Chelsea Thread

Abhishek said:
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This cracked me up when i saw him do this. If this is any indication of how he explains things, then we know why. :DD
 
My mate e-mailed me some funny Chelsea images today. I won't post them all because this is your thread but I particulary liked this one:

chelsea_badge.jpg

;)
 
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I don't see the point in the badge one. It's a good competition to win, but I'd quite happily get beat tonight if it meant we'd win the league. (Sadly life never let's you make the deals!)
 
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Don't get so up-tight mate, it's all footy banter. I'll delete the post for you seeing as it's your thread.

As for the European Cup, I don't obsess about it either, give me the league over it any day - that's what measures the depth and overall quality of a team in my opinion.

Again, no offence intended mate. :)
 
I must say loved the Ballack header and the link up with Joe Cole!! But did Lampard play up to his potential???
 
did lampards contract problem solve?he played well at least today.but ı coulnt understand why zico dindt made the change uğur boral before.we had chances normally after his change.
 
sedax said:
did lampards contract problem solve?he played well at least today.but ı coulnt understand why zico dindt made the change uğur boral before.we had chances normally after his change.
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No, Not yet i'm afraid we gonna loose him during the summer:((,
it was a good game Hilario did very well,Ballack MOTM, and Now we all know Belleti can't defend..
 
Plan M said:
Don't get so up-tight mate, it's all footy banter. I'll delete the post for you seeing as it's your thread.

As for the European Cup, I don't obsess about it either, give me the league over it any day - that's what measures the depth and overall quality of a team in my opinion.

Again, no offence intended mate. :)
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totally agree , the english premier league is the be all and end all, the holy grail of football.

with out it we are hurting....still nine times keeps me smiling.
 
I thought we were awful. Body language was terrible, Drogba's theatrics were pathetic and we looked all at sea for great swathes of the game.

Two things really got me down. A Fenerbahce player got a free header at a free kick. 3 Chelsea players all pointed at each other saying "I thought you had him" - I don't think I've ever seen a reaction like that anywhere other than Sunday League football.

Second, from the 65th minute to the 71st we were camped in our own half but not under any real pressure. There was absolutely no danger, it was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen. They were like sheep, and Grant was just sat there playing with his balls.

Fener were much better last night than in Istanbul, but little in the way of cutting edge. We're as good as out.

Finally, I saw a guy with a Galatasaray shirt on going into the away end. I thought that was suicide, or are they friends?
 
I didn't think Chelsea were at the races AT ALL last night either mate. If it wasn't for Fenerbache playing so badly on the night it could of been a different result.

HOWEVER the old & tired cliche seems to ring true yet again - the best teams can play badly yet still win. L'pool have proven this too.

:)
 
Well, i was dazzled by the commanding display by Chelsea. This really was football played by a dominant European club, that within time, aspires to be the king of Europe, if not the world, on merit of it's thrilling football. The passing and movement was excellent and for the full 90 minutes, i was confident that Chelsea would put the tie to bed.


Here's what i see happening. Liverpool will edge the drab all English semi-final and will then proceed to lose (as usual) to Manchester Utd, in a boring all English final.
 
Professor Nutmeg said:
Well, i was dazzled by the commanding display by Chelsea. This really was football played by a dominant European club, that within time, aspires to be the king of Europe, if not the world, on merit of it's thrilling football. The passing and movement was excellent and for the full 90 minutes, i was confident that Chelsea would put the tie to bed.


Here's what i see happening. Liverpool will edge the drab all English semi-final and will then proceed to lose (as usual) to Manchester Utd, in a boring all English final.
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:LOL:
 
Cudicini out for 3 or 4 weeks, Cech out for 2 weeks or 8 weeks, depending on what paper you read.

Hilario is a decent keeper, but we really need Cech back. The defence is never very organised when he is absent.
 
Bruce Buck was a special guest last night, following the session with Roberto Di Matteo. This is the first part of the full question and answer transcript. Part two will appear later today.

How did Roman take the defeat when we were beaten in the FA Cup and the Carling Cup?
I don't think his reaction was any different from your reaction or my reaction, I mean I was very disappointed, I was sad, I was unhappy. But I think there are a lot of stories that Roman called crisis meetings and was very upset and ranting and raving in the dressing room, that's total rubbish, it was all untrue. He was unhappy like all Chelsea fans were unhappy.


Will Avram Grant be manager next season?
I think it is a yes or no question and I am not going to give you a yes or no answer. But let me give you a perspective on it. In September, when José left and Avram came on board, I think the board and Roman did not expect that we would be sitting here today as a semi-finalist in the Champions League and three points off the top of the Premier League. We thought that when you change managers, you have to have some re-building. So we are unbelievably happy that we are here, where we are now. We would have wished that we would have beaten Barnsley and Tottenham and whatever, but I think we are reasonably happy with where we are now. Avram has a multi-year contract and he's our manager. Having said that, and I don't want you to take this the wrong way, every manager, at every club, is judged by results. That's the name of the game, results, and right now Avram's results are very, very good, so he's our manager.


To be honest, I was annoyed during the Arsenal match when some people in the North Stand were singing 'You don't know what you're doing' and were singing José's name. My perspective is, and I mean I haven't been a Chelsea fan for as long as some of you people have, maybe since 1989, 1990, but, to me, you're either a Chelsea fan or you're not, and in the middle of what was one of the most important games of the season, I don't think you do something which could theoretically unsettle your team. To me that doesn't make sense and to me that's not a Chelsea fan. So Avram has also had to deal with that kind of thing, which I personally thought was inappropriate.


Is Roman happy and satisfied with the style of football we are playing at the moment?
I don't think that Roman or the board or anyone that is involved in this process thought that the style of football would change over night. You're a footballer and I think you know that just doesn't happen, players have a certain approach and attitude engrained in them and it's very difficult for them to change. But, having said that, during the course of the last nine months I think we have seen some examples of stylish, entertaining, fun football and would expect to see more of that as time progresses. We never thought this was going to be an overnight change. So is Roman? No. But did he expect to be happy and satisfied at this point that everything was going to be entertaining, fun football? No to that also.
You can look at last night's match and it is still fresh in our minds, and everyone is still talking about last night's match, and I am not an expert on football, I am just a fan, but I thought the in first 15-20 minutes we looked really good. We got the early goal and what we haven't been able to do since we got the early goal is to early on get that killer second goal and kill out the game. So we were on tender hooks for 90 minutes. That's football, but we are the semi-final of the Champions League, so I'm not moaning about it.


I think it is much different that Chelsea's second leg against Liverpool is at home and I think we are going to do it this time. I think if you look at last year when we had the home match when Joe scored that goal, we should have maybe had four or five that night. We were fantastic. Then we went to Liverpool, and we played very well at Liverpool and then the penalty shoot-out. The previous year, as José told us, there was a phantom goal. But I think we are going to do it this year.


What is your working relationship with Roman like?
It's a good relationship. There are really four of us involved in all these decisions, Peter, Eugene Tenenbaum, who has been with Roman for 20 years, and myself, I have worked with Roman since the mid-nineties and obviously he owns the club and the final decision is his. I don't want to mislead you in any respect, that's the nature of when you own something you have the final decision.


But as a practical matter, he listens to our advice and we have good discussion. He is willing to discuss things and there are also things he just doesn't get involved in. So I would say we have a good relationship and also with the next level of management at the club. I think we all get along very well.


What assurance has Roman made that he will be involved with the club for years to come?
Well, first of all, he is committed to the long term. I don't know exactly what that means, and he doesn't know exactly what that means. He bought the club, he loves the club, he's a Chelsea fan, he's here as long as any of you are. I don't know exactly what that means, but he is here for the long term. He has put a lot of money into the club, I think the papers have reported it is something like £500 million and I guess I would say no matter how rich you are, no matter how much money you have, you will notice when you invest £500 million into something. So it is not like something he will walk away from and say he is not interested anymore.


Tell us about the first season that José was here where success came instantly.
I was at the press conference when José was introduced. I had probably met him three, four, five times before that in sessions when we were deciding who the next manager will be and on his own, in a press conference in a group like this and he blurts out 'I am not from a bottle I am a special one' and the rest is history.
Why did he go? Well, the relationship between José and the board had broken down, from a business perspective, and we decided, and he was in accord with this, that we should separate ways. Having said that, we are not writing José Mourinho out of the history books, like we are with Mr Bates maybe!
But seriously, we all have the highest regard for José.


Isn't football a sport not a business?
That's a fair point, but I think, in a certain respect also, that you are living in the past. It is actually a big business and if we weren't conducting business, we wouldn't be able to buy the players and do the things we do so that we can all watch Chelsea Football Club. It's just a fact of life.
 
Our ground is not big enough for our supporters, what are the club doing to increase the capacity of the stadium?
I think we all feel very strongly about Stamford Bridge, it is the home of Chelsea Football Club and it is where Chelsea should be forever and ever.
If you start with that then what we are doing and have been doing for three years now is exploring every possibility that we can think of to expand Stamford Bridge. The problem we have is that unlike most stadia, we only empty out one way and that is onto the Fulham Road. Because of that, it makes it very difficult to expand. Architecturally, you could probably build another tier on the North Stand, but from a safety perspective that is the egress and ingress requirements, getting those people out in the time required if there is an emergency is impossible.
So we have explored walk ways and tunnels down the railroad towards Earls Court. We have explored going out towards Fulham Broadway, we have explored turning the pitch around the other way. We have talked to all kinds of consultants, but at the moment we don't have a solution.
Only when we give up on finding a solution, and we haven't yet given up, will we think about other sites, and that creates lots of issues. It is a catch 22 to here, you all want a bigger stadium, the club wants a bigger stadium, maybe at one point it's definitively decided it isn't going to be possible at Stamford Bridge, so then you have to decide what you are going to do, and maybe at that point in time we might consider alternative sights. We have been linked with every site in London that's bigger than a postage stamp.

Why will the board not support a standing area in the stands?
I don't have a really good answer for that, but at the moment we think it is unsafe. When we see people standing up we are advised it is inappropriate and unsafe. If some authority did a massive study and came down and said 'Okay you can have a standing area' then we would seriously consider it. But it is not that simple, I mean we can't forget easily what happened at Hillsborough and other places.
It's not a priority for us at the moment, it really isn't.

Are the club in negotiations to move the Newcastle away game?
I am not entirely sure, but I was told today that the Newcastle game to the bank holiday Monday at 4pm or 5pm. (This has now been superseded by the announcement today)
Just let me give you one general point here. The fact is the Premier League has a contract with Sky and Setanta involving the whole complicated procedure for scheduling games. We were caught in the meat grinder on that with respect to our Everton game. We believe it is totally ridiculous that we are playing Everton only 72 hours after we are playing Wigan, on a Thursday night, in Liverpool, when all the other clubs that we are completing with, for the title, are playing on the weekend.
I was talking today with the Premier League on this very subject. Unfortunately you can't get some of the benefits from these contracts unless you give something to Sky and Setanta.

Was Avram appointed because he is Roman's friend and why does Avram keep telling us how good we are, and having a go at the José Mourinho time?
Firstly, let me start on the friendship. Roman knew Avram Grant through football and it is someone he met through football. I wouldn't describe as someone he grew up with or who became he best friend or whatever, it is someone he became acquainted with through football.
We appointed Avram as manager. A lot of people have said Roman just appointed a friend. Roman is a good business person, he would not appoint someone just because he was a friend. We appointed Avram because in September we thought he was the best man for the job.
Now, Avram pointed out one fact, which was when we were in September we were sixth in the league. That is true. We had lost two matches I think, and to be honest I go to virtually every press conference and I only heard something once, which he was just pointing out a fact.
Avram has a great amount of respect for what José did.

Did José jump, was he pushed or was it truly mutual?
It was truly mutual.

What are Chelsea doing to resolve the anti-Semitic problems against Grant?
Chelsea has had an anti-semitism problem for many years, but it has been significantly been reduced over the last ten years. There has, since Avram became manager, been an increase in the anti-semitism and that's something that is obviously totally unacceptable and we are dealing with it.

Do the Chelsea board expect Steve Clarke to move on this summer?
I read that story in the paper and I meant to talk to Steve about it last night and I didn't. But I guess all I can say is this. We think Steve Clarke is great, we want Steve Clarke to stay at Chelsea Football Club. However, we have to be practical. At some point Steve Clarke will want to be first team manager at some club. At some point, the role he is in now will not be enough to fulfil him.

What is the current situation with Frank Lampard's contract?
The current situation is that we haven't had any proper talks with Frank Lampard or his agent since the last part of the season when Frank said he wanted to concentrate on his football and then we would deal with his contract, and that is really the situation we are in. But let me be clear here, as a fan I love Frank Lampard, I think he is a fantastic player and I also think, which in the total scheme of things is really quite important, he is also a fine young man.
I would really like to see him stay at Chelsea Football Club. The board and Roman also believe that Frank Lampard is tops and we are optimistic, confident, pick your word, that we will find a way to keep Frank Lampard at Chelsea Football Club.

Are the club going to do a coach or a train to Liverpool for the Champions League?
I am sure there will be but I don't think we have got round to doing anything with that in the last 24 hours, but I am sure that there will be something like that.

If both teams had refused to play the Everton game, would they just have docked them both three points?
It is totally ridiculous to think that a team, or both teams, would not play a match they are contractually obliged to play. I mean we can moan and try to find a way to change the date, which have done and we have failed, but we are going to play the game.

What is the ongoing emphasis with the Academy now we have reached the FA Youth Cup Final?
We have invested ten of millions of pounds in a new training ground and in the Academy and the Reserves. You all know that we have Frank Arnesen on board, who spends virtually all of his time with scouts around the world looking for the best young players.
It makes perfect economic sense because if you can bring up one or two players every year or every two years from the Academy into your reserves or your first team, then think about the enormous amount of money that you have saved in transfer fees. So it is not only the right thing to do but it makes perfect business sense also.
It is a long-term project, it has only been going for a couple of years, but we will have the best Academy coaches, we will have the best Academy buildings and I think we will have the best Academy players who hopefully we will see in the first team in the years ahead.

Sometimes we don't even fill this ground, we only really fill it when we have Arsenal, Manchester United or Liverpool, so why do we need a bigger ground when we don't get the right support already because real Chelsea fans cannot afford the tickets?
That is not really true. We only don't fill it on the lesser group stages of the Champions League.
We understand that ticket prices at all football clubs are expensive; this is the way London is. That is why we have done a couple of things.
We have frozen ticket prices for the last couple of years. Also, at the group stages of the Champions League and some of the FA and Carling Cup matches we have significantly reduced prices because we understand that the eight-year-old is the Chelsea fan of tomorrow. Which is why we also limit our season ticket holders to around 25,000. So we understand these sorts of things but we have to put it in a total mix of costs and what others are doing and what have you. But we honestly and truly appreciate the point and are trying to things to meet that concern.
With respect to atmosphere, I don't know it why the atmosphere isn't as good as we would want it to be. Dave Johnson says it is because we don't have standing but I don't totally believe that to be honest. I mean we have tried to do a lot of things that you people have asked for like the signing section, the flags, banners, but still we have to figure out a way to make it come from the heart.

As season ticket holder you used to be able to go and watch the early rounds of the FA Cup and the Carling Cup as part of your season ticket deal, why don't we get that back?
A lot of people have said that but it is all about how it works with the whole pricing structure.
Let me say one more thing. We honestly appreciate what Chelsea fans say and feel and I get a lot of emails, only a few death threats, and generally speaking I try to respond to every single one, except the super abusive ones, because we really do appreciate the support that you give to the club. We know that the boys in the first team frequently talk about the fans' support and it is very important to them.
You get disappointed and I get disappointed at games like the Middlesbrough game where you could hardly hear a peep and we probably needed a lot of noise. But we are all Chelsea fans and we have got to stay behind this team whether they lost today or won today, because we are all Chelsea fans.
Chelsea will be here after Bruce Buck leaves and after, I was going to say Avram Grant but I don't want to do that! But you know what I mean, we have to make sure that through thick and thin we are all Chelsea fans and we do appreciate your support and thank you very much.
 
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