Source: cbc.ca

Chelsea's lock on first place and the limp concession of the title already in January by both Ferguson and Wenger are raising justifiable whinges by the media and others about the situation Chelsea and owner Roman Abramovich's money have created in English football, and by extension in global football. Reuters has posted a virtual op-ed about Chelsea's impact on the game, saying Chelsea and its owner have "have turned the world's richest league into the kind of predictable title race usually reserved for Europe's poorer nations."

And yet, predictions of the Blues' downfall have already started, even though the team has only won a couple of trophies under Abramovich and Mourinho. Emmanuel Petit, formerly of Arsenal and Chelsea, saying the team will go down the same path as the Madrilenos. Gary Neville has echoed these sentiments, saying in effect that Chelsea's millionaires will grow bored of the success and go in separate directions after a time. His compatriots in Manchester United's dominating sides of the 1990s certainly hung on long enough, but Neville and Petit's criticisms have more to do with team chemistry and the desire to fight for one another, something it is doubtful Chelsea really has . The wasting of talent like Shaun Wright-Phillips on the bench, and the ability to outbid most any team for the righst to a desired player are creating some new dynamics in the game to be sure.

Sour grapes? Possibly. But such a rapidly assembled creation as is Chelsea's current first and second XI will need more than shouting and flying teacups in the bootroom, or yet another bentley in the driveway to create the sort of organic team cohesion that often sees teams hold dominate for years. Time will tell.