Carlo given show of unity

Last updated : 13 May 2011 By Paul Lagan

IT was lovely to see the sense of unity from Chelsea last night which could yet lead to Carlo Ancelotti remaining at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea-Mad was represented at the Football Writers' Footballer of the Year Dinner which was held in a swanky west London hotel.

Now, obviously I thought we might be up for an ward - we deserve one afterall, but it appears that there was only one gong handed out and that was to relegated-haunted West Ham's Scott Parker.

It's clear to all, that Scotty's time at the Bridge was not all plain-sailing but the fans loved him. They admired his spirit and desire. Alan Curbishley heaped loads of praise on good old Scotty.

So it's well done Mr Parker.
Adjacent to our table was Chelsea's.

And boy did they bring out the big guns - not players but the main men all in a show of strength and purpose: "No crisis here at SW6 chaps, move on, nothing to see."

Sadly Roman was not there - he was in London - he was spotted earlier in the day by one of Chelsea-Mad's many scouts walking down the road where his Belgravia pad is undergoing some work.

Had we being able to get past his three large "friends" we would have invited him to the bash on out table. As it happens, SW6 was well represented.

Chairman Bruce Buck was in attendance alongside first team Coach Carlo Ancelotti. Various top media men and women filled the table which also included assistant coach Paul Clement and finanace director Chris Alexander.

Carlo was understandable the focus of many a handshake and backslap.

Ex-Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez spent a good 20 minutes chatting about the weather in Rome at this time of year and the relative merits of Waitrose over Asda for the best avacadoes.

One hopes for Carlo's sake that this demonstration of "we are all in it together" will result In Chelsea declaring sooner rather than later that underfire Carlo will be able to honour the remainder of his contract.

Mr Buck and his fellow director put a very public face to last night's preceedings.

Scotty Parker was the deserved focus of the night but there was a few camero's and the Blues' hierarchy attendance should be viewed as a positive statement that Carlo's "Dead Man Walking" tag might have been a bit premature.

A superinjunction peventing disclosure of all the hell-raising that went on when football folk and journalists get together prevents Chelsea-Mad revealing the full details of the dinner.

Actually that is of course not true.

It was a great night, and next year we shall all be heading back to the hotel to raise a glass - or 10 to the Footballer of the Year 2012 - Fernando Torres.