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Can imagine it becomes a bit of a Moyes at West Ham type situation where the results are there but the ‘style’ isn’t and then fan unrest starts.

It’s beggars belief we have the greatest Premier League CB of all time ‘available’ and we aren’t using him. Our CB’s are our weakest group (People will say CM but compare both groups at full fitness) and it’s not necessarily an ability issue as opposed to a mentality one. Get JT in, get him into these lads heads. He’d instantly get Josh & Levi more committed by just being around. The only one that’s a lost cause is probably Fofana as I don’t think there’s much going on up there.

I’m actually excited, not just for this game but just to watch us again. Hasn’t been the case for what feels like an eternity.

Nowhere near the squad. Hopefully.

He might do ... but we've had coaches galore and we're still crap at the back - which leads me to think what we're really lacking is someone to give people a kick up the arse when they need it and make sure people are in position etc. - James is a great right back but we need more than that - especially with all the ojt's we've now got.

You never open the box! If you do the value goes down...

I suppose it’s hard to have mentors & role models to guide younger players when your first team is full of babies and the experienced player from South America was Enzo Fernandes; mega c**t.

We all tend to forget just how young some of these footballers actually are. Often many come from poverty and from points east , west , south ( not many from the north) to a culture , an environment which which is a million miles ( metaphorically) from the one they get thrust into add to that their new found wealth away from family and friends all adds to the perils. I wasn’t ready to move for work well into my is twenties and even then I didn’t face the challenges of language, adulation etc.

Brentford 0 Chelsea 2 Welbeck 27

All of this is normal and healthy for a teenage male. Footballers are not ascetics and despite what the holier-than-thou media might say, there are many (if not the majority) young male and female professional athletes who are both highly-performing and also living "the lifestyle". Conversely, there are many very bog-average footballers who are 'model professionals'. Yamal gets hammered from pillar to post about his lifestyle and he's still the best young player in the world. Rooney was bagging both goals and grannies at Paez's age. Reece James and Christian Pulisic have been model professionals since they were teenagers and there are still doubts as to whether their bodies are capable of professional sport. It's way easier to blame a teenage boy's supposed moral failings than accept that wealthy clubs used him as a trading asset rather than a footballer.

Great thread. Cheers!🍺

Match Day! Come On Chelsea!!

Definitely been caught up in the lifestyle. Grew up in a poverty area and then suddenly is given a nice contract at us and then probably from what I have heard is spending his money unwisely. attending parties and now not committing to football the way he was before. It is so important for young players to remain grounded and not get caught up in the lifestyle. Social media does not help as well. I guarantee you a lot of these players are on instagram messaging girls etc which they are full well entitled to do but when it distracts you from your job, then of course it becomes an issue.

The equity value is what @Sexyfootball calculated, and that's based on the valuation of the shares only. The Financial Times, who broke the story, reported it at £5 billion based on the equity value plus the debts and commitments to invest. This is essentially the sale price that someone would need to pay if they wanted to buy the club tomorrow and have it debt-free. Both numbers effectively mean the same thing because they both are pulled from the coldest, darkest depths of Eghbali's arse. Correct, but that's exactly why as @dkw says, we should be concerned. They're making this sh*t up to satisfy themselves. That additional £1.75b has been more-or-less spent without return on investment and almost none of it on the things it was supposed to be allocated towards. It's why they don't give a sh*t about transfer fees, because whatever they pay gets counted as an "intangible asset" by their lender. Mudryk is a £62.5m mistake to us, to JP Morgan he's a £62.5m "asset" they can lend with interest to Clearlake.

Brentford 2-2 Chelsea Palmer 19'

I thought that was exactly what undid us under Maresca. He was obsessed with that "baiting the press" sh*t that no one fell for past December each year. Teams used to give Caicedo and the defenders all the time in the world, especially when they realised our "outlet" was Malo Gusto playing as #10. Horsesh*t football.

He spoke about that in an interview actually. He trains for pleasure and to keep up with his kids, rather than because someone forced him too. His mental space is just completely different. He may have been at one point among the top 3 football players in the world, but it was just a job to him. Lot to admire about Hazard.

Much more likely to become a Restore MP than a football manager now. I find it incredible that no one has given him a chance in football management even taking into account (from my perspective anyway) his very questionable politics. Do we have a defensive coach?

Perhaps depends on ones definition of failure, but with their squad, spending power and even academy, I reckon I could manage City to top two and the CL semi finals. Sadly, Maresca will do well enough there.

Still in the box apparently.

They actually bought the club for £2.5 billion. The often quoted figure of £4.25 billion includes their commitment to spend £1.75 on the stadium, academy, women's team etc etc

Rangers beat Southampton 4-1 in the Tennent Caledonian Cup Final in front of 32,000 at Ibrox. Bobby Russell, Derek Parlane, Alex Forsyth and Alex MacDonald scored. In the background, the old east terracing has been demolished during the close season and the new Copland Road Stand is in it’s very early stages of construction. The residents of the tenements in the background, had a great free view of the matches until about December 1978!

The programme from the 1976 Tournament.