When a story appeared in one of the newspapers this Saturday it was reported as if I was deliberately outing Cesc. Now whether it was mischievous on the newspaper’s part for deliberately misunderstanding me or whether I was not clear enough in what I was saying and the fault was thus partially mine, it doesn’t matter (I accept my accent, diction and even clarity of meaning aren’t always picked up perfectly, especially by some southern ears). In short, I did not mean to have a go at Cesc in any way at all; I was merely asking a question.

At this point I then decided to get all CSI about it and called the original Radio 4 reporter and he obligingly told me that whatever was said or intimated in the press six weeks ago after his story was first aired, it definitively was NOT Cesc Fabregas who was the culprit! So, deep breath, when Cesc got a negative reaction as he was substituted on Saturday, if any of that was anything to do with what I was reported to have said, first I am sorry to Cesc, I absolutely didn’t mean that at all, it was misconstrued, but nonetheless I apologise. Secondly, I plead with the fans they adapt that reaction for the upcoming games. Cesc has released a number of statements of late that have been brave, honest and self-deprecating. He has been badly wronged and he didn’t deserve that on Saturday, full stop. I hope that is crystal clear.

For further clarity, no reporter from that or any other newspaper contacted me to ask for further comment or if they had the story correct, Funny that!

So that all came from a ‘leaked’ dressing room story a while back and I am certainly not a fan of that sort of behaviour generally, but there is a lot of loose talk in football and to a degree it can’t always be helped. I was however very happy with one dressing room leak from Cobham this week. In the midst of all the chatter it was made known and reported (I hope this one is correct) that talking to the players after Jose’s departure, Roman Abramovich said he was saddened to have to let the manager go. That is exactly how it should be and I was very pleased to hear it as no doubt the fans were too. It wasn’t a pleasant, easy or according to Roman, even a desired decision.

I was also caught out by the day of Jose’s leaving, rather publicly on Radio 5 as it happens, but I graciously congratulate the journalist who had the inside knowledge that I didn’t. It is often a tough job being a journo even if we don’t always like the spin some of them put on things, particularly involving our club, but that is the business. I am however beginning to wonder if I am going to have any more mishaps this week. I tried to guess the Premier League scores on Saturday in the version of fantasy football I do, I got every single one totally and spectacularly wrong, except for Chelsea! I was very confident we would win by a couple of goals.