Gregg, who is reputed to have a personal fortune of £150m, might also feel that the Russian is setting a bad example.Unusually, we have yet to hear from the more vociferous Premiership men, but that may be explained by the fact that Manchester United are accusing Chelsea of violating the rules by poaching their chief executive, Peter Kenyon, without prior permission. Chelsea's 4-0 victory over nasty Lazio in Rome was accomplished in such style we are now asking questions which begin with the words "What if..." Perhaps the welter of scandals and spats that have been dominating the game has served as a distraction but, suddenly, Chelsea have put down an impressive marker in the Champions' League and are a whisker from the top of the Premiership.We've heard little from Chelsea's rivals, but one of them cracked last week. Once the price was named, he seemed to stump up without complaint The same with the wages. Imagine what it would have been like if the transfer barriers hadn't been lowered at the start of the season. Imagine what it's going to be like when the transfer window is opened in January. He's already lining them up, and money continues to be no object.All this was fine, funny even, when we could nudge each other knowingly and recite the old mantra about money not guaranteeing success.

You shouldn't expect football to be any less preposterous than life, but a growing number of football folk are beginning to look at the extraordinary situation at Chelsea with a gnawing feeling of awe and alarm. I'm tending that way myself. When Roman Abramovich first arrived at Stamford Bridge and started throwing his money around, most of us looked on in amused fascination. We'd seen big spenders before, but none capable of pulling out a wad the size of the London Eye whenever a player took his fancy.I don't intend to list his £111m worth of signings because it gets boring, but each was a little more spectacular than the one before, and achieved at such a rate there couldn't have been any haggling. Ferguson is about to sign a new deal that will keep him in charge at Manchester United until he is 65. The multi-million pound contract should ease any pension problems..

"Leeds are bottom but very few sides would have lived with us today," he said. The question for Reid is whether he or the board can live with Leeds being bottom The answer may lie in another question. Could anyone else do better than Reid?But if Reid's days at Leeds are numbered, Sir Alex Ferguson looks likely to enjoy the same privilege as his fellow knight, Bobby Robson, by working at least until the normal retirement age. "We had a disagreement and he was left behind," Reid said in explaining Viduka's absence.No player is bigger than a club but Viduka played an important part in the run to the Champions' League semi-finals in 2001 under David O'Leary. Since then, a host of players have been sold to ease the club's financial problems, but even so the collapse on the pitch has been startling.Redknapp thought Portsmouth, inspired by Teddy Sheringham and Patrik Berger and blessed with two goals from the 20-year-old midfielder Gary O'Neil on his Premiership debut, were superb. We've had a great day but I have every sympathy for Peter Reid. He can only work with what he's got and maybe he's stuck with a few players who are not earning the money they are getting."Mark Viduka certainly is not, thanks to the simmering dispute between Reid and the Australian striker appears to be undermining Leeds further.