A Rich Man’s Fart!
A rich man’s fart can be expensive; Roman Abramovich has proved this with his latest gambit. In a pique, he let José Mourinho walk out the Stamford Bridge gates and left others to carry the can of such monumental mess. Indeed, I watched Avram Grant’s so-called first press conference as Chelsea manager and it was nothing but a bad dream. In historical terms, it’s like being thrown back into the Middle Ages after lapping up the Renaissance. Bruce Buck, Peter Kenyon and the new manager all looked every bit like men facing a bone-breaking ordeal and, somehow, you can’t help pitying them. They kept talking about José and “the club” reaching a breakdown in their relationship and how they mutually agreed to go their separate ways, but it was just too obvious that by “the club”, they meant Abramovich. Unlike some of our ever suspicious fans, I do not have any hesitation in saying that Kenyon really liked José and enjoyed a good relationship with him, but unlike him or Buck, José is no yes-man. Of course, it’s easy for men like Buck and Kenyon to be yes-men because of the work they do, but for José, that is akin to professional suicide. Now Grant, already a dead man walking has nothing to lose being the manager of a club that the Times newspaper’s Martin Samuel described as a rich man’s plaything. In fact, Grant seems a genius at going through the motions.
Yes, time was when I used to have all the answers to the Martin Samuels of this world and all the Abramovich critics out there, but that was when Abramovich was God. Now that he’s showed the devil in him, I’m really struggling. For example, a Liverpool-supporting friend who’s eternally suffered terrible ignominies in his attempt to undermine my support for Chelsea has had his best days against me since Mourinho’s exit. Apart from celebrating as though they’ve won the league already, he’s been busy making jokes, at my expense. “Congratulations for appointing Tubby as your new manager!” he crowed. For the first time, I found no repartee to take him down, so he bravely continued. “But, you know this is impersonation, don’t you? Your Tubby doesn’t have Rafa’s record and he looks like a man permanently constipated!” When I found my voice, I said something to the effect that this is just a self-imposed handicap to show that we can win the league blindfolded and with one hand tied behind our back. Or doesn’t he know that such stunts only make our ordained victory sweeter? I quickly dropped the phone before he said anything else. Another friend, this time a Manchester United supporter, called later to inquire if Abramovich was going to be in the dugout on Sunday. “Who will he be choosing to partner Shevchenko upfront?” he asked. “Ah, Roman our new manager is itching to pit his great wits against Sir Alex’s, no doubt; but the FA, Premier League and League Managers Association are refusing to grant him the dispensation to sit in the dugout apparently because he’s yet to complete any of his coaching badges and the UEFA Pro Licence needed to manage in the Premiership”, I protested. “Anyway, he’s got his assistant (Grant) in there to do the job. Our game at Old Trafford is a doddle, you know; so the big masquerade himself need not be in the dugout to get the job done,” I concluded. The man graciously laughed off my tiresome humour; but later in the night, the same fellow called me and dropped a message saying he’s just read in the news that Grant does not have the UEFA Pro Licence as well. I didn’t return his call.
Make no mistake, Abramovich has made the job of those Chelsea fans who stridently defended his takeover of the club and his conduct ever since more difficult with his actions over Mourinho. If, as Kenyon claims, there were no clashes over players (including Shevchenko), transfer targets or how and who to play, what then was the reason for the divorce? Was Mourinho caught winking at the new woman in Abramovich’s life? Has a new security report commissioned by Abramovich fingered Mourinho as part of a big plot to pinch his choice cigars? Did they find Mourinho with his hands in the Megastore till? There can only be one reason, the details of which are immaterial - Mourinho has refused to do Abramovich’s bidding where the team is concerned and Abramovich, exercising his unbridled power as the owner got his board together to throw him out, all expenses paid. And, of course, complete with confidentiality clauses, so we plebeians are left in the dark where we belong.
But we really can’t argue when a rich man farts, can we? Even a gesture of self-preservation such as quickly covering your nose can be misinterpreted as disrespect. So, we’ll have to sit here and see it out. Luckily, even the worst of farts take only a few seconds of our breath, nothing more. Avram Grant is Abramovich’s fart – if he doesn’t smell, no one will be the wiser. We’ll celebrate his victories as we always do and hail Abramovich as the Wise Emperor we know he is. But if he smells, will Abramovich be humble enough to wipe out the embarrassment from his benign bum by bringing back The Special One? The man has said he didn’t close the door and, of course, the fans will never close the door. The club has said they’ll always accord him his pride of place at Stamford Bridge and that he’s always welcome. Abramovich has to begin reciting his mea culpa, because for our sake and for his own personal redemption in our eyes, he may just need it a few months or even years down the line. Stranger things have happened in football.
- Posted at 02:41 AM · Permalink · Print · 2749 views · Last indexed by Google on the 13th May 2008
- Tags: Andriy Shevchenko, Avram Grant, Bruce Buck, Jose Mourinho, Peter Kenyon, Roman Abramovich
FOR ABRAMOVICH TO EVER SEE THE LEAGUE AND ANY OTHER DOMESTIC LEAGUE TROPHY HE WILL HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER HALF A CENTURY PREDICTABLY 2053 AD .. AM JOKING !!!!BUT ON THE CONTRARY THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY PERHAPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION I THOUGHT THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HAS ELLUDED JOSE! HE COULD NOT JUST WIN IT AND THIS IS THE TROPHY WE REALLY WANT !AFTER WINNING ALL THE REST! THE QUESTION THAT COMES UP IS DOES JOSE OR CAN JOSE WIN THE CHAMPIONS OR IS HE THE BEST MAN TO DO IT AS PER OUR AMBITION ? I THOUGHT NO HE CANT ? AND DOES HIS PRESCENCE HINDER VERY TALENTED PLAYERS FROM COMING TO CHELSEA? YES IT DOES! AS PER HIS STYLE OF PLAY /HIS BREED OF PLAYERS “MACHINES” WORTH MENTIONING THE ARROGANCE …PERHAPS ROMAN MADE THE RIGHT DESCION !!!NOW PLAYERS LIKE KAKA ET AL WILL BE WILLING TO COME AT STAMFORD!!! I THINK THATS WHY WE NEVER SIGNED EXPENSIVELY IN THE FIRST PLACE AND KENYON CUT IT CLEARLY WE JUST WANT THE CHAMPIONSLEAGUE…. FROM GRANTS PRESS TALK OUT HE CLEARLY STATED HE WANTS ATTRACTIVE PLAY CANT U READ BETWEEN THE LINES…WE ALL KNOW ROMAN MET WITH RONALDINHOS BROTHER(OUT OF FAV WITH RIJKAARD) .. WE WANT THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUS MOST N I DONT THINK THE CURRENT BREED OF THE SO CALLED UNTOUCHABLES CAN DELIVER IT SORRY IF I HURT SOME! A REMINDER THEY HAVE A CONTRACT WITH CHELSEA FC MAC U AND NOT JOSE MOURINHO…….PLAIN REALITY IF YOU CANT BEAT ROSENBORG YOU CANT WIN THE CHAMPIONSLEAGUE AND THE STADIA LESS THAN HALF FULL SPEAKS VOLUMES TIMES UP DOMESTIC ..ITS TIME TO GO ABIT CONTINENTAL
Do us all a favour and turn off Caps Lock.
Just so you know: I will delete all future comments typed in all CAPS.
The only thing that comes to my mind is to boycott T-Shirts with Shevchenko and Ballack names on it.
Kariuki
I can see that English isn’t your first language but I can understand your attempted point of view.
But I’m afraid it’s biggest load of nonsense I’ve read from anyone so far!
Not sure how boycotting Schevchenko and Ballack would be particularly constructive - surely the best outcome would be for all of our squad, and particularly these two players who we know are undoubtably world-class, to play to their potential!
This is the time for us to get behind the club and not to become fairweather fans. While we may be unhappy with the current turn of events and with the decisions that the owner has made, we need to look to the future, perhaps hope for the best, and get right behind the club!
Recently at the Cobham training ground a chef speaking to anothere:
‘Who’s that?’
‘The Assistant manager.’
‘Looks more like the undertaker…’
Hehehe How right he is…
Could not agree more that the best thing for the fans to do is support the club and Avram and the players.
I will be really upet if the chelsea fans boo grant on our first home game. This will take confidence away from our players and throw us further into chaos.
I am more upset about Jose leaving then most - but if we are to get anything out of this season and also make sure that Roman does not leave the club - we all have to get behind the party line as it were.
It’s time to stop mourning Mourinho and start galvansing Grant!
Come on you Blues!!
Came close to shedding a few tears during today’s Football Focus. Still can’t believe Jose’s gone.
Grant’s appointment is temporary. Simple as. The bullshit coming out of the club is just that, bullshit. What chance has Grant got of attracting the world’s best players? The £200,000 a week contract offers might help, but any self respecting player would go elsewhere.
First name on the team sheet tomorrow: probably Ben Haim, for obvious reasons. More’s the pity.
I loved Jose but that is it…
Chelsea still lives on.
And as for the likes of Clive, Kairuiki has a point TSO won us a lot of respect but let us analyse him a little here.
He has not lasted more than two seasons at any club he has been at…fact
He is tactically gifted but most times he relies more on the element of surprise to win the game. New formation, what team is he going to play, How is he changing the team at half time. Honest is honest, we have expensive machine like players in our squad, the kind of players that TSO loved. In an earlier point I was having a go at Lamps and people thought I was a bit overly anti-Lamps. We have no ball players in our midfield…who is our creative midfielder???? Lampard…Ps do not make me laugh!!!!
All teams have to do now is lock us out. Question…why is it that Manure and Airline FC always have flowing football? Because they rely on ball passing skills and swift attacks which we have not mastered under JM.
Players exit…Why are our players like Gallas and Robben that were blue blooded at a point in time not meeting eye to eye with TSO…Is it because they were almost attaining cult status? And TSO did not wish to share the limelight with them???? Terry bust up???? Shevy???? Ballack????
I loved TSO but the time to move on has come…I have supported Chelsea before he came and I will surely continue supporting it when he is gone….No one and I mean No one is biger than the club…Not even RA…
I will buy a Shevy shirt, I have a Ballack shirt and I will surely continue buying chelsea merchandise not because it is owned by RA but because I am supporting the club.
For all those feeling sorry for themselves…now is the time to measure your loyalty…
I remain a blue and sure will die one….
They said we bought the cup in our first year well let us go out there and steal this one….
Come on Chelsea
Come on Chelsea
Come on Chelsea
Kenn, with all due respect, I think you should’ve had a couple more re-reads before pressing the submit button…Very ill considered piece IMO.
Nick. I’ve come to expect more from you than the Ben Haim remark too.
Maybe you’re both a little over emotional eh?
Jose as Tony pointed out in a previous thread we all love your Evangelical optimism, I’ll just leave it at that.
i wonder if judas abramovich will be sat pissing himself when we get shafted 3-0 on sunday! what a knob!!
I’m watching women football to ease my depression…
Over emotional. Perhaps. Annoyed. Very.
Not so much at Mourinho’s departure - these things happen in football and many foresaw it happening - more so the club’s spin on events so far.
I found yesterday’s press conference announcing Grant as manager sickening. Not only did we learn that Grant hasn’t got a UEFA Pro license, but that he hasn’t even signed a contract. Yet Kenyon and Buck insisted he’s in it for the long run. We all know this is utter crap.
It would be nice to know what’s really going on - that Grant is caretaker manager (without any coaching staff!) while a world class replacement is sought to take Chelsea back to the heights achieved by Mourinho (which probably will take years, not months).
As for Grant himself - he came across as weak, wasn’t allowed to answer for himself on many occasions - Kenyon and Buck getting in first to spin the positives out of a complete mess - and strengthened the impression I have of him being nothing more that Abramovich’s puppet.
Angry and emotional. Not a good combination.
Me too, SimonT - it’s depressing that England are losing, though.
I´m portuguese. I ocasionally came here to the blog.
So i´m surprised of some of the posts placed here.
This one for instance.
1. Mourinho will never be back to Chelsea to coach. For him it´s over.
We will return to England to coach another club, but first he will coach in Italy/Germany or Spain. Solely after coching in one or 2 of this countries he will considerer returning to england, but never to Chelsea. It´s the end for him, in that aspect.
He will end is footbaling career training portugal national squad around 1018/2020.
2. Chelsea; as powerhouse of footbal has ended.
All of you don´t see it that way because of your love and support to the club, but is over.
3.The majoraty of the chelsea, and even english supports never quite figure exactly what you had there in JM and the rest of their technical team. The guy is some 10 years advanced in terms of “estrategic football concept” and how to win consistently year after year, and chelsea …… let him go. The chance to became permanently, for the next 50 or 100 years a club similar to liverpool, Man U.Arsenal, Real Madrid ,Milan, Benfica, Juventus, bayern, etc, has been wipe out.
4. JM was the cement - a powerfull one- that binded together with huge strenght the “chelsea idea” of a winning club.
Now the power glue is gone. The cracks should soon appear.And throwing money to repair the cracks won´t do.
5.Some players will leave, because there is no point. One or two seasons wll be lost in …”transition”. Then abramovitch will turn is attention to some new toy elsewhere and leave chelsea. Then the money will stop flowing, and chelsea will return to the middle of the league or worse, relegated into champinioship. It´s tough to read, but as a neutral from another country i can write this.
5. Also i´m very surprised to the fact that 3 years after JM has landed there people , even in chelsea , didn´t quite understood what he wanted for chelsea , and not only in the football played inside the pitch. He wanted to create from zero, a super club, a black cloud of football, a dominant force of tremendous magnitude.
And he was calmly doing that, sistematically placing chelsea above their limits.
That´s a very difficult thing to do, beginning from behind of 4 or 5 british clubs with larger amounts of supporters and tradition. Within a tough league full of good clubs.
It was more - meant more - for him (JM) than just winning the premier league, or champions league. It was a personnal project for him, to prove that it was possible to achive something that no one can do in modern times - in the same way as Shankly or graaham chapman did, respectively for liverpol and arsenal.
And Chelsea now miss is own appointment with destiny by allowing mourinho to go.
I´m sorry to say this, but the apathy of the chelsea supporters is disturbing.
I´m a benfica Fan. The guy coached 3 months here. He is still remembered just for it. If something similar would have happened in the major portuguese clubs the abramovich clone of this example that i´m giving would be tremendously boycotted and contested for it.
You actually are not seeing what a great opportunity - historical opportunity - have lost with the departure of JM, and the team of his.
Now pople say ” chelsea lives on”. Yes. But the opportunity to rise above the ocasion is lost.
Yeah, Nick, why can’t Chelsea just let Steve Clarke take over without all these PR craps for the press consumption!
OMG, England are losing 3-0 already…
Yes Nick they looked like two over protective minders!
I just resent the fact they are trying to insult the intelligence of the fans and the football world in general.
Grant is a lightweight, you don’t have to be an IQ much above 10 to work that out.
Yes Bucky count me in as well, I feel like Nick does and will continue to do so until this recurring lunacy the club has of shooting itself in the foot stops.
And in this case shooting itself in both feet.
I have Chelsea shirts, definitely more than one :-). However, I am not going to buy one with Shevchenko’s name. It is not against Sheva it is against owner.
Grant is a lightweight, you don’t have to be an IQ much above 10 to work that out
Sorry it should have read..
Grant is a lightweight, you don’t have to have an IQ much above 10 to work that out
Bad combo.. over emotional and angry when typing ;)
RE: The press conference.
Personally, I thought they handled it quite well, especially Grant, who spoke about playing with flair and imagination. (something sorely lacking for well over a year now) He didn’t make any advance excuses about needing time, more money, or a change of players.
Who really gives a monkey’s how we come across in a press conference anyway? The club stands or falls nowhere else but on the pitch…Regardless of what was said yesterday about his position being permanent, Grant will be judged on his results alone. If he falls short of our current expectations, he’ll be gone by the end of the season, possibly sooner.
Actually, I admire his guts already…Think how he must be feeling right now, having to follow in the footsteps of a footballing genius, with your first game away, against your main rivals…He can’t be sleeping well at the moment.
As for those Dissing RA…You’re having a laugh ‘aint ya?
“He didn’t make any advance excuses about needing time, more money, or a change of players.”
I should hope not. If he had mentioned wanting more money or a change of players he would have been laughed out of the room.
Perhaps he does deserve a bit of time, though.
In a way Grant’s in a win-win situation at the moment. Nobody’s expecting much at Old Trafford tomorrow: lose and he can say something like, “This past week hasn’t been easy for the players or the club” (that won’t stop the press and some fans slaughtering him, though); win and suddenly everybody thinks, Hang on, this guy might just know what he’s doing.
Entirely agree that dissing Abramovich is pointless and wrong. Where would we be now without him? Think Leeds United.
I hope there’s more positive singing about Mourinho than there is booing Grant next weekend at the Bridge. Nobody deserves to be booed. How do those idiotic fans who booed Drogba 18 months ago feel now?
Hey,
Has anyone noticed how the last three times Chelsea has changed their managers the first game for the new manager was Manchester United lol, think about it….
Peace out
so what are we going to do on saturday matches if Grant is going to tke it off as we know it’s yum kippur(he didn’t attend today’s session) and what about the champions league matches, are we going to use someone else to coach the team during those matches or what!!!!?????
of coarse he can’t be our permenant coach Kenyon et al are fooling us and themselves by those stupid statments
Southside Bucky, you admire his guts?
ok get this, he was prepared for this more than a week ago : http://www.skysports.com/story.....10,00.html
the annoying thing here is that, like Clive and Nick mentioned, it is an insult to the intelligence of the viewers.
are we meant to be RA plaything? goddammit I hate this, what other surprises does this heavy-weight-belly-light-weight-minded coach still has to bring out?
Arrrrrggggggghhhhhh…
still have to bla bla bla…
sorry
An insult to our intelligence? anyone expecting honesty, openess, and (to a large extent) sincerity in the world of football is just being naive.
So what if he knew about it last week? That’s good as far as I’m concerned, because it means he’s had longer to prepare himself for a fucking massive baptism of fire tomorrow afternoon.
C’MON CHELSEA!
fair enough.
tomorrow we can see that.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best, I don’t wanna see us lose to ManUsa after all.
Blue Will Always Be The Color.
“The interpretation a cynic might put on Chelsea’s defence of the appointment of Avram Grant goes something like this: Jose Mourinho has built such a strong squad of players, and ingrained such a winning mentality into them, that pretty well any half-decent coach could handle them, so we may as well have one with whom Roman Abramovich gets on and can easily manipulate; if nothing else, it’ll be a change.”
A quote from a fine article by Patrick Barclay in today’s Telegraph.
I count myself a cynic. As George Bernard Shaw once wrote: “The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.”
Well… grow up guys!
We all liked Mourinho, but lets face it, the team has played shit since November 2006! Numbers are numbers and facts are facts! The start to the season was horrible and lets face it, Abramovich had no choice but to act before too late. Not qualifying out of the groups would be… oh, lets not go there. We played nothing in the Premiership and all Mourinho could come up with was a sad parable comparing his squad to poor quality eggs. His continuous bashing of Sheva was too much as well.
For such a “tactical” guy, it was strange not finding a way to play to Sheva’s strengths! If any of YOU would’ve been Abramovich, you would’ve fired Mourinho’s ass long ago! Asking the manager to find a role for one of the deadliest strikers on the planet is too much to ask? Give me a break.
Mourinho wanted Chelsea to be all about him and not about the players!
Under him, neither Chelsea nor any other team can play “sexy” football, because he wants a very disciplined aproach to the game, therefore no room for improvisation! It was ok for Avramovich to put up with Jose as long as the results were there, but when he started losing games…. it became too much!
So, good luck, Jose! Thank you for the memories.
I am ready for a change. Grant won’t be around for too long, unless… he gets results…. and if he does, none of you will care much about all the crying done now!
You guys worry about our players leaving Chelsea? Don’t make me laugh. They are all here for the money and getting that kind of pay any other place won’t be easy. Of course they were disappointed about their manager being caned, but they will get over it and remember who signs their cheques, and carry on.
Go, Chelsea!
A simple question to the people that are buying into this… we need to play with flair and style.
Do you want Chelsea to play that way and win nothing? Yes or No?
Arsenal have played pretty much that way for the past 3 seasons. I wonder how patient Arsenal fans will be with Wenger if they win nothing again this season or next.
My personal view which I’m sure will differ from some of you is, results matter. Of course I’d like to have the best of both worlds, trophies and entertaining football. But give me wins and trophies through efficient and ugly football anyday.
Andy, I thing you got it all wrong.
Mourinho, transform a good team into a World TOP-Class team in a short period. Do you find any parallel in the modern football history? To put a team on the level of Man.U, Liverpool, Barcelona, etc… and make them even to fear Chelsea, is a great achievement. He (TSO) did it his way, creating a big strong family and getting rid if some rotten apples on the way. The wining mentality is the most precious and admirable thing he gave Chelsea. Chelsea was even able to win games when not paying well.
One just as to see the reality, that is: Mourinho got great results with good players that he then transform on top-class players. Then he had to accept players imposed from outside that he didn’t want in first place and had to accommodate them to the team. But the result was no longer the SPO’s team, but some one else team. So If you want to be fair, some one else than him should be accountable for the bad results. Any trainer with self respect would not have taken this any longer from R.A. The reality is that replacing TSO will be almost a mission impossible and a good manager with self respect will never accept to come to Chelsea (with out selling is soul to the Russian) because knows that he has always to count with extern interferences.
By the way, reading some comments like from Andy, looks like some of the fans already sold their soul.
Long leave Chelsea after the Roman era and the SPO.
Deep Blue; come down to earth, buddy!
Without Abramovich there is no Chelsea;
There’s interference at all the big clubs. At Barca and Real Madrid. At Inter and AC Milan. Chelsea was the first important club for Mourinho as well, (as a manager in charge). When he took over Chelsea, he took over a solid team that finished 2nd in the Premiership and lost a silly semifinal in the CL. He had a lot of merit in what was archived after that, but for the last 10 months it all went wrong. And to say that all of that was because Sheva was brought in… sorry, but Morinho doesn’t have my sympathy.
Anyway, you guys get your act together… thanks God that Abramovich didn’t quit us! That would’ve been a serious problem indeed. Jose being replaced was shocking and somewhat sad, but he’s replaceable. It all happened too fast to have a great manager hired already, but am sure that the great search is ON!
Go, Chelsea!
Well Andy, you may have point there. Perhaps it’s naive to expect that a manager can work without any interference. That would be to perfect.
So if the perfect world doesn’t exist, STOP judging TSO like he had the obligation to be perfect too.
Just an interesting article from other site:
http://footballcommentator.blo.....d-and.html
Deep Blue - I think Andy’s got it completely right!
It’s time to move on.
Mourinho seems happy, relieved even.
Everything points to Grant’s appointment being temporary (there are reports that we will not be permitted to play in Europe from next season because of Grant’s lack of qualifications) despite the club’s protestations to the contrary. Let’s just hope he makes a decent fist of his time in charge.
Shevchenko hat-trick today?
Yes probably right to move on and hope the results in the coming weeks keep us in contention for the Premiership until someone with a significantly better pedigree comes in.
But here’s a little scenario that has popped into my obviously overactive and nothing better to do mind.
Liverpool fans are becoming a little disgruntled with Rafa’s stubborn continuation of rotation for the sake of rotation. They can’t understand why anyone would have spent £20 million plus on a top striker to leave him on the bench for 2 consecutive premiership games considering his start to the season.
To be honest they have a point, we all know they want to be champions again so bad that it hurts. And for all of Rafa’s promises and talk that the premiership is the main goal this season his team selections shall we say against the lesser teams are questionable. I know it’s early in the season, but surely if any team has ambitions of winning the league they have to be getting maximum points against these teams, especially at home.
Anyway my point is… if Rafa fails to deliver this season what they crave, are the owners going to swing the big old axe? Now for the nightmare possibility which could come back to haunt us… if Jose is available will they go get him?
I know most Liverpool fans will scream we don’t want the wanker, but hey, do we fans really have an influence in who’s hired and fired?
As for today lets hope we can at least get a draw.
If Liverpool can’t win the League this year, then Rafa’s pretty much failed. He has a very good, deep squad; United aren’t firing on all cylinders and lack a proven goal scorer; Arsenal aren’t quite the finished product; and we are imploding.
If Rafa can’t take advantage then who knows, he could find himself out of a job next summer.
Jose managing Liverpool is unthinkable, but stranger things have happened.
Don’t know which would be worse, Jose at Liverpool or Rafa here =)
Kenyon said recently that nobody really knows Roman, and that’s where the devil comes in, he has revealed himself in terms of what he wants. What he wants isn’t a bad thing, to win with style, choosing swashbuckling attacking football over a functional minimalism that was breathtaking in those first two years. I’m not ungrateful for what Roman has done, don’t want him to go, but am not sure whether his meddling will help achieve his goals. Agree with Clive that if the entertainment factor is to the detriment of the results and nothing is won, then it’s a retrograde step. People don’t wax lyrical about the flair of the Liverpool team of the 80’s they just count the pots. A dynasty is based on ruling rather than being pretenders so winning has to come before stepovers.
Bu yes, moving on now, it’ll be interesting days.
I’m looking forward to the match today as much out of a macabre curiosity in seeing how uncomfortable AG is in his role as to see how the team reacts.
Come on you Bluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuues!!!
You were right with the Ben Haim selection Nick, it looks like a 433 with the players he’s picked.
Ben Haim was an obvious selection because hi’s known to fave Rooney’s number.
Think about it!
And the asshole ref is making an impact.
By the way, ManU’s goal was scored in 48:40… more that 1:30 after the half should have been over!
Interesting to see Marco van Basten watching the game as Abramovich’ guest?!!?
Did you guys see van Basten right behind Roman?
You can call me what ever you want, but I also quit chelsea. After reading this article was the last drop for me. I’m not for sale and roaman can keep is toy.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/socce.....ovich.html
I am new here.
I just can’t help but join in the gist and fact seeking of the race to discover the real champions of English football and the champs of the World.
I don’t care if all the defenders leave with “The Chosen One” José Mourinho , the love I have for him remains, but the love for CHELSEA is what binds us… all that said and done, his chapter is over. It’s sad the way matches have been officiated when it involves Chelsea and MU..
The officiating interrupted with game play today and I am not disappointed in the boys, they played with their hearts and I am proud to be a life supporter.
Let us all give AG and all the crew the support they need.
Call it paranoia, but ever since we had that dubious penalty decision in our favour at Anfield, we’ve had some fairly major ones given against us.
It’s as if the officials want to punish us because Hackett made Rob Styles apologise to Senor Benitez.
OK I know I’m getting carried away a little, but I think we’re due a few decisions in our favour fairly soon, because it looks like we may well just need it!
Andy, I have seen Van Basten as well, just sitting behind Roman. It might be really interesting development.
This was the best news for Manchester, liverpool and arsenal fans.
Chelsea will never be champion of Premier League again. But the special one will be continue to win everything in others clubs
Mou is the man, and hw win everything in Ingland in three yers. Lats see wath chelsea wins now.
a teves goal scored more than a minute over the allocated 2 minutes added time, a penalty that wasn`t a penalty, a sending off that should never of been..can it possibly get any worse? then we read the papers today and they all say that j.t`s to blame for t.s.o leaving, hence the boos especially reserved for him at today`s game. don`t quite know what to make of it myself, there`s more to it, that`s for sure. i think as paying fans, we deserve to know more. not just get fobbed off with any old garbage. i`m just worried that chelsea is gonna turn into a laughing stock, i mean, we have a manager with no qualifications for god`s sake!! i`m just speechless. we`re going forward, gonna be better than ever according to peter kenyon..well if today was anything to go by, then god help us!! we lost to man u just once under jose. this is grant`s first meeting with them and we`ve already lost. hurry up back lamps and drogs, we need you!!!
up the chels! xxx
Isn’t Van Basten still in charge of the Dutch National Team?.. Either way, if he leaves for Chelsea, is there a possibility Hiddink will replace him as the Dutch manager?
Jose’s gone. What’s next for Chelsea? Does that the problematic? To be honest, we will say that the long-term future of Chelsea, as a club, a team is what matters for the real supporter. It all looks like a tale: One day a wealthy man comes to get married with your daughter. You have really appreciated it as you have been provided in cars, houses, and any kind of luxury. But you haven’t been bothered as to whether your daughter was in love with or was well-treated by her husband. More clearly, is the objective of Abrahamovic to make Chelsea more successful and to build a greatest club of all times? I have real doubt about that? It seems to me that Chelsea have been bought to fulfill the plaything function. At first, it was trophies, now Champions League at all cost, then attractive football and 2 Champions League within 5 coming years. Damn and blast it!!! In which club the objective even at great long-term (20 years) is to win the Champiosn League twice? What is to look for a motive to oust Jose? I don’t know and I don’t care! We could suggest the huge ambition within the Chelsea hierachy to put the club at another level. Fair enough even if it takes to make some irrealistic statements… In which club the objective is to play attractive football? I never seen that anywhere? If someone makes me wrong I will be very happy to know about it…
All this stuff makes me come to that inference: Chelsea have been brought by Abrahamovic for his playing moment. He’s not committed to the long-term and when he’ll be fed up. He will sell the club. Hope we won’t be another Leeds. What is better to have been Leeds 3 years ago or to be Leeds in 2 years? My biggest worry is that Abrahomovic doesn’t regard decently. He is very fond of football. No doubt but he invests in Chelsea more for distract himself than anything else. What can we do? Nothing. I would have preferred investors like Liverpool or Manchester owners committed to the long term so see their club in terms of performance not in terms of glamour (attractive and fantasy football) or anything else? I am afraid the future isn;t bright. Anyone who is blind will be crying in 2 years. Abrahomovic will certainly bring in great players at expensive cost and great coach but if that doesn’t bring success in the next season, the club indebted at more than half a billion pounds will go bust and obviously Abrahomovic would have walked out since then…
Think about it, we need to anticipate and find the solution for our long term future…
Anybody can have a tough start to the season, look at ac milan they are 6th in their league. It will take time but the players will find form again!
Can it “Chelsea fans”! or should i say Mourinho fans! Most of us have been so blinded by the siege mentality that the facts that we gifted man u the premiership last season and were humiliated by liverpool in the champion’s league semis flew past us. Even worse is that for a while now no chelsea player has wanted the ball - except for chelsessien. So daunted were they by the expectations on them as a team, and afraid of making mistakes that i watched our games with increasing disbelief. The game against resonborg epitomised our fearful attitude. Mourinho acheived a lot with us but he’s brought us as far as he could, which was quite far - but hardly surprising given the team he had. Other clubs steped uup their game, and we didn’t. Quite maligning shevy and ballack, they are blue blood, a house divided against itself cannot stand. Least you forget Chelsea is bigger than mour and roman even. I applaud all the fans that went to old trafford - that’s true blue. Again please quite whigning and show your blue colors!
Ps: We were less fearful at old trafford - more of the same boys. Chelsea, fearless.
It’s good to see that Kenn’s incessant corporate apologism has finally been struck dumb by the events of last week. I hate to say I told you so, but… no I don’t hate to say it at all. Some of it was defending the absolutely indefensible let alone the blatantly obvious.
The one upside to all this? That those who’ve made a career of going round saying Chelsea bought our titles and that someone’s Gran could manage Chelsea to a title with hundreds of milions behind them, are currently celebrating Mourinho’s departure as a certain sign of future failure. You mean it was never about the money? Now they catch up with the truth when it’s been such a stranger to them until now.
A paragraph I picked up in January has stayed with me for a while. It came from the Mail and would no doubt have been discarded as tabloid pap at the time:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pag.....hor_id=344
“Mourinho is the difference. He makes this ‘global domination’ malarkey that Peter Kenyon keeps squawking on about actually work. Yes, Roman Abramovich might have a mountain of money at his disposal, but he has as much chance of spotting Polonium 210 in his sushi as he has of identifying a way to improve the chemistry of a football team.
Without the right coach, he is just a super-rich exile throwing chips on the roulette table and hoping his number comes up. With Mourinho he is the ‘shrewd billionaire’ armed with a system to beat the banker.
cash is not the answer to Chelsea’s problems right now and they will fail if they continue to chase down the same ‘Galactico’ route already trampled by those great white elephants of European football, Real Madrid.
Following that path, managers like Hiddink will come and go in quick rotation, and players, too. The core of the team will be eroded and lost, and although a lot of shirts will be sold, there won’t be quite so many trophies in the cabinet.”
This is my solution…
Boycott Chelsea’s next few games. Show RA that the fans are in control, and that CFC is not a toy for him to play with. Show him that if he does wrong by the club’s fans, the fans will respond and will hold him to account. Show every w***er on the CFC board that they’ve compromised the future of the club, its players, and its fans all so that the c*** of an owner can have more control over matters. Are you kidding me? he was lecturing michael essien on how to pass the ball against rosenberg. This cheeky russian c*** is going to teach michael essien how to pass the ball?
True Chelsea fans should hit the club where it really hurts. By boycotting the club’s next couple of games, we would embarrass the board and take away valuable ticket sales. Who knows? IF we do it long enough, maybe they will realize that they don’t have a carte blanche to do whatever they want. Remember, RA might be able to get rid of Mourinho, and he might be able to get rid of dissenting players, but he can never get rid of the fans.
As a lifelong Chelsea fan, I’m embarrassed. I’m disgusted and I’m well and truly fed up. I cannot see how this decision benefited the club at all. All I do see is that the power-hungry owner and his money-grubbing board wanted more control. He wants to run the team, and they want more access to his money. Mourinho was the only honest man out of the group.
As much as it hurts me to ask this - would it really be so bad for CFC to finish outside the top-6 for just one season? If only to show the w***ers in the board how idiotic, greedy, and self-serving their decision was.
Boycott our next few games. Don’t buy any more merchandise. Cancel your subscription to CTV. And flood the club’s mailbox with letters of protest:
Postal Address
Chelsea Football Club
Stamford Bridge
Fulham Road
London
SW6 1HS
Show RA and his posse that Chelsea’s fans have something to say, and that we won’t let our team be manipulated by anyone for any reason.
Of: You are no chelsea fan! Go join the Man u fan club or anything but chelsea.
Joy -
Read this article:
http://football.guardian.co.uk.....amp;feed=5
Do you really think that RA and the Board have CFC’s best interests at heart?
If you’re willing to just sit there and watch them sabotage the future of the club that’s up to you. I’m not willing to do that without making my voice heard. And that’s precisely because I am a Chelsea fan.
My post might have been a bit extreme, but I want the best for the club. When I see that those in charge aren’t doing what’s best for the club, I will do what I can as a fan and supporter to let them know. And I would expect the same from any true supporter..
My prediction is:
Zola will take over, or Ruud Gullit with his sexy football, and Gallas will re-join, along with Robben, Guddy, and Huuuth, while Lamps, JT, 2xCole, Essien, Drogba, Riccy, Makka, Sidwell all stay.. and RA goes broke, and JM buys the team : )
Of -
i don’t think that RA and the Board have CFC’s best interests at heart, i know they do. I’m glad Mourinho’s gone.
read this article
I quote this bit of it”
‘Now, I loved Jose as much as the next guy, but we have not played really good football for any length of time since the Duff, Robben, and Crespo days. Our football hasn`t been anywhere near as dour as most people make out, but we were a bit too cautious at times and did not, generally, play like a team that has and has had some of the finest, most exciting attacking players in the world in it. I`ve said it before and I`ll say it again. If the owner wants to replace the manager for someone who can turn us into a better footballing side, then he has that right. It has to be frustrating when you pay £30m out of your own pocket, for a player who is probably, pound for pound, one of the most lethal strikers the World has ever seen, only for your team to stifle him and not play to his strengths. You deal with it as long as you are winning, but the Portsmouth, Villa, Blackburn and Rosenborg performances, mustering two goals in four games were pretty poor.’
We stattered to the end last season, and have been lacklustre at the begining of this one. Now change may not bring instant results but it’s better than sitting idly by and biting finger nils to the quick hoping for improvement that isn’t likely to come.