c3blu2

This has nothing to do with Torres in particular just some of the comments being made about where our goals may come from next season and I would rather have 6-8 players all getting double figures, both attacking midfielders and forwards than one forward getting 40 goals.
Then your a dangerous team with a threat from all over which is far harder to stop rather than a dangerous player. 

This has nothing to do with Torres in particular just some of the comments being made about where our goals may come from next season and I would rather have 6-8 players all getting double figures, both attacking midfielders and forwards than one forward getting 40 goals.
Then your a dangerous team with a threat from all over which is far harder to stop rather than a dangerous player. 

This has nothing to do with Torres in particular just some of the comments being made about where our goals may come from next season and I would rather have 6-8 players all getting double figures, both attacking midfielders and forwards than one forward getting 40 goals.
Then your a dangerous team with a threat from all over which is far harder to stop rather than a dangerous player. 

good for ba. once he becomes a morbidly obese trucker he will have something to fall back on

I'm useless at links and all that, but try watching Fat,sick and Nearly Dead. Its a documentary about an  Aussie business man called Joe Cross.Probably all over the Net as well. All medical expert advice as well not just crash dieting, very interesting.

I cant believe the amount of people saying 'once Rameires is sold'  bloody hell if ever there was a JM player its Rambo. He's class, strong,quick,can play probably anywhere he's full of running. i'd be gutted if we sold him.....i think he's brilliant.

or Rip

Mikel might, but Rambo is staying. 
 
I'm sure if anything he will be Mourinho's ultimate utility player playing in multiple positions, etc.    

Exactly how it should be.
 
Nice to have a young extremely talented hungry squad, aligned with a few experienced Chelsea boys topped of with one of the best managers in the world.
 
Exciting times to be a Chelsea fan. With the exception of the EL Final, the dark days of the last 6 months have faded for me. If you'd have told me back in December/January i'd be looking forward to next season this much I probably would have said 1 thing....'why's that is Jose coming home'. 
 
Fcuking blinding.

agree add Courtious to that list and consider players like Mata,Luiz and Rambo are only in their mid 20's the future's bright.

Exactly how it should be.
 
Nice to have a young extremely talented hungry squad, aligned with a few experienced Chelsea boys topped of with one of the best managers in the world.
 
Exciting times to be a Chelsea fan. With the exception of the EL Final, the dark days of the last 6 months have faded for me. If you'd have told me back in December/January i'd be looking forward to next season this much I probably would have said 1 thing....'why's that is Jose coming home'. 
 
Fcuking blinding.

Just read this mate, it makes quite interesting reading regards terracing/seats ect its from another forum, footballgroundguide.
 
I thought I was the only one baffled by some of the lack of education on this subject by some on this thread - especially on a forum for people supposedly interested in football grounds, (the culture of and the design of)!
 
My club Portsmouth has just added its signature to the Safe Standing Campaign (25th club to do so, and another benefit of being owned by the fans) and the reason is simple - there are still many people who want to stand at football grounds - and many do in seated areas and incur the wrath of stewards etc causing a problem for the clubs AND creating unsafe areas where there is no fall arrest in front of people standing in a seated section. I doubt anyone on this thread has not fallen over the seat in front when going mad after a goal (if this has not happened to you, you obviously don't celebrate goals properly!).
 
Lets get the simple facts straight. Terracing never killed people at Hillsborough, but the risk of large crowds and the anarchy of terracing was outlawed in this country for all upper leagues. Yes the lower leagues were allowed to keep some terracing, proving it wasn't intrinsically unsafe, but it was all about numbers and barring a few anomalies to start with, the only terraces remaining are relatively small.
 
Taylor was as much about getting clubs to improve their facilities where the disasters at Ibrox, Bradford and Heysel had still not been enough to stop Hillsborough. Many grounds were time warps that needed a knee-jerk reaction to get them into the 21st century - making grounds all-seater pushed that change through - and to be fair it worked - safety and facilities are a million miles from the 80's.
 
Once all seated, clubs can't retrospectively make a stand standing again (if they drop out the top two divisions) but as has been shown with the Hillsborough investigations, the whole circumstances and findings of that day are now being brought into question and so it is also the right time to look at the issue of people standing at football grounds and more importantly, giving people the choice to do so - football fans are no longer the working class scum the authorities thought we were in 1989.
 
That said, just like you won't see a Fred Dibner type character demolishing buildings with a few burning tyres and a bit of hope, you won't see the 'old style' terraces return to this country. We are far too safety concious to go down that route for our major stadiums where large crowds gather and need controlling. So that means we have to look at the next best thing and the German's have the solutions.
 
At Dortmund they bring seats in for European games, this is labour intensive. The other solution is rail seating (the photo in the original post).
 
This is a 'fall-arrest' rail for every seated space with a seat locked in place, only ever unlocked for events which require all seated capacity (UEFA/ FIFA games). It's that simple. Talk on here of the seat being used by some and not others could only ever happen in a UEFA/FIFA type game and even if everyone still stands, the club is covered as the regs say a seat should be provided for all spectators, not that all must use them. So in reality the bolted seats are there to get around the regs.
 
Even if used as seats the rail in front does not obstruct the eye line of the seated person (please attend the Safe Standing Roadshow when it comes near your club - it's well worth it).
 
As for capacity. The Safe Standing advice is as much as 1.9 people standing per 1 seated (so almost double) is the potential capacity rise. That however would be dependant on many factors such as the depth of existing seat tread and location and amount of vomitories for ingress and egress. Also legislation would dictate. It wouldn't surprise me if the British government went for a 1:1 seat to standing space ratio if (and when) this is allowed so no capacities would rise.
 
This HAS to happen to give fans choice. Arguments of what it looks like is ridiculous - football grounds should perform their primary function, and not just 'look nice' when  empty for people who like uniform seating patterns!! I can only imagine people not 'getting' this idea are too young to understand the concept of terrace culture pre-Taylor and how important it was to defining clubs pre the sanitised era we live in today where people actually debate 'facilities' FFS!
 
Forum's like this one should be all over this campaign like a rash. Anyone who ever went to football grounds pre-Taylor, knows we are missing out on something in this country due to all-seater and the German's at Wembley the other night showed just how better their support is where the culture is still 'terrace based.' Yes Wembley is all-seater - but many of the German's simply didn't use them and that IS MORE UNSAFE than using a system where fans have fall-arrest systems built in.
 
As I said, my club Portsmouth, with the prospect of actually representing what fans want are on-board with this (the PST had been lobbying the club pre-administration and were getting somewhere with that, but now we are masters of our own destiny!). Also the Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt is also involved with the lobbying in Parliament. This WILL happen,

I'd love us to have this in any new ground/stands build, never happen though sadly.
 

They have to bring back terracing. Look at the attendances and atmosphere in Germany. I keep going on about it but it would solve many issues.
You dont have to have entire stadiums, but you could easily have safe affordable standing areas.This would give people an option, people who want to create an atmosphere can all stand together and sing till their hearts content without some Japanese tourist telling him to sit down every 5 minutes cos he trying to take a picture. People who have been priced out would have an affordable option too.
 
Sadly its probably never going to happen, not because of health and safety.....surely there must be some European law that says if its ok in Germany its ok here. If you can have 250,000 standing in a field all day out there nuts at a concert i'm sure you could have 20,000 people standing safely at a football match for 90mins.
If the clubs pushed for it they would get it but they wont, they are happy to have waiting lists and demand exceeding supply so they can drive the price up.
 
Every bodies match day is different and most are catered for and rightly so. If someone wants to sit and watch a game with their kids they have a family section. If someone wants to have a 3 course meal and a bottle of wine they can go corporate. There are more women at football now than ever before and facilities in place to accommodate all types of fans. Disabled, o.a.p's, tourists the lot there all welcomed and all catered for.
Whats so bad about the blokes who cant afford the seats, cant go corperate, has no kids and wants to have a few beers and sing a few silly songs at a match after a hard weeks work.....oh no we dont want him here anymore he's a hooligan.

Just been reading through this and felt compelled to comment.  The notion that a life time supporter like Carshalton Blue should be happy that Chelsea can now fill a stadium whilst charging top dollar as it helps the club compete financially is farcical.  He has just said that he, and many of his friends, have been priced out of attending every game (something which he has done for his whole life....his main hobby and passion)....yet he is in some way supposed to be happy about this?  "Well I can't afford to go any more......but at least there is a Japanese tourist in my seat paying 70 quid for a ticket so I guess I should be happy that the club are coining it in."
 
It is just a load of rubbish.  Have some of the people commenting here ever considered that it may actually mean a bit more than money and the on field success that may bring?  The club has been an actual part of people's lives....in their family for generations.....links with the area, local pubs and the stadium.  If money and trophies were the only important things, then people like Carshalton Blue wouldn't have followed Chelsea all over the country during the barren years of the 1980's.  Where were the tourists then? It is part and parcel of modern football but it doesn't mean you have to like it.
 
Those who pointed out that the club value day trippers who flash their flexible friend in the Megastore more than long term match day goers who just buy their ticket are of course bang on the money.  They do.  But that rankles with a lot of people and rightly so.  Those who turn up taking photos at every throw in, decked out in their full kit and sitting there in silence have every right to be there as they have paid for the match day ticket......but they wouldn't be seen for dust should Chelsea ever go down the sh!t pan and tumble down the divisions.  As others have said, their interest is more likely to be fleeting.
 
And I hate the notion that cause they've coughed up 70 quid for their ticket and spent 200 in the club shop on full kit, John Terry trophy presentation socks and shin pads, mugs, pencils, rulers and sharpeners bearing the club's crest that they're "just as much of a fan as someone who has been going for 30 years."  Of course they're not. Why say anything different? It isn't a competition or bragging rights (which no doubt some will accuse me of), just a fact. Of course everyone has to start somewhere and if they carry on supporting the club for years then fair play......but if they really are just a fleeting, day tripper then it really isn't comparable is it?
 
I find all that weird anyway.  If I was on holiday in New York, no doubt I'd want to go and see the New York Yankees play for the experience.....so I too would be one of those said 'day tripping tourists'......but then I'd respect my position as one.  I wouldn't go and buy the full kit and baseball cap (they play baseball right?) and a f***ing foam finger.  Why the hell would I do that?  I have no affinity or bond with the city or team......and know nothing of the club's history.  And I certainly wouldn't expect to be valued ahead of a long term supporter....or claim to be the same.  "I've paid for my match day ticket so should be valued by the Yankees as much as Jim over there who has seen 27 baseball seasons here!"
 
Arsenal are a prime example of this modern day thinking.  Their supporters are supposed to lap up them 'balancing the books' as if it is something for them to personally celebrate.  Go on Gooners....throw a party in the streets of Islington as people on the board are raking in money.  Oh and look.....people in Malaysia are buying a shirt so you should be happy about the money it is generating.  I think the extra game abroad is soon approaching.....and who knows where that will snowball to? The fact it is all so money orientated and the clubs are referred to as 'products' depresses a lot of people.  

They have to bring back terracing. Look at the attendances and atmosphere in Germany. I keep going on about it but it would solve many issues.
You dont have to have entire stadiums, but you could easily have safe affordable standing areas.This would give people an option, people who want to create an atmosphere can all stand together and sing till their hearts content without some Japanese tourist telling him to sit down every 5 minutes cos he trying to take a picture. People who have been priced out would have an affordable option too.
 
Sadly its probably never going to happen, not because of health and safety.....surely there must be some European law that says if its ok in Germany its ok here. If you can have 250,000 standing in a field all day out there nuts at a concert i'm sure you could have 20,000 people standing safely at a football match for 90mins.
If the clubs pushed for it they would get it but they wont, they are happy to have waiting lists and demand exceeding supply so they can drive the price up.
 
Every bodies match day is different and most are catered for and rightly so. If someone wants to sit and watch a game with their kids they have a family section. If someone wants to have a 3 course meal and a bottle of wine they can go corporate. There are more women at football now than ever before and facilities in place to accommodate all types of fans. Disabled, o.a.p's, tourists the lot there all welcomed and all catered for.
Whats so bad about the blokes who cant afford the seats, cant go corperate, has no kids and wants to have a few beers and sing a few silly songs at a match after a hard weeks work.....oh no we dont want him here anymore he's a hooligan.

On the other side I remeber old Batsey doing a diddle here n there.....One could work out an approx in the ground based on what you knew the stands could hold...Low n behold youd read there was 13,000 +....whhaaaaat..there was near 25000...lol

I don't like to bash him either because there isn't really much of a point to it but he really needs to go.  That should be a priority this summer.  He's costing a fortune in wages, must be breeding resentment in the squad (Ba can't be amused with forced rotation with no basis in merit) and he's actually stifling our other options.  Ba's goal scoring form has plummeted since coming here, and that's because he's forcibly rotated with Torres no matter the circumstances.
 
Lukaku could have been kept here this season and I guarantee he'd have done more for us and developed a lot in the process.  The fact is, he's being kept out of the squad because Torres is here - and Torres, for some absurd reason, appears to be the first "Untouchable" since Mou's days.  RDM was sacked after dropping him in favour of Hazard as a false 9; and at least he had the stones to tell the board flat out that his presence is literally hurting the team and he'd rather play without a striker at all.  And it is.  It's so frustrating to see him run around without actually making any threatening runs, and to miscontrol beautiful passes to completely break down attack after attack.  I'm so tired of watching it.
 
To his credit, he makes the occasional good pass or assist - but he's not there for that.  We already have the two best players in the league for that.  He's there to score goals.  He's there to pull defenders around. He's there to hold up the ball, to dart off the last man, to fling himself into the box and attack crosses - and he does none of this.  If he actually controls a pass he typically dribbles in front of a defender for a bit, loses the ball, falls down like a house of cards and moans on the floor for not winning a bogus free kick.   
 
I'm just tired of watching this over and over and over.  I'm tired of watching everyone else in the team work so hard to carry him and this has been going on since he arrived.  Its been excuse after excuse.  I accepted the excuses for a year, but enough is enough.  Everyone else is making it work, the problem is him.  He's just not a very good footballer any more and he needs to go.  I will be hugely disappointed if he's still here next season, but if Jose is our manager I think he'll just leave him in the reserves until we can ship him out. 

I have expressed my concerns that we are in danger of overplaying at times and trying to walk it in. But i'm sure the 3 amigo's themselves are crying out for someone to make a run even if its just to create space for them. 
I'd much rather share the goals around instead of over relying on a 40 goal a season front man and a center forward that can contribute all round is required. Someone who can join in the intricate passing, hold the ball up when needed to bring the 3 amigo's into the game. And can put the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis.
I'm not one of these people that mark a forward on goals alone, at the minute though Torres doesn't only fail to make the right runs or get into the right areas he hides. When his shoulders go down he stands and gets himself marked rather than miss another chance.
It must be just as frustrating for the 3 amigos to look up and see that as it is for us.

I have expressed my concerns that we are in danger of overplaying at times and trying to walk it in. But i'm sure the 3 amigo's themselves are crying out for someone to make a run even if its just to create space for them. 
I'd much rather share the goals around instead of over relying on a 40 goal a season front man and a center forward that can contribute all round is required. Someone who can join in the intricate passing, hold the ball up when needed to bring the 3 amigo's into the game. And can put the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis.
I'm not one of these people that mark a forward on goals alone, at the minute though Torres doesn't only fail to make the right runs or get into the right areas he hides. When his shoulders go down he stands and gets himself marked rather than miss another chance.
It must be just as frustrating for the 3 amigos to look up and see that as it is for us.

No people were saying we shouldn't be spending time and effort in making up names to criticize our own players with, funny or not.
I think everyone has given Torres a great deal of support since he's been here. And there are a lot worse things people could be calling him than a very light hearted Floppes. I was trying to lighten the mood a bit and have a little joke earlier but if were going to have a sensible discussion regarding him then lets.
I have defended him at times during games for unfair criticism, i take each player on a game to game basis. If they do well i'll say so, if they have a bad game i'll say so and lets be fair we all have off days. My first post after the other night was along the lines off a bit unlucky but again not good enough.
The thing is at this stage of the season your looking at the end of year report. This is when we don't look at games individually but at the season as a whole and vote for player of the season etc. 
Yes he has scored 19 goals, but he has played many games and he's been anonymous in most of them. Alot of those goals have come against poor opposition or the last goal in a rout.
His distinct lake of effort or interest at times is borderline criminal for a man earning what he does, and can have a really bad impact in the dressing room morale wise. 
Now he could score us a goal to win us the Uefa Cup and play a blinder and there will be many praising the second coming of Torres and how he must stay but they will be going back to judging him on a single moment or a single game and they will be wrong to want him to stay next year IMHO. For me 19 goals and all, Fernando's end of year report still reads a big fat F.
 
What does everyone else think??  

No people were saying we shouldn't be spending time and effort in making up names to criticize our own players with, funny or not.
I think everyone has given Torres a great deal of support since he's been here. And there are a lot worse things people could be calling him than a very light hearted Floppes. I was trying to lighten the mood a bit and have a little joke earlier but if were going to have a sensible discussion regarding him then lets.
I have defended him at times during games for unfair criticism, i take each player on a game to game basis. If they do well i'll say so, if they have a bad game i'll say so and lets be fair we all have off days. My first post after the other night was along the lines off a bit unlucky but again not good enough.
The thing is at this stage of the season your looking at the end of year report. This is when we don't look at games individually but at the season as a whole and vote for player of the season etc. 
Yes he has scored 19 goals, but he has played many games and he's been anonymous in most of them. Alot of those goals have come against poor opposition or the last goal in a rout.
His distinct lake of effort or interest at times is borderline criminal for a man earning what he does, and can have a really bad impact in the dressing room morale wise. 
Now he could score us a goal to win us the Uefa Cup and play a blinder and there will be many praising the second coming of Torres and how he must stay but they will be going back to judging him on a single moment or a single game and they will be wrong to want him to stay next year IMHO. For me 19 goals and all, Fernando's end of year report still reads a big fat F.
 
What does everyone else think??  

It does make me laugh that some people have a problem with a nickname. But I guess it reflects the hyper-sensitive, politcally-correct times we live-in where it seems everything is taken oh so seriously and everyone gets offended about everything. What next? Objections to calling him Nando as it may be construed as comparing him to a poor quality world-wide restaurant group?
 
Mr Torres. It is then.
 
 
And perhaps we shouldn't make fun of his bad performances? After all he is doing his best. It's the taking part not the winning. Sport should be about inclusion not exclusion and we should encourage all to participate, even those that aren't very good like Mr Torres.

I dont think you can compare the 2, one is an overrated overpaid spanish waste of space who couldn't careless about the club and the other is FSW.

Now forever known as the Nando region!
 
Seeing as 99% of his performances have been somewhere between ar$eholes and bo!!ocks.