Received an email from Darren Henly yesterday. He had copied this from the Chelsea website: ‘TICKET NEWS: Tickets for the next crucial home game in the exciting title race against Middlesbrough, are now on general sale at 4 per person. BUY ONLINE or view MATCHDAY HOSPITALITY details.’

In the name of accuracy I did check this morning and they had since managed to sell enough to Joe Public to list the game as a sell out. I am not sure how many members Chelsea have, but I did establish the following. I have no idea of the number of season ticket holders there are at the Bridge (although they are on offer every close season without fail to those who wish to become one), but for each home match, both members and season ticket holders buy an extra two tickets per game with their membership card. If this fails to sell out the match, they go to general sale to anyone who wishes to part with their money.

So as reigning champions, you would believe that assuming the combined number of both season ticket holders and members exceeds the Bridge’s 42,000 odd capacity, the clamour for tickets would result in season ticket holder and members being asked by non-members to get hold of a couple of tickets for them with their cards.

If Boro at home is going on sale to allcomers, the conclusion must be that there is no clamour to watch Chelsea. Imagine if Arsenal allowed gold and silver members to buy two tickets on top of their own seat? So why do Chelsea struggle to shift tickets? I mean, they are almost guaranteed to win aren’t they?

And maybe therein lies the problem. There is little in the way of either tension or, I get the feeling, real entertainment at Chelsea matches, just the inevitable progress to the points with the occasional hiccup. If the Blues were playing football that was a joy to watch, then I suspect they would have greater demand to watch them. Manchester United have increased the Old Trafford capacity at a time when they have not been winning much at all, and yet their football is pleasing enough to fill the newly created seats. It flies in the face of reason when Abramovich has funded the purchase of superstars Ballack and Shevchenko for this season that the imagination has no been captured.

But ultimately, it is the Chelsea fans who will be able to tell us the truth. I get the feeling that many of the more loyal of them have slowly fallen out of love with their club. It’s a question of identity. Since the big money arrived, Lampard and Terry are still around, but it must become difficult to really relate to players who one suspects may not be at the club for football reasons. The irony of someone like Winston Bogarde is that he was there in the Ken Bates days. Yet, one could be justified in wondering whether or not there might just be a trace of his attitude in the current day stars. Win bonuses are pretty much an irrelevance, certainly no incentive. It comes down to pride, but even that has to be tempered by the knowledge that any achievement will not be hailed with a similar degree of reverence to that afforded to teams that win by building a team in a more orthodox fashion.

I don’t know if Liverpool are about to join this party as I simply haven’t looked into the financial background of the two new owners. Are they likely to splash the cash on players in the fashion that Chelsea have? Or will they, once the stadium move has been made, run the football club on business lines, purchases funded by the increased capacity?

It would be nice to look at Arsenal as an exception to all of this, but in one sense, they are not. The bottom line for all these new owners (even Chelsea have a fantasy of breaking even in about a decade’s time) is that they can make a profit from their acquisitions due to the price people are prepared to pay to watch the football. Yet, less popular and successful sides have shown that the crowd can be priced out of the game. And Arsenal’s ticket prices are quite obviously expensive enough. It’s nice to see the stadium selling out habitually without the need to offer places to the general public, but it is very much a double-edged sword. It will give the board confidence to continue raising prices as long as they believe that for most games, they will eventually sell out. And if this is the case, then I suspect, even with the fantastic football, Arsenal fans will begin to pick and choose their matches in the way that Chelsea supporters obviously already do. Maybe not next season, but it can’t be long.