Chelsea’s conduct during the Ashley Cole affair has raised questions about the extent to which rich clubs can now push at the game’s rules. Mike Ticher wonders how much further they can go – and whether anyone will be able to stop them
To say that Roman Abramovich does not play by the rules is not necessarily an insult. Most men who describe themselves as “self-made” are happy to put their success down to a certain amount of, shall we say, unorthodox behaviour. But since taking over at Stamford Bridge Abramovich, ably assisted by Peter Kenyon and Jose Mourinho, has managed the difficult task of making Chelsea even more unpopular, not just by winning the Premiership but also by riding roughshod over the codes and practices of the football authorities.