g3.7

I think this is a pretty reprehensible idea, but I don't have sympathy for the Premier league or their 'product'. This to me seems a logical conclusion of globalisation married to the non regulation of rising ticket prices. - there is a fast growing cohort of domestic / local football supporters who have only been able to follow their clubs digitally (i.e. on TV / online) who have been priced out, added to the rapid increase in international fans who for reasons of geography cannot attend. Covid had shown that even without fans the 'minimum viable product' on offer still has a huge demand. It isn't a conspiracy that young people are the group most in favour of a supposed super league and it isn't because they lack respect for or understanding of tradition, competition, or grassroots football. This is already the way the understand football to be, and the Premier league has not just been complicit, it has been an active architect of this situation.

seems that way at the moment, doesn't it? I still pop my head in but life has been getting in the way. but hope you and everyone else round here are doing well.

Lamps has done some really good things for us as a manager, notably blooding the kids, finishing fourth, and seemingly buying well. Even if he left tomorrow, his legacy as a manager for us would be pretty good. Having said that, i have to say- he's clearly not a good coach yet. Watching us over this year and a bit I think that much is pretty clear. He's a smart bloke and emotionally intelligent, so he has the makings of a potentially good manager. But to be honest he shouldn't be at a club of this stature at this point in his career. I doubt he'll improve fast enough to avoid getting sacked at some point in the next two seasons, which is a real shame.

I don't think the stats indicate that a good player is more likely to make a good manager (and good players start out with the advantages I've outlined). Dont misunderstand me, I'm not criticising lamps, im criticising the club- if you are responsible for hiring a manager with blooding young players in mind, how high up the list of appointable candidates do you honestly place lamps at this stage in his career? Personally, i don't think he gets into the top ten, even factoring in his history at the club. It's lazy by the club - we could have given him more time away from the club to cut his teeth, why was it essential to appoint him now?

I am comparing like for like. A manager is a manager, and they should be judged against the job they do, not their age or experience. Our board wasnt forced into appointing lamps. They opted to let sarri leave to pay £4m for him.

we didn't let pep leave so we could appoint sarri, so I don't get the point you are making. in my view, the club created the conditions for sarri to leave so they could appoint someone more popular with the fans. (we could get into arguing about the club briefing against him, and whether he would have left or not if this wasn't the case given the lure of juventus etc etc, but that is my reading of it) this decision should be considered soberly, in the context of a transfer ban, hazard leaving, and our rivals strengthening. the truth is there is little evidence to say confidently that lamps is a good coach: 1) the championship is a very volatile league- aside from the very best and the very worst, the other sides all beat and lose to one another. 2) drawing firm conclusions from one campaign is hard. 3) lamps also had the advantage of being a recently retired great which earns him immediate respect, especially with young / championship players. in time we see that some great players can't sustain this as managers once the player they were starts to be forgotten, or when they start managing players as good as they were. 4) and of course he had a contact book for loans that others would not have. but there is little evidence to say he's a bad coach either. considering the improved quality of football, willingness to play young players, reaching the playoff final and some financial restrictions, his first season goes down as a qualified success. my point is that looking at chelsea's decision to take a manager with one season's experience in the championship, and that being a qualified success, rather than a avb style dismantling of the league, it has to go down as the most remarkable permanent appointment of a manager ever made by an english club in the last 25 years. it is an incredible gamble, at a time where we don't have lots of compensatory advantages against our rivals. it is irresponsible of the club, if you analyse it coldly. and if lamps is proven a success, the club will have gotten very lucky.

it's just a bit of a moan. I think chelsea, not unlike most premier league clubs, are happy to try to extract every last pound out of their customers, all whilst paying lip service to the idea that is is actually a club, that' we're supporters, etc etc to me appointing the likes of lamps and cech embodies a kind of nasty, corporatised tokenism from the club. as if its supporters are idiots who will lap up this veneer of community while spending £60 on a "chelsea dna" t shirt. I don't like what I perceive to be an attempt to have it both ways. either this is a proper sports company, in which case, run it properly, or this is a basket case football club, in which case, appoint people with no experience, hire and fire with no plan etc etc, but maybe do something serious to stop the average age of a matchgoing fan being 59 or whatever. chelsea are not one thing or the other.

in amongst the positives (which start and finish with the not insignificant blooding of young players), concerns already arise: 1) our defensive problems are essentially structural not individual, and lets not pretend otherwise. yes taking zouma out and putting rudiger in will help (and the same with kante for one of the midfielders), but this is not the reason why we're conceding lots of goals. we're conceding goals because, in every game, we concede huge huge areas of space routinely. 2) without being unkind, what is the point of playing two midfielders who pass the ball well and do everything else fairly averagely alongside a player who concedes the ball as readily as donald trump concedes the moral high ground? jorginho and ross barkley as as compatible a couple as susan sontag and piers morgan. but probably more painful to watch together. 3) if you have jorginho and kovacic, and a wide player who is coming infield, and a third player in the middle, and you still can't control the midfield at home to a promoted side then you need to look at the coach. I wasn't totally convinced by sarri, and I think it is fair to say having a club where the supporters back the manager is hugely important, but let's not beat about the bush; there is no comparison between him and lamps as coaches at this stage. given that, I think success will be not totally embarrassing ourselves this season, and hopefully proving that maybe 2-3 of the kids are realistically going to be chelsea players in the medium / long term. this isn't to have a go at lamps - he's one season in and isn't a jose / guardiola wondercoach - but already this looks like weak, facile management by the people who run the club. if you treat your supporters like customers you are obliged to be better than this.

I've just read this post, and it has reminded me that I really need to finish reading that Daniil Kharms anthology.

And which is more, you'll be a man my son.

conte wants him? yes please with zero reservations in that case.

he's been rubbish and was lucky to be bailed out by cahill and azpilucueta

For me there's no doubt he's slow and isn't an amazing one on one defender. But that's where my reversations end. He's got a great engine, a good left foot and adds a lot when we defend in the air. He's also a total natural at wingback. He's been an excellent buy. I do think we could improve on both him and moses in the summer, but it would be far from a disaster if we didn't.

I feel like we haven't talked about how good this guy has been enough. Yes, his final ball is erratic, but he is absolutely relentless- he gets up and down the pitch so quickly and so comfortably. Plus I can scarcely remember him being beaten all season. This season he has put in performances Ashley Cole would have been proud of on a consistent basis.

Probably good timing in terms of giving the fans something extra to concentrate the mind in the run in.