Roman emperors used to throw their subjects to the lions, but Roman Abramovich went straight into a den of hostilityyesterday, taking a seat among the Chelsea faithful in Stamford Bridge's Shed End.
If the Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea was doing it to gauge the fans' reaction to the departure of former manager Jose Mourinho, then by the end of this often harem-scarem scoreless draw, he will have been in no doubt about the unpopularity of his ousting of the man who had brought two championship pennants in three seasons to the Fulham Road.
Before the final whistle of Chelsea's fourth league fixture without a win, with Mourinho's name being bellowed by the majority of the 41,837 crowd, one fan got out of his seat, removed his expensive replica shirt, and hurled it at the club's owner in disgust.
Having begun the afternoon smiling with the spectators around him, Abramovich grew increasingly uncomfortable, not least because of the hapless performance of his own favourite player, Andrey Shevchenko, who on this form would not be worth 30 quid, let alone £30 million. Shevchenko, on his 31st birthday, was substituted after 53 woeful minutes.
It was around that time that John Terry, the club captain and talisman, was making his way to hospital for a scan on a suspected cheekfracture. He had come off at half-time having played on for more than half an hour after a clash with Clint Dempsey's elbow.
Worse was to come for Abramovich as he watched his Chelsea empire continue to implode by degree.
Didier Drogba, in his first game back after nearly a month out with injury, was wearing his heart on his sleeve as well as the captain's armband in the absence of Terry, and was running the Fulham defence ragged.
If there were any questions about Drogba's commitment under Avram Grant, his new head coach, then the Ivorian was answering them in a powerful way, outjumping Aaron Hughes repeatedly, getting Kasey Keller to make a good save after 58 minutes and sending the ball narrowly wide from a 25-yard free-kick four minutes later.
Then, after 73min, in typical style, Drogba threw himself in the air for the ball - he must have been five feet off the ground, in high-jump scissors mode - his studs pounding into the face of defender Chris Baird as he made a more orthodox attempt on the ball. Referee Martin Atkinson already had Drogba's name in his book after some dissent in the first half, and he did not hesitate to show the Chelsea striker a second yellow.
It was another bad day at the office for Grant. He was clearly uncomfortable wearing the sort of corporate Armani suit that used to fit Mourinho so well.
And against a Fulham side that looks less Harrod's than Asda, Grant might have been reminded of his predecessor's supermarket analogy as chance after chance was spurned by his expensively acquired squad. It is now one minute short of seven hours of Premier League football since Chelsea last scored.
Indeed, the only thing which might have made the mood any darker around Stamford Bridge would have been a late Fulham goal, and Paul Konchesky, racing through from Fulham's half into the wide-open spaces of the disorganised Chelsea defence, was denied only by a first-rate save from Petr Cech in the 86th minute.
With centre-back Alex up-field during injury time in a vain attempt to find a goal, had substitute Diomansy Kamara made better use of the ball when Fulham broke with two attackers against little Claude Makelele, Dempsey might have got closer to ending Chelsea's record 67-match unbeaten league sequence.
Grant had started the day with a miserable demeanour and was hardly more cheerful after the match. Down to 10 men, he had shown chutzpah to substitute a defender, Ashley Cole, and throw on Florent Malouda to go with four up-front, all to no avail.
For Shevchenko was not the only Chelsea player whose performance was below par. Salomon Kalou was off target with four of six good chances, and Joe Cole, despite some busy play down the right, too often failed to deliver a telling final pass. Cole also missed Chelsea's best chance of game, in the 69th minute, when Drogba flicked the ball into space in the Fulham penalty area for the winger to run on to - but sent his shot across Keller and the goal.
A leaflet campaign to prompt fans to walk out at half-time in protest over Mourinho fell flat. But iftherearemany more performances like this, Abramovich himself might consider walking out of Stamford Bridge.
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