Bridge and Terry: Chelsea Fans Prove That Money Cannot Buy You Class

Depending on who you are, you blame somebody different for the Terrygate affair.

Most people blame John Terry, who, oblivious to his role as captain and devoid of loyalty to his teammate, jumped into bed with Vanessa Perroncel without a moment's thought for his ex-friend, Wayne Bridge.

Some of the more perceptive have pointed out that it takes two to tango, and Perroncel, understandably feeling down following the break-up of her relationship with the father of her child, sought solace in the arms of a man she presumably knew well.

Others still blame the overriding culture at Chelsea, one of living the celebrity life, having it all and to hell with the consequences. They see Terry as a product of both the times and his environment, and shake a disconsolate head when they think about what the proud Chelsea FC has come to represent.

But you will be very hard-pushed to find someone who blames Wayne Bridge.

Especially on Sunday afternoon, because it seemed they were all crammed into Stamford Bridge to witness Terry vs. Bridge, round two.

The general support of Chelsea have made their opinion abundantly clear. They are standing by their man. Quite how they justify this standpoint is unclear, but they've made their decision, and they are sticking with Team Terry.

However, a line was crossed at the weekend. They moved from, in their opinion, support for their captain and club icon during his hour of need, to open hostility towards the man that he so very badly wronged.

Bridge, booed every time he touched the ball until the game was effectively over, has kept his dignity throughout. He has refused to speak out publicly against Terry, Perroncel or anyone else for that matter.

It is hard to imagine how a man, placed in his position, could react in a more dignified and correct manner.

Yet the Chelsea support wanted blood. How they would justify their booing of Bridge to anyone else is a mystery, but they can certainly justify it to themselves. Their insular, self-righteous attitude has led to this entirely misguided gesture.

For Chelsea, the original nouveau riche of the Premiership, still have none of the class or history that surround their closest rivals, Manchester United, Arsenal and especially Liverpool.

They show no respect for anyone, least of all their opponents, because it all came so easily to them.

They went to bed paupers and woke up millionaires.

And to extend the analogy, as we have seen so many times when a less desirable member of society wins the lottery, money can buy you everything, but it cannot buy you a modicum of class.

It is a shame that the few, decent Chelsea supporters who made a point of applauding Wayne Bridge off the field when substituted should be so overshadowed by the actions of a moronic majority.

However, the ridiculous snubbing of a player who played almost 150 games for Chelsea, and scored one of their most important goals in recent memory against Liverpool, is just symptomatic of the Chelsea attitude.

They will get to the top, they will do things their way, and they do not care who they offend. They can do no wrong, only right.

And it's this very attitude which has caused their empire to begin to crumble so dramatically in the past few weeks. It remains to be seen whether anyone within Chelsea has insight enough to see this and bring about the sea change in culture the club requires to be considered a true giant of the English game.

But I wouldn't hold my breath. Form is temporary but, as we saw on Sunday, class (or lack thereof) is permanent.