Peter Corrigan: Chelsea should be making music - not facing it

Frowned on by authority and carped at by critics as he most deservedly is, Jose Mourinho could point at the forlorn figure of Kevin Keegan this weekend and say: "That's what happens to nice guys."

It would hardly be a convincing defence of the Chelsea manager's recent excesses, but it would be a sad reminder that a man's fate in football management is not put in peril by a ruthless, self-obsessed streak. It doesn't necessarily follow that you have to be of a rascally bent to be a success, but it is looking as if it helps.

Keegan collected many friends and admirers for his engagingly honest approach to each of his attempts to build a successful managerial career, but although he came close at times he has left the scene with his head bowed.

The experiences of both men last week say everything about the contrast between them: Mourinho brilliantly triumphant against Barcelona but up to his neck in flak; and Keegan cruelly deflated by a 1-0 home defeat against Bolton but receiving sympathetic applause as he was forced into an exit from Manchester City.

Mourinho made such a fuss over his measly £5,000 fine for improper conduct by the Football Association on Thursday that you wonder how he will handle any punishment resulting from a series of further charges laid against him and Chelsea by Uefa and the FA.

His fine was for comments he made after Chelsea's Carling Cup semi-final first leg against Manchester United in January. He accused Sir Alex Ferguson of influencing the referee at half-time. The second half, he said, was "whistle and whistle, fault and fault and cheat and cheat". He claimed in his defence that his use of the word cheat was caused by his lack of fluency in English. If he intends to improve his command of the tongue he might find it helpful to pay particular attention to words like humility and magnanimity.

Frank Rijkaard would be able to assist him, because the Barcelona coach was the epitome of dignity under extreme provocation during the two legs of his team's amazing Champions' League defeat. We are fated to hear more of it via the disciplinary processes of Uefa, who are charging Chelsea with two offences relating to the first leg at Nou Camp, when Mourinho accused Rijkaard of influencing the Swedish referee, Anders Frisk, who, it is reported, is retiring from the game after threats to his family.

Uefa are also investigating the ugly scenes around the Barcelona dugout on Tuesday night, when members of the Chelsea staff were accused of goading Rijkaard and his players. There are also claims that racial abuse was aimed at the Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o.

The past few days should have been devoted to Chelsea's success in an excellent game of football between two superb sides. But we've been distracted by the darker side of the proceedings. There's considerable discomfort, too, about the deliberate impeding of Barcelona's goalkeeper, Victor Valdes, while the Chelsea captain, John Terry, was heading the winning goal.

Chelsea's alleged tapping of Arsenal's Ashley Cole is another looming inquiry. This is a club on the crest of a major boom. They should be making music, not facing it. It is not all of Mourinho's doing, but his charisma has struck a sinister note, and it is in his power to tidy up his club's image before they get any closer to what promises to be a wonderful climax to their season.

Peril of the changing times

When the Culture Minister, Tessa Jowell, announced the Government green paper on the future of the BBC she proposed that its funding by licence fee should continue for another 10 years, and in return the corporation should be encouraged to carry more public-service programming and not be as enslaved by viewing figures as the commercial channels.

This is the wrong place to argue the merits of that suggestion, but while the subject is being debated it ought to be extended to include the dereliction of the Beeb's duties to tens of thousands of faithful licence-fee payers who are regularly inconvenienced by their manipulation of kick-off times purely to enhance figures for other BBC programmes.

They didn't inspire the destruction of our traditional Saturday-afternoon sporting scene - the discredit for that belongs to our friends from satellite television - but they have joined in with unashamed gusto. While commercial stations can be excused on the grounds of financial imperatives, it is much harder for the BBC to justify arranging kick-off times with a total disregard for travelling fans.

There were loud complaints when this scattering of events around the weekend first began, but they have long disappeared, unheeded, into the ether. Now that the BBC's activities are under serious review it is time to force them to address the issue again. Kicking off big matches at 5.30 on Saturday causes maximum disruption and discomfort to travelling spectators, and it is not enough for the BBC to brag that a good match in the early evening attracts viewers who tend to remain with them for the rest of the night.

It is not sport's role in life to drag in victims for the rest of the Beeb's boring Saturday nights - certainly not at the expense of supporters whose presence at the matches creates the atmosphere the coverage, and the game itself, lives off.

Yesterday, rugby fans enjoyed a break because it was football's turn to have the late kick-off. The BBC don't show much football but they do get the FA Cup, so they were showing Southampton's home tie against Manchester United at 5.15pm. That meant a late homecoming for United fans, and the travel problems they faced will next Saturday be transferred to rugby supporters gathering at Twickenham for the England-Scotland match, the last in this year's Six Nations' Championship.

When the BBC selected this game they probably thought it would be the grand finale, but that honour goes to the Wales-Ireland game (kick-off 3.30). It remains to be seen whether underperforming England can act as the Pied Piper for Saturday-night viewers. We sincerely hope so.

The BBC are not wholly responsible for these wandering kick-offs. The governing bodies have sanctioned them, but it is laughable to expect them to be concerned about their customers. Besides, they are not subsidised by the nation.

There was another instance last week that revealed the BBC's heart not to be people-shaped. The annual conference of the Secondary Heads Association called on TV companies not to show football matches before the 9pm watershed, because violent and cursing players are setting a bad example to children. The idea was dismissed by Peter Salmon, the BBC director of sport, as "ridiculous". He added: "It would affect the future of live broadcasting as we know it."

The teachers' idea may not have been practical but it was less ridiculous than the response. Teachers are not alone in being concerned at the behaviour of players in front of the cameras. From what I can deduce, a large proportion of us are utterly sick of it.

Salmon would have better served his responsibility as one of the purveyors of this ugliness into our living rooms by passing on the complaints to the football authorities. After all, the BBC are paying through the nose for the privilege. Salmon should remember it's our money and our noses that are being put out.