Torres could be our first major snubbing of the summer

[Dorset]

One of the more pleasant aspects of a quiet close season for Chelsea in the transfer market has been the conspicuous absence in the Media of ?the snub? tag line in reports involving us. In fact, there hasn?t been a decent snub of our club for a while, nor an indecent reporting of any mythical one either, and it has led me to wonder just why this Media slur has fallen into misuse in recent times.

In the past, or ever since Roman arrived to be precise, we were subjected to ritual taunting from hacks hell bent on sneering at our financial clout in the most senseless way they could find to appease their senseless readers. These holier-than-thou players, championed by Saint Stevie the Double-Snubber (Premiership title-wise that is), supposedly turned their backs on the evils of wealth and chose instead to remain loyal to a club they had always loved or sought pastures new in a less craven environment or monastery just outside of Luton.

At least that is what we were expected to believe in those self-righteous days when trophies couldn?t be bought and, apparently, neither could some players with exceptionally high standards. Things seem somehow different now, but, as per usual, the Media have deliberately left so many questions unanswered and so many stones unturned. For instance, is it not true to state, as opposed to ignore, the following:-

1. Claudio Pizarro snubbed all leading Premiership teams, except Chelsea, when he signed for us.

2. So did Steve Sidwell, much to the annoyance of Steve Coppell, who?s renowned and oft reported high moral standards, must have led him to think that his only competition when it came to resigning the midfielder was that self same Luton monastery.

3. Tal Ben Haim clearly snubbed Newcastle, amongst others, but the word was never used in any coverage I read or heard, rather we were asked to join in with the sympathetic throng surrounding Big Sam bemoaning his inability to compete with the likes of - yes you?ve guessed it - Chelsea. No mention of ManU or Liverpool, or any other team for that matter, that the player could have gone to. Snubbed, the lot of ?em!

If the above examples of Media ignored snubbing don?t count, because the individuals concerned have signed away their souls as free agents and are therefore treated with Faustian disdain, how about the blatant snubbing displayed by Florent Malouda, the Lyons winger. No frappezing about le bush from this guy! He wants to come to Chelsea and has turned down the Scousers point blank, but is this reported as a snub? Mais non!

Such terminology was only ever reserved for one football club and, even though it has been neglected of late, I?m guessing that the first major snub of the summer will arrive with Liverpool's signing of Fernando Torres, along with much eulogising over the fact that he would only ever have left Spanish shores for one club. Now, let me think, will that club?s tradition have anything to do with the signing? Oh, I?m sure it will, aren?t you?

So, let the snubbing begin, but please, please, do not let it extend to reports of a certain Argentinean doing the same on his return from the Copa America.