IF THE majority of the press are to be believed it's boring, boring Chelsea. I seem to remember another club 10 years ago having the same tag given to them when they dared to challenge the big clubs in the Premiership and came out on top.

The fact that the same teams were winning week in week out, scoring a hatful of goals and playing attacking football didn't seem to matter to the seasoned hacks who poured scorn on the fact that the old guard were being de-throned, albeit for one season only in Rovers' case.

Then of course there's the money that's been thrown at it. In the case of Chelsea the amount is obscene, whereas in Rovers' case it was pretty much the same as what the 'old guard' had been spending year on year anyway. Still, why let that get in the way of a good story? Why not tarnish the great achievement of a small town club actually winning the Premiership by saying that, no, actually, they bought it.

And that's why I have a certain sympathy towards Chelsea at the moment.

Rather than being lauded as a great side they have to contend with the moneybags jibes that we became accustomed to in the Walker years.

But why is this? Should we not be congratulating Mourinho in the way he has moulded the Londoners from also-rans under Claudio Ranieri to arguably the best side in Europe?

Remember, Ranieri also had unlimited funds too but couldn't push Chelsea on that extra step as Mourinho has done. Maybe the guy has a point when he says he's the special one.

It's quite easy to dislike the man, his arrogance is unquestionable, but if you can talk the talk do you and your team not deserve that little bit more respect?

While I believe that should be the case, I don't think that the amount of respect afforded to his team should be quite as much as the Rovers players gave in the first 15 minutes of the game on Saturday.

You'd have been forgiven for thinking it was going to end up six or seven at that point.

However, when the players realised that it was 11 against 11 they gave as credible a performance as any have this season at Stamford Bridge.

There was certainly a case for resting key players as it could hardly be expected that we could get anything from the game. So for Mark Hughes to recall Bellamy and play his strongest side speaks volumes for him.

He wasn't going to short change the fans who'd taken out second mortgages to be there and he was going to give it a go, much as he did at Old Trafford earlier in the season.

And how we did give it a go.

To have competed so well for two-thirds of the game, bearing in mind the different level we are operating in, is a great credit to the players and the management team.

We may not have added to our points tally but I sense the optimism returning around our beloved club.

We won't challenge for the title in the foreseeable future but rest assured, we're getting better.