Perhaps the saddest aspect of another tortured week is that Chelsea should actually be in danger of becoming popular just now.
Roberto Di Matteo's side have played a full part in two breath-taking matches against Manchester United.
Their impish trio of Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar are bedevilling opponents and bewitching spectators.
This is the Barcelona-style football Roman Abramovich has long craved presumably because the oil tycoon wants his club to be admired rather than merely being feared for their wealth and ruthlessness.
Yet if the silent Siberian seeks genuine respect for his club he must demand his management and players start showing respect to referees.
Of course Chelsea are duty-bound to take seriously suggestions that Mark Clattenburg aimed a racial insult at John Obi Mikel during last Sunday's clash.
But any right-minded football club would have acknowledged the fact that if an experienced FIFA referee really did call a black player a 'monkey', it would be just about the most extraordinary event ever recorded in a Premier League match.
When Ramires, a player who speaks limited English, made the accusation, it was a time for cool heads. Foot on the ball. A thorough internal investigation.
Yet, within days of peace finally breaking out in the Terry-Ferdinand saga, Chelsea chose to publicise the bombshell allegations against Clattenburg just two hours after the match.
Then there are reports that Mikel, Di Matteo and chief executive Ron Gourlay burst into the referee's room and confronted Clattenburg.
Gourlay claims he was acting as peacemaker, but only managers are permitted to enter a referee's room and then only when invited. So what on earth was Gourlay doing there? United and Arsenal might have had their issues with authority down the years but can you imagine their chief executives David Gill or Ivan Gazidis doing the same?
Claims that Clattenburg called Juan Mata a 'Spanish t**t' have been dropped. And if he is now cleared of making the 'monkey' comment, he could surely sue the pants off Chelsea for damage to his reputation.
Especially as he knows they have previous.
They helped end the top-level careers of referees Anders Frisk and Tom Henning Ovrebo, who received death threats from fans after earning Chelsea's displeasure in the Champions League. The club also made allegations in 2006 that Graham Poll had told their players he would 'sort them out' and 'teach them a lesson' before withdrawing the claims.
Respect for match officials is at a low ebb and nowhere more so than at Stamford Bridge.
After Wednesday's Capital One Cup victory, Di Matteo who has done so much right let himself down with a paranoid insinuation that Chelsea were being targeted.
He said: "It's incredible that it always hits Chelsea... We've had two situations in 12 months at QPR last season and against United on Sunday when we were not treated fairly. Torres should never have been sent off on Sunday and last year at QPR Jose Bosingwa's sending off was harsh."
Two in 12 months?
In the space of eight days last season, Chelsea were awarded two offside goals to defeat Wigan, were handed a questionable penalty to draw at Fulham and were given a goal when the ball did not cross the line in their FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham.
Di Matteo was hardly suggesting match officials had a pro-Chelsea agenda back then.
Chelsea are far from the only offenders but for any club to espouse the theory that referees show genuine bias against them is puerile at best, sinister at worst.
Another sad aspect is that the culture of refereeing in England seems to have been put on trial in some quarters. Suggestions that refs should take an aloof, authoritarian approach, and not interact with players, could never be made by anyone who has ever officiated at any level.
There is a justified belief in refereeing circles that the worst excesses of limelight-loving, egotistical officialdom have been curbed since the days of Poll and Jeff Winter.
It would have been a brave statement by Clattenburg and refereeing chiefs had he ignored the media storm and taken charge of a game this weekend, just as Terry played six days after he was accused of racially abusing Ferdinand, and continued to do so for almost a year.
And should his name be cleared, Clattenburg must be back officiating Chelsea matches as soon as possible.
For professional football is run along very different lines to the oil industry in post-Soviet Russia.
And if Abramovich craves the popularity this Chelsea team are capable of delivering, he needs to realise it.
The revelation that Roberto Mancini held extensive talks about taking over at Monaco last season is intriguing.
Manchester City's Arab owners have prided themselves on showing loyalty to Mancini and not acting like Chelsea, where Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho were both undermined from within despite their great success.
Now, with the former Barcelona duo of Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano joining City's hierarchy, and Pep Guardiola out of work, Mancini might have a similar cause for concern.
Those Monaco talks suggest Mancini believed he would be sacked if City did not win the title last term, and with the Champions League already looking a lost cause, the Italian must imagine that anything less than another title triumph will cost him his job.
The offer of a tax-free £32million five-year deal at Monaco might just limit our sympathies, however.
New in the Ewood Park club shop, the Blackburn Rovers managerial appointment commemorative advent calendar.
Including 34 windows, one for each day of the club's search for Steve Kean's successor and a different candidate behind each one, including Diego Maradona, Harry Redknapp, Billy McKinlay and Ian Holloway, before Henning Berg (pictured) is crowned as the Messiah.
Journalists on the front line of this story didn't believe them when they said it would all be over by Christmas, but gladly they will now be safely home with their loved ones for the festive season.
Unless global advisor Shebby Singh strikes again and Berg is gone before yuletide...
Michael Ballack's lawyer claims the former Chelsea star could not afford an £8,000 speeding fine for driving at 130mph in Spain because he is out of work.
The player's ingenious brief, Jesus Gallego Rol, said: "Just because he is a famous footballer doesn't mean he has any money coming in."
Ballack earned just £20million in four years at Chelsea, so surely it's time for Roman Abramovich to set up a benevolent fund for former Blues players who have fallen on hard times.
And how charitable of Ballack to make recent appearances as a pundit for ESPN and Sky without even asking for a fee.
The results may be inconsistent but Brendan Rodgers' footballing philosophy is clearly beginning to take effect at Liverpool.
Yet while a passing game is wholly admirable, it is hoped that Liverpool do not fall into the Arsene Wenger trap of holier-than-thou pure footballing fundamentalism.
Steven Gerrard has admitted he was wrong to criticise Everton for a supposedly physical, long-ball game in the Merseyside derby.
Because while Liverpool may be easier on the eye than Stoke, and perhaps even Everton, it doesn't necessarily make them more righteous people.
Theo Walcott is blessed with obscene pace and an outstanding attitude. He also showed, amid the mayhem at Reading, that he possesses a fair modicum of talent. So should Arsenal decide Walcott (above) has not developed into a world-class player, and that he is not worth a few extra quid, a transfer for the England forward would point to a failure of coaching at the club where he has spent six seasons.
Mayor Boris Johnson has confirmed that talks have been held with the NFL about staging American football at the Olympic Stadium. Given that the London Games often made a nation go wild about many perplexing sports they did not have the slightest clue about, it seems like the prefect legacy.
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