Don't crow Chelsea, it should be a fourth title win in a row

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Cesc Fabregas was reflecting on the change of fortune at Chelsea. 'In football today, people forget very, very quickly who you are and what you can do,' he said.

And, yes, some do. But others remember. They remember last season and all the champions who just disappeared.

They remember the striker who became shy of the box; the Footballer of the Year who no longer took men on; they remember those who went missing; they remember it all.

Chelsea could take the Premier League title this season with a record points haul

And that is why there is an alternate take on this Chelsea side, now marching towards the title and, perhaps, the record books if they can amass 37 points from their last 14 games. They represent the greatest missed opportunity in recent football history.

A group who will go down as twice champions when they could have been remembered as the most consistent winners of all.

No club has ever taken the League four times in succession, but Chelsea should have done.

Starting with Jose Mourinho's return season in 2013-14, moving on to their victory in 2014-15, to last season when they inexplicably disappeared and Leicester won, and then this, with Chelsea dominant again. A four-year stretch during which they could have gone further than any club before.

Instead, they have not even had the satisfaction of retaining their prize, as Mourinho's squad did first time around. For all their success this season, with Chelsea, there remains a sense of what might have been.

Take 2013-14, the 'little horse' campaign, before Fabregas and Diego Costa arrived.

Chelsea's record against the top four that season shows the indisputable potential of champions. They beat the top team, Manchester City, home and away; did the same to Liverpool, the runners-up; drew at fourth-placed Arsenal and thumped them 6-0 at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea took 16 of 18 points from the best in the country, and came two wins short of winning the League, having drawn with West Bromwich twice and lost to Aston Villa, Newcastle and Crystal Palace.

Chelsea represent the greatest missed opportunity in recent football history

Chelsea should have been champions that year. Still, Mourinho thought they weren't ready, bought well in the summer, and advanced his case when his improved squad won comfortably the following season.

And then what happened? The poorest post-title campaign of any elite team in recent memory. Empty shells of players, going through the motions, Leicester in charge and Chelsea's most successful manager sacked before Christmas.

How? Where was the fight in Costa, the substance in players such as Fabregas and Nemanja Matic?

Hazard scored one of the finest goals in recent memory against Arsenal on Saturday. How could he look so abject and lost a year ago?

If Roman Abramovich was as impetuous with his players as he has been on occasions with his managers, he might have sold half of this season's champions-elect in a fit of pique last July, except he wouldn't have found too many takers for the money.

So, what should we make of this? Antonio Conte deserves enormous credit, obviously. He has changed Chelsea's strategy and extracted levels of performance from players such as Victor Moses that could scarcely have been imagined previously.

Mourinho's relationship with the players had clearly deteriorated beyond repair, too. Yet results this season suggest the ability was always there, but key figures chose not to apply it.

Chelsea are a very good team with extraordinary talents, as Hazard demonstrated. Arsenal were battered, yes, but outclassed, too.

Embodying both strengths, N'Golo Kante is a player every bit as influential as Costa in his first year.

Chelsea staged one of the worst title defences in recent history when Leicester won last year

Yet there remains something deeply unsatisfactory in a team that can be so brilliant one year, and absent the next. Even if — or when, as it increasingly looks — Chelsea win the League, it will raise as many questions as answers, for those who wish to look beyond the surface of the celebrations.

This could, and probably should, have been the most sustained short-term period of dominance in the history of English football. Instead, in all likelihood, it's just another title.

Chelsea's champions settled for that, when they could have had so much more. 

FA want it each way on betting  

Joey Barton is hardly short of an opinion, but, having asked for a personal hearing after pleading guilty to a misconduct charge for placing 1,260 football bets over a 10-year period, he could do worse than challenge the FA over where they stand on gambling.

Players can't bet, we know that. Yet that is not the same as saying that English football discourages gambling. On the contrary, bookmakers aside, it is hard to imagine an industry that does more to promote it.

Clubs have the names of gambling companies on their shirts and stadiums, and every television broadcast is overwhelmed by entreaties to bet, before, after and during the action. We even see Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp beaming his endorsement for the club's training kit sponsor, BetVictor.

Joey Barton could do much worse than ask the FA for their stance on gambling

Compare this to the attitude of the NFL, where no means no. Every dressing room in the league has a prominent sign warning players that gambling is a career-ending activity. That includes online poker.

Betting companies do not sponsor teams, shirts or arenas, and any broadcaster with a contract to show NFL games — even those abroad — does so on the understanding that gambling companies cannot buy slots in the commercial breaks. If you watched Sunday night's Super Bowl, you may have noticed that at no time did Ray Winstone invite you to have a bang on that.

The reason there is such controversy around the possibility of the Oakland Raiders relocating to Las Vegas is because the NFL have always seen the city as off-limits due to its gambling connections. If the Raiders did move, their new home would be the only entertainment venue in Vegas that was not lousy with slot machines.

That the NFL are even considering Vegas is an evolution of their stance. In 2011, the league prevented Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, from leasing land next to his stadium for a casino. In 2015, a fantasy NFL event in Las Vegas was cancelled when the league discovered that a handful of current players had been booked to attend.

The same year they refused permission for three Miami Dolphins players to participate in a poker tournament with a buy-in of just £75. An NFL player in Barton's position could hardly claim to have received mixed messages.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp both wears Bet Victor promoted clubwear and features in their ad

Yet on June 3, 2016, the organisation that will sit in judgment on Barton announced Ladbrokes as their new betting partner. 

'Under the terms of the agreement, Ladbrokes will benefit from premium brand exposure alongside England senior men's matches, and ties across all rounds of the Emirates FA Cup,' read the FA's statement. 

'Also included within the partnership are in-stadia betting rights for Wembley Stadium, enabling Ladbrokes to engage with both their current audience, and drive new customer acquisition around showpiece events held at the stadium.'

In other words, the England team and the FA will help to actively promote betting, particularly among youth, in a way Barton never did.

'We are delighted to welcome Ladbrokes on board,' said FA chief executive Martin Glenn. How does his organisation then get to pass sentence on football's gamblers, when they are the biggest enablers of all? 

FA chief executive Martin Glenn has welcomed bookmakers Ladbrokes on board

How Putin pocketed a Super Bowl ring  

As the New England Patriots were in the Super Bowl for a record ninth time on Sunday night, owner Robert Kraft was asked again how Vladimir Putin came to own one of his prized winner's rings.

The story goes back to 2005, soon after the Patriots had defeated the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl XXXIX (39, to those who didn't pay attention in Latin). 

Kraft was part of a deputation of American businessmen visiting Russia and was still carrying his $25,000 victor's Super Bowl ring — four ounces in weight and featuring 124 diamonds. Putin asked to see it, and Kraft obliged.

Robert Kraft's Super Bowl tale involving Vladimir Putin reflects Russia's behaviour in sport

The group posed for photographs, at the end of which Putin slipped the ring into his pocket and walked off, flanked by KGB heavies. Under pressure from George W Bush to avoid an international incident, Kraft claimed he had presented the ring to Putin as a gift, although he later regretted the statement.

Telling the tale in public for the first time in 2013, Kraft said he would really like his ring back, but, asked about it, Putin denied all knowledge.

'I remember neither Mr Kraft, nor the ring,' he said, 'but if it is such a valuable thing I have a proposal. I'll ask our firms to put together a really good, big thing, expensive, with good metal and a stone, so it will be passed from generation to generation in his team.'

That return gift never did arrive. Neither did the ring. But if you're wondering where some of the more disreputable behaviour in Russian sport comes from, now you know. Right from the top.

Don't expect any favours, Warren 

Warren Gatland has never much cared to be a friend to England. Quite right, too: he's the coach of Wales.

Whether winding up Dylan Hartley, damning the weak Premiership or picking apart selections, Gatland did not fret about English sensibilities. So Eddie Jones is entitled to keep his adversary at arm's length during the current Six Nations, and deny him sight of England's private training sessions.

Warren Gatland has never much cared to be a friend to England which, as Wales coach, is right

Yes, Gatland is now coach of the Lions — but that doesn't mean he will have forgotten old friends and allegiances. He has been in opposition to England for too long to be given the access of an insider. 

Only last week, former Scotland and Lions coach Jim Telfer was hugely disparaging about Jones, England and the Twickenham crowd. 'If you ever think about wanting separation from England, just sit 10 minutes in Twickenham and listen to them,' he said. 

Fair enough — but then why does English rugby have to keep up a veneer of compromise and politeness? 

One aspect of rugby culture Jones understood quickly was that other nations took nothing but delight in beating England, so why, under Stuart Lancaster, did England try so hard to be liked? 

Gatland is never going to do England any favours. He shouldn't expect any back.

Eddie Jones is right to deny Gatland sight of England's private training sessions

Arsene Wenger said Hector Bellerin was so badly concussed he did not know the result of the game against Chelsea on Saturday. 

It must have been quite a blow, then, because everybody else did, even before kick-off: Chelsea to outmuscle and outsmart Arsenal, just like old times.

For those seeking to defend Wenger this season, the evidence is making it increasingly difficult. Asked last month about the possibility of Jack Wilshere returning from Bournemouth to counter a shortage in midfield, Wenger replied that Premier League loans lasted the season. 

That isn't true. Chelsea took Nathan Ake back from Bournemouth in January. 

Arsene Wenger said Hector Bellerin (C) was so concussed he did not know the final score

Why isn't Wenger across details like that? And how can he have returned to those days when Chelsea just brushed his team aside? 

From naming a long-term injury victim, Per Mertesacker, as his captain, to confusing Granit Xhaka's reckless red-card habit with the Kante-like steel Arsenal's midfield needs, misjudgments are being made.

Less than a year ago, Arsenal were in a strong position to win the League, closing to within two points of Leicester after beating them at the Emirates, but they now seem as far away from the prize as ever.

The future should be a worry, too. Chelsea are back to their best, while one imagines investment and time can only make the Manchester clubs stronger.

With Tottenham's youthful emergence, Arsenal risk being squeezed into fourth again, if not worse. 

Certainly, nothing about Saturday's performance suggested ground was being gained. Chelsea used to beat them like that 12 years ago. What has changed?

Bellerin may not have known the outcome but many fans did... even before the game started

According to Dan Ashworth, the FA's director of elite development, new England Under 21 coach Aidy Boothroyd was not always associated with long-ball football. 

Ashworth recalls the youth teams Boothroyd constructed at Norwich City, under Nigel Worthington. Imaginative, creative, innovative. It was the reason he took Boothroyd to West Bromwich Albion in a similar role.

Those who support Boothroyd's appointment at Under 21 level argue that his years in youth football are just as important as what we saw of him with Watford, Colchester and Coventry, when he was managing at the sharp end. We shall see.

It would be strange if Boothroyd got one of the most important jobs in English football on the back of impressing with Norwich at Under 17 level nearly 20 years ago, because there are probably more than a few coaches who can lay claim to the equivalent of that.

Nick Davies, once a close aide and confidant of Lord Coe, took a $30,000 bribe to bury bad news of positive Russian drug tests, deposited it in his personal bank account and then lied to investigators.

He failed to disclose the payment to the IAAF, its ethics committee, the World Anti-Doping Agency or the French judicial authorities. 

Despite this, an IAAF investigation found he had not acted 'in any way corruptly' and was free to seek employment elsewhere in sport. 

Makes you wonder what a man has to do to be considered bent in athletics.

Nick Davies (R), once a close confidant of Lord Coe, took a $30,000 bribe to bury bad news

Ravel Morrison relaunched his career in the 78th minute of Queens Park Rangers' match at Blackburn on Saturday. 

Rangers lost 1-0. It has been painted as a new beginning under Ian Holloway, but how can that be?

Only 23, Morrison has had how many fresh starts now? Seven, eight maybe? Yet little fresh ever happens. Just the same old, same old, sadly. 

Ravel Morrison is only 23 but has had at least seven or eight 'fresh starts' in football