It is probably a source of minor encouragement that the Ricketts family – currently on the shortlist of potential buyers for Chelsea – have promised sceptical fans that they will not join a European Super League. Perhaps, by way of further commitment, the Ricketts will spurn other competitions that do not exist. Chelsea will never play in a future Anglo-Italian Cup. Chelsea wants no part of the Makita Trophy. Chelsea will never enter Pop Idol.
Of course, prospective owners always arrive with a lavish manifesto of pledges and blandishments, lest anybody guess what they actually plan to do once they get through the door. Mike Ashley arrived at Newcastle promising “fun and trophies”, although crucially he never actually specified who for. Meanwhile, Ken Bates would probably have received a far cooler welcome from Chelsea fans in 1982 had he disclosed that within a few years he would be plotting to electrocute them with barbed wire fences.
