What a Week - Where Do I Start?

Another busy week of work, table tennis and Asia's greatest export - the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet - has left precious little time for blogging but again, predictably, the world of football has been at the forefront of my thoughts.

I had initially planned to blog about the unexpected news that John Terry had been rewarded for his loyalty to Chelsea when turning down a summer move to Manchester City - managed by former Chelsea player Mark Hughes - with a new and improved contract. The new deal has seen his contract extended to 2014 and his wages increased to just over £150,000 per week. You'll remember that during the summer, as speculation continued that he would be changing clubs Terry declined to make any public commitment to Chelsea and he later announced that he never once considered handing in a transfer request.

At the time, commentators speculated that Terry's silence was all part of a plan to earn himself a new and improved contract - how foolish they must feel now.

Next summer, expect a repeat of this scenario, but replace Terry with Frank Lampard, Manchester City with Inter, Mark Hughes with Jose Mourinho. Once again, expect to be shown that money isn't everything as Lampard signs a new and improved contract with Chelsea.

Or did this already happen?

My attention then turned FIFA's decision to ban Chelsea from making any new signings for the next two transfer windows (so until January 2011) because of their behaviour when signing teenage forward Gaël Kakuta from French club Lens. I happened to have the television on when the news broke and I couldn't believe what I was hearing from the so-called studio experts: FIFA were apparently taking these measures because English clubs had become so dominant in European football; they were being punished because of previous disciplinary incidents in European matches; it was another sign - apparently - that the rest of the football world is anti-English.

I'd not heard such emotional, xenophobic, ignorant comments since ... let me think ... Chelsea's exit from the UEFA Champions League last season.

This morning, as news breaks of a second legal threat to Chelsea over allegations that they poached another young player from ASPTT Marseille, I can only hope that justice prevails and the West London clubs reputation as a well-run, friendly, family-focused club with a long and glorious footballing tradition is restored.