Ashley and a Heavy Dose of the Blues

Sensible people tend to disregard most of the rumours seeping out of the dispirited Chelsea camp, partly because there are so many of them and partly because experience teaches that this is a club which is currently in more of a spin than the Labour party, and marginally less popular.

That said the latest, concerning Ashley (now widely known as Cashley) Cole, is worth contemplating, if only for its entertainment value. Apparently, Ashley may not play in the crucial game against Arsenal at the Emirates. Now why, apart from the possibility of genuine injury, would Chelsea leave out the man often described as ‘the best left back in the world’ on such an occasion?

Well, to begin with, not a lot has been heard lately about that ‘best in the world’ tag – and for very good reason. Most critics seem to agree that Ashley was a much better proposition in a red shirt than he is at present in the blue of Chelsea. Some have even gone so far as to label him ‘disappointing’ since his move to South West London. This, of course, is because he has had to be indoctrinated into the ‘special’ ways of his new club. Or, to put it more bluntly, he has been Mourinhoed. One of the consequences of this new regime is that you have to learn to pass the ball square and backwards a lot (just like Frank) and, more importantly, if you’re a full back you need to get special dispensation if you wish to cross the half way line in order to contribute to attacking play. Having been at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, Ashley is understandably finding it very difficult to acclimatise to these strictures and he is frequently to be seen in possession half way up the pitch glancing nervously at the technical area to see whether he might be granted a ‘special’ visa to advance – on the strict understanding, no doubt, that he does not for a second consider making a habit of it.

There is also the question of ‘bottle’. It cannot of course be denied that Ashley left Arsenal in rather acrimonious circumstances and a sizeable number of Arsenal fans are unlikely to forgive the manner in which he departed, or the fact that money appeared to be his principal motivation for doing so. His position may therefore be compared to that of Sol Campbell – though the circumstances of the two transfers and the behaviour of the respective clubs were poles apart. Regrettably, however, there are at present no signs that Ashley is capable of facing up to a trip to the Emirates with the same brand of fortitude Sol Campbell showed on the occasion of his first appearance at White Hart Lane in an Arsenal shirt.

So what it all seems to amount to is this. If indeed Ashley does not figure in the Chelsea team at the Emirates, and he is not really injured, many Arsenal fans will be disappointed, but not surprised, that he has decided (or been advised) to stay at home and count his money. After all, he isn’t Sol Campbell. And come to think of it, in many respects he isn’t even the Ashley Cole they once knew. Pity.