Opinion | EPL horror show has big box-office appeal to world
Racist disputes, police probes and other melodramas add to perverse charm as the league extends its global reach
Manchester United fans were invited to get into character for their Halloween midweek Capital One Cup clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and dressed as ghouls, ghosts and zombies. Fittingly, the contest was a nine-goal, 120-minute thriller that would have made Michael Jackson proud.
But Red Devils fans were a tad late for the party because the main fright-night event took place three evenings earlier. Just when you thought it was safe to believe seven days in the life of the EPL would pass off without incident, Halloween week proved to be an extended horror show.
Red mists descended at Stamford Bridge during the clash between Chelsea and United and the explosive encounter has created an unprecedented fissure between refs, fans, the FA and players.
The claim that official Mark Clattenburg racially abused Chelsea's John Mikel Obi shocked a sport already deeply scarred by racist disputes, FA and police probes, snubbed handshakes and a general return to the dark ages.
If Clattenburg did utter the unutterable to Mikel Obi, however, then he rightly deserves to see his career terminated. But trying to fathom Chelsea's complaint - just who believed they heard abuse from whom to who - is like wading through a swamp on lead stilts while trying to digest the Tuyuca translation of .
Whether it was correct for Torres to walk for diving remains the subject of conjecture, though the majority concur with Clattenburg's red card. But expecting referees to make all their calls with 100 per cent certainty in the absence of video replays is a scary demand, and the hysterical calls for refs to be sacked or penalised for wrong, game-changing decisions sends chills down the spine.
