to having a bit of a thing for Yoshida (shush...don't tell my fiancé...whoops...too late). Most importantly though it will really annoy my fiance's dad who seems to have an irrational hatred of Yoshida and blames him for everything. Not just in the football either. Most of the time when things go wrong around the house it seems to be Yoshida's fault. So yes, Yoshida is written on the back of my shirt. Bless you Maya...
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