magoo

You make some excellent and accurate points there Sizzler. Some of thoughts leaving the ground last night were: - Our home support was excellent (for a change) at 3-1 down with the 10 men. - McEachran is confident (not coky) and has the ability. His maturity accepting or getting the ball from our defenders and his skill to skip effortlessly past players was a joy. - I thought the physical effort by all of the players (but Anelka and Alex in particular) was great to see. - My main concern was Sturridge. He looked awkward and clumsy. He even changed his boots when Kalou was being treated then fell over the next time he got the ball! As managers often say; "there were plenty of positives".

Milan away in Champions League. 1-1 "that" Dennis Wise goal. Couple of my mates went and had a great trip. Was probably between jobs and with babies/young children. So finances would have been the reason for missing it. As with most Euro games it was the trip (and tales of fun had)that I regret missing more than the game itself. Oh well.

Excellent news. But, contrary to what some people post on here, we do not usually have a decent atmosphere.

Just from the top of my head Bayern certainly purchased the following: Robben - Real Madrid Ribery - Marseiile Olic - Another Budesliga team (possibly Hamburg??)

Thanks very much for the advice Tea Bar. Much appreciated. Hoping for a Grand National win for "Arbor Supreme" followed by a Chelsea win!

1) The tube could be a bit messy tomorrow as the circle line is completely closed and the district is closed between Earls Court and Edgware Road. :lol: I will be going to Paddington after the match so I presume my best route would be changing to the Bakerloo or Picadilly line to Paddington from the district line heading east to Upminster. 2) Moving forward to the cup semi in a fortnight I am after a bit of local advice. For recent Chelsea matches at the "new" Wemberly (Spurs & Arsenal) I have avoided drinking around the ground before the game as I tended to find that pubs were either too busy, overpriced or full up! I have tended to drink around Paddington, Edgware Road or Baker Street area then jump on the tube up to Wemberly around 45 minutes before kick off. I have just realised that this year the Grand National is on the same day as the semi. Being a lover of horse racing I am keen to see the race which is due to start at 4.00 and will probably not be finished until around 4.20/4.25 ish. Can anyone tell me of any pubs a tube stop or two south of Wembley that would be showing the race? Many thanks in advance. My predictions: Chelsea to beat Villa 2-1 in both games!

Excellent read as ever. I also enjoyed his usual dig at the Dippers.

I understand that Everton are down to the bare bones defensively so hopefully Drogba will enjoy himself. Also Cahill is suspended - which is a huge bonus for us.

I am also going. :D ;) I am looking forward to it as I see Real as a more commercial/touristy club and Atletico as a bit more gritty and down to earth with, probably, a better more hostile environment. There may be a recession on but I was still able to get a flight out on Monday lunchtime, returning Wednesday evening and two nights in a hotel for just under £190. The club (Thomas Cook) are charging £210 with no nights in a hotel! But I agree that the European away novelty is wearing off. One of the (few) beauties with the group stages is that by the end of August I know all of the dates for the three away games and am able to pick one or two to go to. The groups also offer the opportunity to visit teams/cities that you will rarely come across in the knock out stages.

Yes, the TV fixtures up until the New Year have normally been announced within 10- 14 days of the fixtures being released. I would imagine that this year the delay is due to the collapse of Setanta. ESPN, Sky and the Premier League are probably in discussion at the moment - along with the clubs and the police.

A simple but resounding "NO!!!"

Some people in this world seem to enjoy wallowing in a sea of pity. Jade Goody's funeral will be another cringe/pity/false grief farce.

Excellent comments from "Bluenut" & "Barn". As a side issue I am chuffed with the 5.15 KO time for the semi. It obviously shouldn't be at Wembley but there will be an infinately better (natural) atmosphere than say a 12.30 Ko and I will get to have a decnt drink in the day.

Yes mate, I have been to the Bridge lately. It is sh*t moist of the time. But, at least we don't have a "Tesco stand". Has anyone got a time machine to go back 25 years?

Just got back from an interesting game at Coventry. I say interesting because I found some of it enjoyable but most of it depressing. The enjoyable bits are (in no particular order): Cheap tickets Large CFC away followig Fairly noisy and decent variety of songs Professional performance and relatively comfortable win A new ground Beer served before the game & at half time inside the away end Stood up all game Celery The dominating depressing bits are as follows: A ground with no soul, no character and over stewarded Constantly being filmed and/or watched by police & stewards A ground in the middle of an industrial/retail park with only one "home" pub in the vicinity A scoreboard which informed you when it was a corner In ground music blasting out A prick on the PA getting loud & excited reading out the home team name by name A stupid 12.30 kick off for TV The FA cup sponsored by E-on Being told by fellow CFC fan on leaving ground that the semis are at Wembley. That f**ks up a weekend away at say Old Trafford/Cardiff and also dilutes Wembley being used for the final in my opinion. I could go on and on but these are initial thoughts as to why the game of football is nowhere near as much fun attending as it used to be. Thank you

This is one of the many reasons why football is sh*t these days!!! For Christ's sake the manager in the summer (whoever that may be) should be the one who buys and sells players. It is not up to Buck, Kenyon, Roman, etc What is the point of Buck opening his mouth now anyway?? It could just demotivate certain players. It also alerts other clubs that we may be fairly desperate to offload certain players which to my m,ind would lower their value. Rant over

We lost at home to Barca under Jose when that idiot left back was sent off.