Jimmy Greaves had no time for strikers who did not take penalties. The way Jim saw it, as a goalscorer, he worked all week towards creating a situation in the match in which he would be one on one with the goalkeeper, about 12 yards out, with a free shot and no opponent in sight; in other words, a penalty in open play. To then be presented with those circumstances, completely controlled, without the possibility of a defender appearing from the blue and the goalkeeper imprisoned on his line by law, and to shy away, was the ultimate sin. Any striker that did not want to take a penalty should therefore not be a striker in Jim’s book. His logic is pretty flawless.

Given the opportunity in Moscow last week, Nicolas Anelka did not want to be a striker. Oh yes, he says he wanted to be a striker. Indeed, he gave wanting to be a striker as his reason for hiding when his club were looking for a finisher capable of bringing the European Cup to Stamford Bridge.

“I was asked to take one of the first five kicks and I said, ‘That is out of the question,’ ” Anelka explained. “I said, ‘I have come on as a right back and now you want me to take a penalty.’ At no point did I think I was going to come on. I was on the bench for 100 minutes and suddenly I am asked to play not even a minute after being sent to warm up.”

Sadly for the self-serving Anelka, Uefa keeps a pretty good note of player comings and goings. He was introduced in the 99th minute, the first half of extra time, in place of Joe Cole, after which Lubos Michel, the referee, played two minutes and two seconds of additional time. There then followed a 15-minute second-half period and four minutes and 43 seconds of added time, so in total Anelka had 27 minutes and 45 seconds on the pitch before the penalty shoot-out, quite enough to get warmed up. His right-back analogy is also baseless considering that Chelsea’s reserve in that position, Juliano Belletti, buried his penalty, despite being introduced at the last opportunity in second-half injury time and without previously touching the ball. A left back, Ashley Cole, scored, too, as did Owen Hargreaves, of Manchester United, who has occasionally been deployed in the full-back role. Anelka would have us believe that a striker forgets every instinct unless reminded daily.

He was finally coerced into action, as the seventh penalty taker, and failed. If it is the ambition of Roman Abramovich, the owner, to see his team in more matches like this, there will be many similar tests of nerve. How could a new manager rely on a striker who ran from responsibility when it mattered most? Anelka’s reluctant penalty should be his last kick for Chelsea. Raymond Domenech, coach of France, may have a thought about its implications for the European Championship, too.

Mandaric’s elusive hunt

Whoever becomes the next manager of Leicester City will be the sixth to hold the job since Milan Mandaric, the chairman, assumed control in April 2007. Mandaric says he will not rest until he gets the right man; it has never occurred to him that this person might not be a manager at all.

Terry’s innocent, OK?

Let us start with the spitting. He didn’t spit. At least we must presume so as there is no evidence, from any of the many cameras that were pointed directly at John Terry and Carlos Tévez, that have shown a projectile substance coming from the mouth of the Chelsea captain. Of course, he did park in a disabled space once, but as the planet is not exactly overflowing with altruism, it is a little farfetched to believe that Wednesday’s dose of divine retribution was directed solely at a selfish professional footballer, while war criminals and murderers were cut some slack. As for the influence of glory-hunting ego, that was ruled out the moment it transpired that Terry was not on Chelsea’s original list of five penalty takers, but was a battlefield promotion once the treacherous Didier Drogba had been sent off, and Nicolas Anelka had bottled it.

So fate, karma, and all other ethereal elements that have been the cause of much crowing since Wednesday played absolutely no part in Terry’s downfall in Moscow. His was a very earthbound flaw. The pressure got to him and his technique failed, planting his standing foot too close to the ball. He went to pieces after because he wanted it too much, as Paula Radcliffe wanted the gold medal at the Athens Olympics, and for an elite athlete used to achieving on a giant scale, it is a devastating moment to look within and find only a void.

Adding to Terry’s personal pain was the thought that he had let everybody down. Still, our reaction tells us more about us than it does him. One side too empathetic – no, he does not deserve the England captaincy just as a pick-me-up for missing a penalty – the other too full of glee. We used to mock the Germans for having a word meaning delight in the misfortune of others, Schadenfreude, when one has existed in English all along: epicaricacy. Heaven knows why it has passed into obscurity, because we seem to have cornered the market in it of late.

Idiocy on Planet Platini

As expected, Michel Platini, the Uefa president, pronounced the Moscow final a great success. The journey from the airport, he said, was no worse than travelling from Heathrow to Central London, which it won’t have been for him, as on all occasions he will be picked up from a VIP lounge and dropped at his five-star door in a top-of-the-range Mercedes. Meanwhile, the medals for noncombatants, such as Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea chief executive, were another triumph. You can’t say Platini does not bring anything to the party. It must be tough coming up with a freshly minted bad idea each day.

Reality bites at Chelsea

Avram Grant never was the right man for Chelsea and the club was in denial from Day 1. The decision to sack him proves it. A club does not dismiss a manager who has taken the title race to the last day of the season, and the Champions League to the 14th kick of a penalty shoot-out in his first year. So Grant cannot have gone for what he has done, but for what he is: an inexperienced manager, given his first responsibility by a leading club, who could not overcome the notion that he was appointed on the whim of an owner who happened to be a friend. The players did not show him respect, for that reason. It was misjudged from the start, but Chelsea could not admit it.

Spurs’ feeding frenzy

Word is that Dimitar Berbatov will leave Tottenham Hotspur, perhaps as early as next week. It would be strange if he signed for Manchester United. Tottenham already solved one of United’s problems with the sale of Michael Carrick. How do Spurs hope to break into the elite while acting as United’s feeder club?

High jinx from Hiddink

The all-Italian final in 2003 was a scoreless bore, the all-Spanish match in 2000, a one-sided walkover. By contrast, the Premier League did the cause of one-nation European Cup finals proud. The claim by Guus Hiddink, manager of Russia, that the match was technically inferior seems to have a lot more to do with future job opportunities at Stamford Bridge than an appraisal of the action.

Little Jack Warner . . .

Fabio Capello, the England manager, will decide which, if any, of his players need a rest after assessing fitness in preparation for the match with the United States on Wednesday. He would not need to make a call at all were England not then travelling to Trinidad to glad-hand Jack Warner, the Fifa vice-president, as part of the bid for the 2018 World Cup, rather than playing a second game closer to home.

These suspicious times

How coincidental that on the day the High Court released its ruling that City of London police had raided the home of Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, unlawfully, he should have an appointment to be reinterviewed as part of the investigation into corruption in football. It’s good to see that the authorities are so determined to see justice done, or we may suspect that the timings were a little, well, wonky.

Owen still has a chance

It is perceived that Michael Owen is the big loser this week, a virus denying him the opportunity to prove a point to Fabio Capello, but do not be so sure. Capello has still not unearthed a goalscorer to take England into the World Cup qualifying campaign, and Owen is in his best form since returning from Real Madrid in 2005. Unless a striker hits Capello in the eye in these two games, when next season starts England’s manager may still be none the wiser about his best front man, despite being appointed last December.

Hull’s battle starts here

Dean Windass, a 39-year-old striker, was the hero of Hull City’s promotion to the Premier League. Meanwhile, Fraizer Campbell, the player of Hull’s season, is the property of Manchester United, who could want him back. Without wishing to urinate on any bonfires, there may be trouble ahead.