It seems Chelsea can’t help themselves but to keep dipping their toes in the paddling pool of controversy.

Following swiftly on the heels of the Ashley Cole ‘situation’, Peter Kenyon has been engaged in suspicious and coincidental meetings with Rio Ferdinand.

Although both parties have insisted the meetings, which took place at two different restaurants, were entirely accidental, it still seems mighty suspicious and has left Sir Alex fuming.

Rio’s agent, currently re-negotiating the star’s contact at Old Trafford, has quickly jumped on the bandwagon insisting United must offer Rio a deal in line with his talent and ability. And, quite frankly, that makes the chance meetings with Kenyon look even more suspicious.

All in all, and as much as I dislike new-Chelsea, it might not be a bad thing for the English national team were Rio to move to Stamford Bridge. It would mean the majority of the England defence would be playing together week in, week out.

All we need now is Kenyon to accidentally bump into Gary Neville a couple of times and the picture will be complete...

Lenient punishment

I have nothing against Inter at all, but I have to say I feel the punishment they received from UEFA was a little on the lenient side.

Although being made to play four games behind closed doors is certainly better than just being fined, I do believe it might have been in the interest of Italian football as a whole if the punishment had been a little harsher.

There is no doubting that Italian football has a hooliganism problem at the moment and, although the football authorities in Italy are talking tough, not enough is being done to eradicate the violence.

Maybe a bit stiffer punishment for Inter would have prompted them to stop talking about solving the problem and actually start acting on it.

Paula Radcliffe

Paula Radcliffe bounced back from her Athens Olympic debacle to win Sunday’s London marathon in style, clocking up the third fastest time ever in the process. And that was despite having to take an impromptu toilet break on the way!

Although this was not her first major race since last summer’s disaster, it was probably the most meaningful being on home soil in an event she is rapidly making her own.

Now Paula, arguably the world’s finest female distance runner, has to decide which event she will compete in at the forthcoming World Championships – stick to the marathon or go for the 10,000 metres.

At a push she may opt for both but that has another Athens-type disaster written all over it.

In my mind, and many millions of others, she should probably stick to the marathon, make it her specialised event and focus on winning that in the next Olympics in three years time.

Because if she ended up retiring from the sport without at least one Olympic gold to her name it would be an absolute shame.

Newcastle fans

What a miserable time to be a Newcastle fan.

The shame of having to watch two of your own team sent off for fighting each other has been quickly followed by the humiliation of losing 4-1 twice in three days in the only two match of the season which mattered.

Crashing out of the UEFA Cup was a bitter pill for Souness’ men to swallow. But for that to be followed up just a couple of days later by another 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Manchester United, it must have been unbearable.

The simple truth is that even at full strength Newcastle were probably going to struggle against United. But without bad boys Dyer and Bowyer and injured stars like Jenas and Bramble the tough became the impossible.

It’s little consolation for the long-suffering Toon Army, but at least their manager has been promised a substantial war chest in the summer to complete his rebuilding of the side.

And, on Sunday’s showing, that is a rebuilding process that desperately needs to be implemented.

Ghost story

And now for a bit of a ghost story.

Sunderland, currently flying high in the Championship, are running scared after a ghostly apparition has been spotted floating around the Stadium of Light.

Several of the first team have seen the spirit which has also been sighted in the club’s academy although none of the witnesses have so far been able to determine if it is a man or a woman.

The other-wordly sighting made its first appearance before Sunderland’s home match with Reading – a game they lost to bring to an end a run of eight straight victories.

Coincidence? Probably. Weird? Definitely.

Maybe they should think about renaming the ground the Stadium of Fright...

Contact James on: [email protected]