It was almost more than a self-respecting Chelsea man such as myself could take - watching a friend turn to the dark side - but I felt powerless to change his mind. Some guys just have to learn the hard way.
Monahan's regrettable choice came as we both made a conscious decision to get totally into soccer this year, more specifically to become fans of football at its highest level, the glitzy soap opera that is the English Premier League.
Veteran fans of the league call us front-runners, since our two London-based clubs are perennial powers. Americans just stare at us, apparently still clinging to the antiquated notion that the game is too boring, too nuanced, too French to be popular in the U.S. I assure you, there's nothing boring about the Premiership. With most clubs tracing their lineage back to the late 1800s - Chelsea was founded a bit later, 1905, at a pub that is still open across the street from the team's stadium - it was clear from the beginning the two of us had a lot to learn.
First off, there's the lingo. My first spin through the sports Web page for the Guardian newspaper might as well have been written in Latin. It took a while to decipher that “fixtures” are traditional matchups between two teams that play each other every year (i.e. Griz vs. Bobcats) and to grasp the concept that most clubs don't trade players so much as make “transfers” that involve paying staggering amounts of money for the services of a certain talent.
Also, there is the idea that aside from regular league play most all the clubs are constantly involved in a myriad of extracurricular tournaments and cups, all with a varying degree of prestige and importance.
The culture is foreign for sure, but it's good foreign. A couple installments of the satellite radio show “World Soccer Daily,” and I was hooked.
A couple of months ago, we picked our favorite teams the old-fashioned way, by drawing names from a hat. I got Chelsea, Monahan got the club most proper footballers refer to as The Arse. I can't help but think I got the better end of the deal.
I learned quickly that, with apologies to Manchester United, my beloved Chelsea is far and away the most hated club in England. This stems from the opinion that the Blues, as they're called, essentially bought back-to-back league titles in 2004 and 2005 and are viewed kind of like the New York Yankees of the EPL, only without the decades-long tradition of winning.
After languishing in mediocrity for much of the 1980s-90s, Chelsea was purchased by Russian oil tycoon (and apparent crazy person) Roman Abramovich in 2003 and morphed into an overnight powerhouse. Abramovich brought both a hunger for winning and a willingness to spend money that makes George Steinbrenner look like a penny-ante grinder. He immediately pushed the payroll to more than $200 million and gobbled up a who's-who of the world's best players - forward Didier Drogba from Ivory Coast, goal keeper Petr Cech from the Czech Republic, defender Ricardo Carvalho from Portugal. The club even set an EPL record in shelling out an unknown sum between $60-100 million to bring in Ukranian striker Andriy Shevchenko from famed Italian club A.C. Milan.
Abramovich also hired Portuguese super manager (and apparent crazy person) Jose Mourinho to lead the team. Mourinho is widely acknowledged as brilliant coach, a snappy dresser and a complete egomaniac. “(There is) God,” he's been quoted as saying. “And after God, me.”
Following the 2005 season, Chelsea all but stole left back Ashley Cole from Arsenal in what the British press described as a “most acrimonious transfer.” Cole and the Blues were both charged with “tapping-up,” (whatever that means) by the league and heavily fined. I didn't know it at the time, but things would never be the same between Monahan and I.
Back then he barely knew the club existed, but he's still bitter at me. Particularly after Arsenal lost its best player, Thierry Henry, this past offseason and has begun 2007 stuck in neutral while Chelsea has designs on another championship. Could be worse, I tell him - he could be a wretched Liverpool supporter. Now that's something we can both agree on.
Chad Dundas can be reached at 523-5361 or by e-mail at chad.dundas@missoulian.com.
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