Will somebody please step in and put an end to the nightmare? The world does not need another Real Madrid. We didn’t even need the one. Can’t Putin step in here in a humanitarian gesture for the good of all mankind? At least that large portion of mankind that enjoys soccer? Please throw Abramovich in the Gulag before things get any uglier.

At first I didn’t have much problem with Chelsea. I even felt a little bad for all their posh fans who toiled in mid-table obscurity for years and years. Abramovich started out nice enough. He kept the very likable Claudio Ranieri coaching the team despite his never quite getting them over the hump for an extra year or two. He came in and dropped cash right from the start, but it was generally on players with more potential than experience, and didn’t massively over-pay for them.

But he got bored with all that, and now all hell has broken loose.

The Galacticos North buy whatever catches Roman’s eye now. Jose Mourinho, the best coach in the world–at least in his own mind–was the tipping point. But, even he seemed content to bring in his former players and a few younger stars, that although very talented, were more or less unknowns. That shot them to the top of the Premiership table and they’ve stayed there ever since. No sign of budging. The Premier League is now played for the European spots (2 through 7, or whatever)–the winner is evident before the season kicks off.

That wasn’t enough for Tsar Roman. He won’t be happy until his plaything dominates the world. They’ve yet to win the Champions League. They tried it Jose’s way, now it looks like it’s Roman’s way.

The signings this year aren’t the type Mourinho would have went after. They also aren’t to plug any particular hole that Chelsea might have had. They are aging megastars that are vastly overpriced, filling positions that are already well-stocked. Ballack, Shevchenko, Roberto Carlos. The one Mourinho-type signing was the youngster Mikel, who was stolen, literally it seems, from ManUnited.

This sort of thing didn’t work at Madrid. They have a collection of all-stars, but they can’t even manage to win their league. Chelsea hasn’t learned the lesson and is headed down the same road, but are bringing the rest of the league down with them. This could be why Mourinho had made noises about wanting to coach Portugal’s national team instead. You get the sense he’s not exactly thrilled about the way things are going now either.

Nor am I. Soccer is better off without this sort of idiocy. Does a salary cap need to be instituted? I tend to be a traditionalist and am generally against stuff like that, but something must be done. Chelsea must be stopped.