vlad879 - Columnist

We at the Chelsea Tribute page are delighted to welcome on board our new columnist, Patrizia Fiorellino. She has graciously allowed us to display the articles that she writes every week for the Irish Examiner on this page.

Articles will be displayed on this page every Thursday of the week, once the season starts. For a taster of Trizia's skills as a writer, please see below the last article of last season. Enjoy, and, once more, welcome on board, Trizia, it's a pleasure and an honour to have you with us.

IRISH EXAMINER article by Patrizia Fiorellino (Wednesday 16 May 2007)

SO here we are at the end of another season. We’ve won the Carling Cup, are runners up in the league; made the semi-final of the Champions League as well as the final of the FA Cup. We have gone over three seasons without being beaten in the league at home and have the leading scorer in the Premiership — I think I can live with that.

Despite some of my wrist-slashing columns this term, I have really enjoyed the season. I’ve always believed that to really enjoy football you have to suffer some (this may have something to do with my being educated in a convent) – otherwise how can you fully appreciate the good results?

We may not have suffered as supporters by too many on the field events, but there has been plenty off it to keep the metaphorical hair shirt on our backs.

The constant threat of José’s departure and the Abramovich-Mourinho power struggle has guaranteed me a number of tortuous nights, and must have played some part in our season.

The non-stop and never-ending vitriol from the Press has been exhausting; for the entire season it’s been nigh on impossible to find any really unbiased reporting when it comes to Chelsea. I do not want the kind of vomit-inducing, sycophantic, clap-trap afforded to the likes of Liverpool and United, as I find that just as much as an insult to my intelligence as the constant barracking, but I just crave a little balance and thoughtful insight when reading about my team. It’s interesting that the foreign press, Italian specifically, write about us in glowing terms. Luckily I speak Italian fluently, and when I need a fix of journalistic integrity I buy one of their excellent, sports-dedicated, papers and gorge myself on well-written, astute and perceptive musings by journalists whose pens have not been tainted by personal prejudice. But let’s move on.

One of the most significant periods of the season was the life-threatening injury to Petr Cech; it’s perhaps difficult to remember how serious this injury was considering his remarkable recovery, but at the time, I honestly thought we had seen an injury which was going to change football forever. I won’t dwell on that side as I still believe that the “tackle” was deliberate, and the outcome could have been too dreadful to contemplate.

His injury highlighted the gulf between Abramovich and Mourinho more than anything else this season. Our last two Premiership titles had their foundations firmly built by Cech and his extraordinary performances between the sticks. José himself had told us that he was worth an additional 11 points to the team a season. When he got injured, the loss was compounded by the loss of Cudicini too. Any team in the Premiership and I do mean any team, from Arsenal to Wigan, from United to Watford, would not have played for such an extended period with their third choice keeper.

To deny funds for a keeper of some quality was our downfall. We perhaps could have ridden the storm had we had an excellent centre-back pairing — but it’s incredible to reflect that we actually played a significant number of games with no recognised central defenders in place. Then of course losing Joe Cole for almost the entire season and Robben for regular chunks of it just shows really how much of a successful season it has been in the face of such adversity.

Add to that the limited success of our “big name” signings and the season becomes even more extraordinary. It’s difficult to know for sure whose signing Ballack was, but I think it’s pretty evident that Shevchenko was certainly not Mourinho’s. Despite the duo’s less that impressive start I would like to see them stay and give it another go next season. We have seen Essien and Drogba become Chelsea power houses after a tepid first season and am unusually optimistic for the German and the Ukrainian. It may also thaw relations between Roman and Jose — stranger things have happened.

So Sunday gone we equalled Liverpool’s “historic” 63 home league games unbeaten record, and if we avoid defeat in the first home game of the season in August we will replace them in the history books — quite ironic that isn’t it?

I believe that, rather unfairly, our season’s success will be judged by whether we win the FA Cup or not. I’ve enjoyed this season enormously — I don’t care what anyone tells you, winning all the time does blunt the excitement of football. It’s difficult to speculate on next season as the biggest question is still not yet settled i.e. will José still be at Chelsea next season. Unless that question is answered it is pointless speculating on anything else. This week’s rumour-mongering has his tenure depending on whether he wins the FA Cup, a rather short sighted measure of success I think.

After Wembley we “neutrals” have the Champions League to look forward to. I’m not a lover, or even an admirer, of Liverpool, and my Italian team is Internazionale. Kind of sums up 2006-07 for me.