This is symptomatic of the modern game at the Prem level, 'small' clubs are expected to know their place and keep the obscene hype well oiled for the benefit of the 'real clubs' where the action and interest is.
For me it is not just about whether Martinez is good or bad, or our buying/selling policies, or whether we playing plodding football or not, or we pick oldies or youth, it is the fact that we have been left light years behind and these micro aspects are all symptoms of that. We occupy a different footballing universe to the rich clubs, and the disparity, with the Premier League's blessing, gets worse each season.
In Slovenia recently on holiday, I saw kids walking around in Chelsea tops, and there is a dedicated Chelsea channel on their national TV. We simply don't exist in that world. In Sky's hyped-up world, our role is to be the stupid sap, to know our place, sell our better players onto the real clubs and just occasionally have the audacity to beat one of them so that Sky can then purr away about the Prem being the best league in the world before they wet themselves once again at the prospect of Chelsea playing Man Utd.
