Both Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher spoke out this week in their weekly tirade against Chelsea and the Chelsea owners.
Whether you agree with them or not, you can’t doubt that both of them and the majority of the media just hate Chelsea Football Club. And you know what? That’s just how I like it.
They hated us in our most successful era ever under Jose Mourinho. They hated Jose himself. We had players in our squad who were really terrible players and we didn’t care. We won everything and they all cried. The opposition fans hated us, they cried too and all that mattered was that Chelsea as a club were giving the whole world the middle finger. I loved that.
I still hear opposition fans telling me that we won things with oil money. I still hear them saying that we would be nothing without Roman Abramovich. That’s significant, of course, because when he took over, we were literally on the brink of bankruptcy. But when they moaned about Chelsea signing all the players, “buying success” and winning everything, I thought that was bloody great.
I love that Chelsea are hated because that’s how we operate best. It’s been a great breeding ground for our success.
And now people like Neville and Carragher seem to hate our owners from the start and not give them a chance. I don’t know why. Maybe because they are American businessmen and didn’t know anything about football when they started? Who knows. Maybe they both just hate Chelsea as a football club. Maybe a bit of both.
But when the media attacks Chelsea, when they waste their entire section talking about Chelsea, when they are involved in everything we do, I can only see that as a good thing. A certain writer at The Times is literally living for our downfall, waiting for it, and many other journalists are the same. Not all of them, of course, but many.
If they’re vilifying Chelsea, I love it. Let them hate. The only way to respond to hate is to stand up, succeed and let them see you shine. Chelsea, it’s up to you to do it again now, just like you did in the 00s!
