Football Diary
by Patrick O'Connor
OH dear, it's all getting a bit emotional at Chelsea.
Despite spending millions and millions of pounds on players and changing coaching staff at the owner's whim they aren't winning every single match 6-0. Isn't that a shame.
Their young manager Andre Villas-Boas was recruited on the back of a couple of winning seasons with clubs in the comparatively weak Portuguese league but now he's under fire and definitely feeling the pressure.
Indeed the day before Chelsea's Champions League defeat away to Napoli last week he was quoted as saying that the club's hierarchy should make it clear they back his vision for the Blues' long-term future.
Villas-Boas said he was restructuring the club to “sustain”their success and insisted he still has the backing of owner Roman Abramovich.
But he added: "These words would be more valuable coming from the top. I cannot keep saying them."
Mind you, it ought to be pointed out that the manager has spent around EIGHTY FOUR million pounds on players in his first season.
And even though Chelsea got back to winning ways at the weekend with a comfortable 3-0 win over strugglers Bolton there was still plenty of bleating going on.
Midfielder Frank Lampard, who has been in and out of the side recently, says his relationship with Villas-Boas has “not been ideal”.
Lampard said after the game: "I think, from the outside, you can probably see that it's not been ideal but the important thing is not to focus on individual relationships too much. There have been certain issues. Certain players, we don't like not to play. “
He added: “It can only be negative and people do like to play on negatives.”
Maybe the best way to stop that is to keep shtum Frank.
And according to a report in the Sunday Express, Villas-Boas is on the brink of being sacked after failing to quell a dressing room mutiny.
The newspaper claimed that Abramovich is ready to concede that his gamble of giving the job to a relatively inexperienced manager has failed and that he has been told by his advisers that the club won't win anything with a divided dressing room.
“A Chelsea insider told the Sunday Express that the end was near for Villas-Boas regardless of results.”
From the outside it looks as if Championship outfit Portsmouth are in desperate peril.
The club's administer Trevor Birch has admitted that they may not have enough money to see out the season.
Last week Portsmouth entered administration for the second time in three years for which they were docked 10 points which has dropped them into the Championship relegation zone.
Chief executive David Lampitt was among 33 members of staff made redundant and it is understood that players are being asked to defer wages..
Birch said: "To put it bluntly, Portsmouth Football Club has a Premier League cost base but only Championship income. This is not a sustainable situation and one that needs to be addressed urgently if the club is to continue to exist.
“As things stand, there is a serious risk the club could run out of cash within the next couple of months.