BlueBeard

Know Pollards Hill fairly well - used to get in the Pollard Oak a fair bit. Long time ago now I hear a lot of pubs in Mitcham have been pulled down now, like the Fountain, Bull, Star, Albion, Bath Tavern, Ravensbury Tavern, & Horse & Groom - f*ckin' sacrilege! There were 29 pubs in Mitcham when I lived up there - no houses, just 29 pubs

Yes mate, they were the days...I grew up in Carshalton local to (Poultus Park was it?) cant remember now but we all used to go and get a look at the Lads. Did we talk about this before some time ago - are you the bloke who went to Winchcombe? I was a Gaynesford lad myself - f*ckin' hated the place. Chelsea trained at the NAAFI Sports Ground, next to Poulters Park. Our school footie home matches were played in Poulters, the pitches were terrible. Not as bad as I experienced when I got older - that cinder pitch over Tooting Bec Common was a b*stard if you did a slide tackle. Wandsworth Common was even worse - some of the potholes in the pitch were so bad we needed a ladder to get our winger out of one.

That's not what I'm saying at all. I don't believe that Grant is responsible for any success that we've had since Mourinho left, and I strongly do believe that if Steve Clarke had left along with the other coaching staff, then we'd be in serious trouble. Of course there are many examples throughout football where a squad had underperformed due to a new manager - but I really can't recall any examples of that happening with a squad as highly rated as ours. McClaren isn't really a good example - he was OK as an assistant, but as a manager/coach he was a total w*nker 1) I agree about the weaker squad, and that Arse & Manure have improved a great deal. 2) I really can't see us winning any silverware this season (hope I'm wrong of course), so that point is irrelevant I'd agree with you totally that we won our first title with Ranieri's squad. The thing is, I don't believe we would have won the title if Ranieri had stayed, we needed a higher calibre manager to take us that further step. I've made the same point many times regarding Vialli's success and popularity being achieved with Ruud Gullit's squad. As for Mourinho's signings (if indeed, they were his), he proved to be pretty erratic in the transfer market. Not sure if Cech or Robben were Ranieri or Mourinho signings, but as for the others: - Good - Drogba, Tiago, Carvalho, Diarra, Essien, Mikel Mediocre - Ferreira, Kezman, SWP, Kalou, Hilario Crap - Jarosik, Del Horno, Maniche, Boulahrouz, A.Cole Just my humble opinion of course, but you know I'm right, go on, admit it!

Chippy, I understand what you're saying, though I don't particularly agree with it - but if we all agreed on everything we'd have nothing to write about! I don't actively dislike Grant, or even disrespect him. I just don't believe he's good enough to be Chelsea manager, and I don't think he ever will be. Chelsea have had some good results since Grant took over, and even a couple of good performances, but then he's taken over one of the best squads in Europe. I reckon nearly anyone could do well in those circumstances, particularly with Steve Clarke still at the club. Some people might think the January transfer window will show us what he's made of, but if he does sign some decent players, who's to say they're his signings? To this day Vialli denies ever signing Bogarde, and Ranieri gave strong hints that the arrival of Bosnich had nothing to do with him. Add to these some of the players that came in while Mourinho was boss - I'm sure I'm not alone in believing quite a few were not his choices. Unfortunately I think the days are gone when a Chelsea manager could be evaluated on his transfer dealings. If Grant stays, then he's got to earn the respect of the fans (not to mention the players). To be honest, even if we win a trophy this season (something I strongly doubt will happen), I won't feel any differently as he'll be doing it with a squad that are already well established at the club. If he were to manage to keep certain key players in the summer and improve things the following season, then I'll give him credit. Until then, he's got a lot to prove as far as I'm concerned. ps - you watched Chelsea train at Mitcham too? I never realised you were that old, mate

Like Bluenut, I strongly disagree. I was never Mourinho's #1 fan, though I respected his achievements and loved the stuff he used to come out with. I just felt it was time for him to go - letting Mourinho go wasn't a bad thing - after all, we held on to Ranieri for two years longer than we should have. Though to let Mourinho go and not have a decent replacement was amateurish in the extreme. I was totally unimpressed when Grant was installed, and nothing's happened to change my mind since then. We've had some really crap managers down the years, and I, along with thousands of others, wanted them out as quickly as possible - for the simple reason that Chelsea were never going to improve under these managers, and in most cases we got a lot worse. I'm talking about the likes of Shellito, Blanchflower, Hurst, Hollins & Porterfield. Hell, I wanted Sexton out ASAP once he sold Peter Osgood and Alan Hudson, as it was obvious his personal feelings towards certain players were more important to him than Chelsea F.C. But I still went to virtually every game, home and away, and got behind the team for the whole of each game. Just because I hated the manager didn't mean I lost my love for the club. So, to sum up, to say that "being against Grant is being against the club" is a ridiculous statement.

Particularly when he was playing alongside Micky Nutton

I remember watching that documentary a few years back - the bloke's a f*ckin' psycho! I couldn't believe the way he spoke to the players, and most of the time they just sat there and took it. If a manager spoke like that to any of the Sunday League teams I played for, he'd have been nailed to the goalpost. Interesting documentary though, wouldn't mind seeing it again.

That's really pissed me off - he was doing so well with Scotland, and a move to Birmingham can only be a step down. Bad move, Eck!

Orient boot boys! Yeah yeh, you can talk the talk from the safety of your living room but I bet you weren't so hard when these boys were in town. Actually, there was always fun and games when we played at Orient - West Ham always turned up, just to be sociable. Ah, the good old days.....

Orient boot boys!

Brings back a few memories (unfortunately, most of 'em are impaired due to immense quantities of alcohol being consumed during the 70's) I seem to remember it going something like this...... We hate Andy Pandy We hate Bill & Ben We'll fight Ken Dodd & the diddymen We hate Loopy Lou and the rest of her crew We are the Chelsea bootboys I could well be wrong though - Newcastle Brown & Bells whisky have a lot to answer for! I know 'bootboys' doesn't rhyme, but a few of the songs of the time didn't, like... Bertie Mee said to Bill Shankly Have you heard of the North Bank Highbury Shanks said no, I don't think so But I've heard of the Chelsea Shed Boys Mind you, there were a lot of different versions of that one going around too - instead of Chelsea Shed Boys, some would sing 'Chelsea Boot Boys', 'Chelsea Aggro', 'Chelsea North Stand', or 'North Stand Boot Boys' No wonder I turned to drink

Yet again England get an easy group! Still, didn't help much just recently, did it? Makes a nice change to see Scotland get a reasonably easy group - stand a good chance of winning that one! Must say, I don't like the seeding system at all. Pretty obvious who's gonna qualify from each group without a game having been played. Makes a mockery of it all in my opinion, we get virtually the same European qualifiers every time. (The nine group winners will automatically qualify with the best eight runners up playing off for the last four tickets to South Africa) Group 1 Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania, Malta Group 2 Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg Group 3 Czech Republic, Poland, NORTHERN IRELAND, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino Group 4 Germany, Russia, Finland, WALES, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein Group 5 Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia Group 6 Croatia, ENGLAND, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra Group 7 France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands Group 8 Italy, Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro Group 9 Holland, SCOTLAND, Norway, FYR Macedonia, Iceland 8 best runners-up? Sweden, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine/England*, France, Bulgaria, Holland 4 qualifiers from runners-up? Sweden, Turkey, Bulgaria, Holland * dependant on who the next England manager is, and whether the FA decide to do their job properly. There won't be many out there holding their breath on that one!

I actually laughed out loud when I heard Ferguson being interviewed after the game (he'd been sent off at half-time and had to watch the second-half from the stand). He actually came out and said "The referee didn't give my players protection". What a f*ckin' hypocrite!!! For years Manure players like Keane, Ince, Bruce, Cantona, etc..., have been kicking lumps out of opposition players, but when it happens to his little angels it's a different story. Ferguson has now gone down even further in my opinion, something I didn't think possible, the whinging c*nt!

Only minutes before, Moore stuck his hand in Pizarro's face three times, and the ref didn't even speak to him!

I think it's a great idea, but England will never agree to it. After all, why would they want to take part in a competition where they'd be lucky to finish 3rd out of 4?

Best I could come up with: - ------------------Gordon Hutton-----Richards----Terry------Bale Brown----Ferguson----Lampard---Giggs ------------Healy-------Ashton Squad players: - Bridge, Lescott, J.Cole, SWP, Barry (England) Alexander, Webster, Burke, McFadden, Boyd, Miller (Scotland) Taylor, Gillespie, Shiels (N.Ireland)

I thought you said you were gonna stay away from that local scrumpy - you know what it does to you Keep off the stuff for a month or so, Kev, and you'll be back to your normal self -

Another reason for Bluebeard to be anti-EU! As if I needed yet another reason

The main difference between McClaren and Pearce is that Pearce was, and still is, highly respected as one of England's most passionate players. I think some of Pearce's weaknesses as manager came from his inability in the transfer market - something that an international manager doesn't have to worry about. If you want a manager to really motivate an England team, there's no-one better than Pearce. Harry would be an excellent choice too, though

I totally agree. Crouch won quite a few headers throughout the game - some of the time there were no England players near enough to pick up his flick ons, but most of the time Crouch had 3 or 4 options to find a colleague, and headed straight to a Croatian player. Crouch only wins headers because of his freakish height - that doesn't mean that he's good in the air, he isn't. His inability to direct headers accurately is an embarrassment at international level. Must say, though, he took his goal extremely well. I still have to chuckle at all the people drooling over Beckham's cross - it was just a cross, for f*ck's sake, it's what a winger/wide midfielder is paid to do! Later in the game someone passed the ball to Beckham, and it went about 2 yards in front of him so he never even made an attempt to get the ball. Motson commented that if you pass to Beckham, then you must pass to his feet, as if it was understood that Beckham is too important to actually break sweat. No wonder English football is in trouble

Steve Bruce was supposed to join Wigan yesterday, but things were held up due to some 'complication'. Wonder if that 'complication' was waiting to see whether England & McClaren won or lost??? Personally, I think England's best choice would be either Stuart Pearce or Harry Redknapp. Trouble is, whoever takes over has got to be a "yes man" (so that rules Jose out), and nothing will really change much. The answer, of course, is to get rid of the FA - clear the f*ckin' lot out and start afresh, with football minded younger men who have the guts to employ someone who won't take any sh*t. Never gonna happen, naturally, and so it goes on........

Errr, if that was aimed at me, Scott, I support Scotland

Looks like they've totally underestimated the Croatians. England look awful - Bridgey's having a mare, and Gerrard has made just the two blatant dives so far (strange how they weren't commented on by the commentators). Croatia look dangerous every time they go forward, whereas England don't. When a side is 2-0 down in this situation, they look to the fans to lift them. Instead, after just 25 minutes the loyal and patriotic England fans started booing their own side, and have been doing so ever since Oh, and I'm not gloating, just making an honest observation

You dirty racist!!! naah - Barnes was just crap for England. Amazingly, he got 79 England caps, which just goes to show how long England have suffered from sh*te managers. I personally believe the highlight of Barnes' career was his stint as manager of Septic, and in my opinion he should still be there now

England have a large following of "fans" - trouble is, a lot of 'em are more interested in boo-ing their own players than getting behind the team. Always been the way, Lampard is by no means the first to suffer this - John Barnes used to get the same treatment years ago (though in his case it was more justified, obviously!)