Chelsea players are set to shake hands with opponents Queens Park Rangers today at Loftus Road, despite the fact Anton Ferdinand is likely to face John Terry and Ashley Cole.
It’s the first meeting between the two since the racial allegations made against Terry towards Ferdinand last season, but is it a good idea to have handshakes between the sides in the wake of all this controversy?
Ferdinand has came out and stated that he won’t shake the hands of Terry or Cole, but how many other QPR players might follow suit and snub the two Chelsea defenders? It’s a hard situation to make a call on, but rules are rules in the Premier League, and if the F.A were to scrap the pre match formalities at Loftus Road this afternoon, it could have a wider affect on the image of English football.
Terry is no stranger to players refusing to shake his hand, with Wayne Bridge another man to ignore the Chelsea skipper in the past, but we’re all here for the football, it’s something that’s being blown out of proportion.
Let the players go out there, do the hand shakes, let Ferdinand and whoever else ignore Terry and Cole, and let’s get down to business, the thing that we’re all there for. Let’s hope that the football match itself leaves us with enough talking points to eradicate the need to harp on about this issue any longer. That’s the hand shake issue, not the racism issue of course.
Chelsea players can’t let a minor problem affect their play, and you can’t imagine them thinking too much into it, with another fine performance today sure to keep them at the summit of the Premiership table.
By Sean Monaghan
Follow @Sean_Monaghan_