Oblivion

This guy was known as the Wes Brown of Italy. Can't be great news. A decent squad player at best.

Profound sadness. :( All the best Sam. And we'll always remember THAT pass to Frankie last season :)

Prison Break House Simpsons Batman (the Adam West version) Murder She Wrote (Angela Lansbury!!!) Kung Fu

Surely not? Jeezus >.< Kakuta Mk2?

Last I heard, we're still waiting on Emile Heskey. :P But I genuinely want Kalou to succeed. He's a good lad with bags of potential, as he showed to the end of last season. Maybe all he needs is some stability.

Heh....2

Funny how "billionaire"owners suddenly stop being billionaires after taking over a club. Just a thought.

They're really going for him? (because I seriously LOL'd!)

We have Ross Turnbull, there is always hope.....

Never heard of you, but wish I had a lot earlier. Great posts on that site, brought smiles to my face I tell you!

But there's always your "Ëlite"squad....

Says that he hasn't heard much about the loan deal, thinks its mostly rumours, but is hoping its a positive thing.

Just out of curiosity, what do the footie-watching public of the US make of Adu anyway? Oh, and Malaysia has some outstanding talent in terms of footie, with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and John Terry being regulars for both club and country. Cheers!

Be cool. Loz is entitled to his opinion, as does everyone else here. Don't be thick and start condemning others for not seeing YOUR POV.

Thanks for clearing that up Bluenut. I guess I need to ask the trillion-dollar question: How safe are Chelsea? The club have re-iterated that the days of lavish spending are over, but is it too little too late? We were supposed to break even by 2010, and are still no where near doing so. True, we are healthier than most clubs, but aren't we still hinging our existence on Roman?

Who is this "we" you speak of Bluenut? Chelsea or football in general?

Someone will pay, yes, but 1.1 bllion? That's harsh man. Unless its another conglomerate of Arabs, very few can stump that kinda cash out. We (Chelsea) can do our bit to help Utd. Just stop them winning trophies. We've already done that last season, so more of the same next time out :)

Watched a pair of movies recently, part of the "Watch"series Nightwatch Daywatch Its quite good, but not something you can breeze through as its slightly confusing, for me in any case. Make sure your subtitles are well done or get the dubbed version (the original is in Russian).

I was SUPPOSED to watch Essien. I guess Drogs will do.

Or you could just d/l/buy the audiobook and play it on your iPod/mp3 player. Hope none of you guys got conned. Apple blew it this one time.

Chelsea end of season report It didn’t exactly begin in sunshine. The 08/09 season was forgettable on so many levels. It took a miracle going by the name of Hiddink to revitalise a ragged and jaded squad. There was a real sense of “will he, won’t he†as to Guus’s future with us and I’m sure we were all a little disappointed when he decided to stick to international football instead of pledging his next few years with us. The situation was made all the more uncomfortable when Carlo Ancelotti was being bandied about as a strong favourite for the top spot. “No experience with youth†“Hasn’t won all that much in Italy†“Played the same squad for so many years†These were some of the comments being thrown about by many fans (myself included). We weren’t all that impressed with CA to be honest. How wrong we were. In hindsight, Carlo was the man for the job on two grounds: 1) He’s used to having demanding bosses (like the Prime Minister of your home country) 2) He’s used to controlling and mediating egos (Clarence Seedorf anyone?) These two criteria were important for any manager to take up the Chelsea job. His calm demeanour and avoidance of head games in the media meant that Chelsea stayed out of the spotlight most of the time (certain extramarital indiscretions aside). He also managed to get the best out of players like Didier and Nico while keeping Malouda in pretty good form (stellar in fact, come the end of the season). Another worry we had was his supposed inability to react to dynamically situations. There were runs of games where he didn’t change the system despite ample evidence on the contrary. The football-killing midfield of Lamps-Mikel-Ballack cost us a fair few points and almost put us out of the title race (again). All that changed when January came around. The tournament that was much-maligned in the past actually proved the catalyst for a successful title-winning run. The African Cup of Nations deprived us of Mikel, Drogs and Kalou. Rather than breaking the team (as some predicted), it actually worked the complete opposite effect. The side began playing more dynamic football with greater mobility and real pace (gasp shock horror!!). The diamond was ditched like the cheap fake that it was. Lamps was restored to his original position in the centre of midfield and began to play and score with real form and frequency. The ACN joy was short lived however, as the wheels almost came off in Feb-March. JT’s scandal rocked the nation and affected a great many of the squad. With the Captain distracted by off-field issues and Cech getting injured for 5 weeks, Man City made short work of us, doing the double with a 4-2 victory. A CL exit against Inter and a dour draw away to Blackburn despite leading the tie for most of the game made for nervy, if not downright depressing times. The players and the staff, following the Blackburn game, had a real sit down, heart-to-heart talk and voiced their views on the team’s performance. I’m not sure what was said but it worked a charm. A 7-1 win over Aston Villa was followed up by a marvellous, well-disciplined performance against Man Utd, putting us in the driver’s seat for the title once more. The 4-point cushion meant that we had one “get out of jail†card to be used for the remaining games. This mean that we could lose one game and still be top of the table. Little did we realise that the card would be used almost immediately. A tame 2-0 defeat to Spurs meant that we were 1 point ahead of a man Utd that, while were far from the dominant force they were for the last 3 years, still managed to win most of their games, albeit less convincingly. Once again, an unlikely source of relief came to our aid. Steven Gerrard’s back pass to Drogs sparked vibrant conspiracy theories about Liverpool willing to throw the game at Utd’s expense. The lacklustre home side did nothing to douse those flames. A solid 2-0 win at Anfield meant that we would go into the last game of the season, at home to Wigan with a slender 1 point advantage. Memories of the 3-1 thrashing earlier in the season were fresh in many mind and Martinez’s media games were not helping. A nerve-wracking one week passed between the Liverpool game and the Wigan one. Fans were trying to remain optimistic, but level-headed. Well, most of them anyway. Unlike previous occasions where a lack of focus meant that we could never keep a solid lead over any of our closest rivals, the Chelsea boys gave a stellar performance against Wigan, trouncing them 8-0 and winning the title in style, while simultaneously scoring the most number of goals in the history of the EPL. The following week, more history was made as we successfully defended the FA Cup against a spirited Pompey side, and therefore, doing a Double, the first in our 105-year history. A memorable season all in all, with many highs and lows. Carlo proved himself a masterful tactician in the end, with solid and spectacular victories to be savoured. It is my hope that he has learnt the intricacies of the EPL and what it takes to be a manager here. The fact that he managed to win the title with so many odds stacked against him (language being a prime concern, as were the growing injuries to key players) showed that we were wrong to judge him so at the start of the season. YOUUUUUUUUUUUU BLUUUUUUES!

Not happening. I read once that Real are the pride of Spain, and at one time curried the favour (successfully) of the royal family (hence the purple colour and crown in their crest). they were also the favourites of the Franco regime. Not much has changed over the decade. Any team that can get its city council to BUY their training ground and GIVE it back is definitely playing a different game.

Moos, did you embiggen your avatar? Anyway thanks for all the alderman definitions

Nah. They're just trying to hype Ledley up. Gloss over the fact that he's rubbish. I guess people are caught up with the whole scenario of an injury-prone player getting a shot at WC glory. JTs place is assured in the squad.

Sir, your sources are dope. Or on dope. I just can't decide. :D Anyway congratulations to the boys. They've done the team proud!