MANoWAR

so we get a hungary-based club

This. Feels like Ivanovic on steroids I'd look to drop Luiz at some point though instead

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/11481572/david-luiz-exclusive-difficult-times-at-chelsea-taught-me-a-lot

Ratcliffe is a Manchester United supporter -- it's hard to say if he's an owner with a genuine interest or using it as a business venture. We could easily have an owner like Kroenke or the Glazers

edit: not as obvious upon second viewing, but not a dive

That's a very good video

While this is true it's what's necessary to stay afloat. Roman originally spent an unheard of amount of money when he first purchased the club -- even Man City's purchases haven't rivaled them (taking into account the football-boosted inflation). Now, that’s less possible. They've effectively emulated Manchester City's approach: Manchester City, despite having a family own worth almost 1 trillion dollars, have a 13% stake owned by a Chinese consortium. This allows them to garner even more sponsorship to gain revenue to circumvent FFP, as well as provide an alternative method of bankrolling if the Sheikh's are unable to at any particular moment. You should expect a few more shrewd business moves; Manchester City’s documentary is one of them to help garner their appeal. PSG have done others by signing multiple marketable players and having rappers wear shirts and promote the club and the like. I'm annoyed that Liverpool are making these moves; to think a few years ago they were SO close to liquidation, now it seems like they're making some steady progress by being patient. While it's all well and good to have competition in the league, it's better to see them suffer (and not lessen Chelsea's chances!) On a related note: Arsenal’s new kit deal suggests they have the third highest kit deal in the world at the moment, behind RM and Barcelona (PSG might overtake them). I understand we signed a very lucrative deal with nike but I’m not sure if it adjusts for inflation or other clubs getting better deals

It could also easily be putting pressure on them. He spent years on the Madrid bench waiting. If Modric leaves and he will be guaranteed starter so will be far more enticed stay at Madrid. If Hazard is set to leave at some point we can hopefully try and use Kova to help ease the sale

http://www.goal.com/en/news/hazard-is-preparing-for-real-madrid-move-laudrup-claims/15dcop21tokmn1bh8xg386s8fj Seems really odd to say but quite dumb to bs about

People on other sites are saying that Roman has to declare where he got his wealth from and there'd be no objection from GOV

not too many keepers who are as good

It might be problematic only in the short-term but trying to buy any world-class player is already faced by a bit of a barrier when coming here because of a lack of top four; if this issue is potentially linked to the problems with the UK Gov then a player who's world class might see it as a bit of a risk if theirs a lack of obvious stability / vision, esp. with a plethora of other clubs available. It doesn't need to be solved now if it's by the end of June and the situation is still unwavering, and we haven't signed anybody whilst the others have then finished or almost finished theirs, then we're in a bit of a pickle. --- More than anything we need to know what the scenario is with the manager and if somebody is going to replace the guy.

Absolutely mad f**king jealous of this. Fabinho for 40m is an absolute steal. Him and Keita together with Fekir ahead? Not a creative midfielder but sheesh was better than Bakayoko at everything he did an insane bit of business

https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham-stars-harry-kane-and-dele-alli-among-six-set-to-sign-new-contracts-after-mauricio-a3848251.html Urgh. I really can't see us spending this kind of money really, especially not on the quality that we really need. 100m + 70 odd mill in sales at least from Toby and Dembele? According to some of the mancs on Red Cafe they have about 200-250m to spend including rumoured sales from their reliable journalists. There's never been more of a time to splash the cash but to be honest, I doubt we're going to go in fast.

One excellent striker and one average striker is a bit limiting, but maybe if we keep Bats as well I'm just looking at it from the perspective of the best clubs and what they have.

I agree with that a lot, but I think 4 players for three positions (attacking mids / wingers), even if we play with a 3-4-3 / 4-3-3 is too few. Hazard/Bailey/Mahrez then one of our other wingers like Pedro or H-O. Man City are looking to buy Mahrez for example and looked at Sanchez before he went to Manchester United, Spurs have Son/Eriksen/Alli/Moura/Lamela and are buying either one of Sessengon or Martial and they deployed 3ATB a lot Further, what if Morata leaves? Who's going to be his back-up striker replacement if Lew comes? It's quite serious; I can't figure out if our business has been better or worse these past few years. You can argue we've won a few trophies, but now to compete finding Chelsea in 5th place while having to spend so much to overhaul this many areas makes nobody comfortable...

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Bakayoko clearly tripped there; that's not a pen. Neither for us nor United's after

ok scratch that -- what the hell did they just do

City are owned by a family worth about 600 billion, have the best manager of the world who arguably constructed the best side (top 5 at the very least) of all time in his Barcelona squad -- long-term it's hard to see how to stop them without them getting demotivated

Fully deserve the title / points record. Incredible.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/04/02/chelsea-face-9million-bill-sack-antonio-conte-have-concerns/

There is no situation that I can envisage that has us somehow lingering in midtable. Like I outlined in the reasons above, we'll miss out the CL but we'll get back at some point because of how much money is involved. Hazard and Courtois leave? We'll still get good players even if they're not as good. Moses leaves? We get somebody who's a lot better which isn't exactly difficult.. Heck, we get EL this season and win it next season. Finish out of the top 4 but still get into the CL. Strong logical possibility which doesn't leave us in a bad position. sh*t situation now, but it happens with every top club. City will see the same when Pep leaves. FWIW I think Conte should leave because of his incessant whining and inflexibility w.r.t tactics and formations

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