Davey Baby

A trip down memory lane folks .. Graeme Le Saux .. Robbie Fowler . .? Unlike Terry, who didn't direct his comment at Ferdinand but rather at thin air, seeing as he was miles from Ferdinand when he said it and Ferdinand couldn't hear it, Fowler made a directly homophobic gesture towards Le Saux, one that couldn't be misinterpreted .. He turned round and offered Le Saux his bum. The outcome .. ? I knew you'd ask that. Firstly, there was no clamour for Fowler to be sacked, there was no media campaign waged against him, there was no debate regarding the national team, even though he had committed a criminal offence. Suffice to say there was no police investigation. He got a 2 game ban. Le Saux was banned for 1 game .. for .. wait for it .. elbowing Fowler off the ball. How did this episode affect Fowler .. ? Was he shunned by media outlets and turned into a pariah .. ? No, he's still regarded as the loveable rogue he always was. No slur on his name .. none at all. Meanwhile Graeme had to endure far more taunting as a result of Robbie's actions. "Chelsea rent boy .. Chelsea rent boy". I don't remember opposing fans having to apologise for that.

Someone voted for Malouda. Hands up.

If we fail to win we're out of the title race ..

Good shout. Alas, the song will come back and bite Terry on the bum, as rival fans adapt it to their own ends.

Onwards and upwards .. I don't care who plays so long as Mikel, Malouda and Anelka are left at home. I love you all very much.

Whatever you're smoking .. Stop. It ain't good for you.

You don't know John Terry.

We lose our next CL game and it becomes interesting. Very lacklustre tonight.

The chant was, "Anton Ferdinand, you know what you are". The press are going to lap this up. We go from having a racist captain to having racist fans to being a racist club. You can see it now. There is a police investigation, the press are hanging our guy out to dry, and the whole thing hovers over us like a cloud. Our black players won't like the chant, and I think we would be better advised supporting JT than attacking Ferdinand in this way, as it doesn't help our cause and that of our captain's in any way. JT should come out and discourage anybody from commenting or chanting in this fashion. That would help him no end. Christmas came early for the press no doubt. I am seriously disturbed by all of this. It's going to do us untold harm, if it hasn't already. Morale may have been affected. This sh*t is bothering me folks. The manager has to earn his corn. What an initiation for AVB ..

Not me mate. I believe the club want to stay at the Bridge, and have said that all along. The club have never said it was totally impossible, quite the opposite. They have said they can expand by a few thousand but it's not economically viable, which I have no reason to disbelieve. They used the word "proof" in regard exhausting every avenue. I simply pointed out they hadn't provided any, which is true. I believed for CPOs to make an informed choice, the club needed to be far more transparent. Proof means proof. The fact that they didn't provide proof opened them up for accusations. They may well be able to bring the capacity up to 50k, say, in which case the vote would always have been no, regardless of the economic argument. And they wanted a yes vote. They don't just want to fit in 8000 more seats, they want a whole lot more than that, they want a state-of-the-art stadium with lots of room for hospitality, and for that they need more space than SB can provide. That's my opinion. They want their money's worth, and I see their point of view. The council are making it clear they are not prejudicing Chelsea, which may well be true, but they have to say this, as they are supporting Fulham in their re-development and will be assisting QPR should they move. Add to this the fact many Chelsea fans have probably complained to them recently regarding expansion of the Bridge, hence their statement in my view. Sadly, I can't see a solution at the Bridge, however much we all (the club included) want it. It is a 13 acre site first of all, and also, local residents would be aghast to see the stadium expanded significantly even if it were possible. The statement is very carefully worded in that regard. Edit: Just can't see it happening I'm afraid however much I'd like to get my hopes up ..

I think Terry should come out with a statement along the lines of .. "I'm dismayed to discover that a few individuals have been posting racist comments on Ferdinand's twitter account. I'm also dismayed to discover that Ferdinand has stated that this provides proof that I have led such individuals into such action by example. I condemn such action and I refute the allegation."

Not going to happen mate. Impossible. The council have said it for political reasons.

Blackburn is absolutely .. 100% .. a must-win game. Tonight's line-up must be determined with this in mind. Our line-up against Blackburn should be .. Cech Ivanovic Cole Luiz Terry Oriol Ramires Lamps Torres Sturridge Mata Apart from Oriol and Luiz, I would like to see all these players rested, although I would like to see a strong bench. This team should be good enough for Genk, and it's worth remembering Fergie often fields an under-strength side against weaker sides in this competition .. Turnbull Boswinga Paulo Luiz Alex Oriol Josh Mereiles Anelka Kalou Malouda I really think I've nailed it and I think you should all congratulate me. May I just add that I think that front three is crap.

If I was you I'd have hidden that pathetic statement in a very small font. Or invisible ink. Stop embarrassing yourself. There's one particular scene that sticks in the mind, yes.

Didn't know whether to put this in the Twitter thread or the Terry thread but felt it deserved a thread of its own, apologies to Mods if that's the wrong call. After releasing a statement yesterday in which he concludes that he will make no further comment until after the inquiry, dear old Anton Ferdinand has been tweeting. Predictably, he got a few nasty messages among the throng of support. One of which read, "You f**king black c**t", to which Ferdinand posted, "More proof of JT leading his moronic fans by example". I really hope the FA come down on him like a ton of bricks. I'm not holding my breath ..

I just feel this is a bad situation for Terry and Chelsea. It's really bothering me. I also think this is going to take a lot of nous on the part of the manager, and I'm not convinced he has the instinct or the experience necessary. It's a very difficult one to handle, far more than the Wayne Bridge case in my view. QPR was a nightmare from start to finish, and unbelievably, we are being painted as the bad guys. £20,000 fine and now this. Really, you couldn't make it up. I admire our manager hugely but this is a test, and, whichever way it pans out, Chelsea and Terry are tarnished unfortunately, which is part of the reason the story's so big, because it creates the desired affect, to sully our name.

I agree with this. Edit: It's the manager's responsibility to ensure they do.

Regarding Danny, sure he had a shocker, but people are underestimating his inexperience, surely? He played 12 games for Bolton. He hardly featured under Carlo. How many games did he get for City? The Utd and Arsenal games were by far the biggest of his career. He may be 22 or so but don't let that mask the fact he has hardly any experience, due mainly to the fact we do not nurture kids properly and we stifle their development. Our expectations of him must be tempered by this reality in my view. He has underperformed in those two games but it's all new to him, it really is. In terms of playing time he's far behind most 22 year olds I suspect.

I agree with much of your post but can I just point out that Sturridge is extremely inexperienced. People often overlook that fact. He has hardly played any games in his professional career, let alone big ones.

Tottenham are playing well, if yesterday's game was anything to go by. We would be foolish to dismiss them, and to underestimate the challenge that may lie ahead. AVB has some big decisions to make, regarding Terry, Lampard and Drogba, three stalwarts of a very successful era for the club. Lampard may need rotating, whatever he says to the contrary, Terry may need to be taken out of the firing line (as Fergie has done with his players time after time), and Drogba may need a reality check. Against QPR, AVB got a big decison wrong, by taking off Sturridge instead of Drogba when we went a man down. The only conceivable reason I can think of is that hauling Droga off would have been a much bigger call, so he went for the easy option, understandably, as Drogba is a complicated animal and you don't want to lose him, but the team gets picked on merit, and if you're not delivering you should not be preferred to someone that is. That is the mantra that has served every successful manager since day dot.

Martin Samuel we salute you .. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2055456/John-Terrys-future-stake-Anton-Ferdinand-race-row--Martin-Samuel.html

Don't worry Dorset, Fergie will be starting the mind games soon. Can't agree with you here. Mata has started very well, and if it ain't broke .. He's an attacker. Let him attack. You may be waiting in vain. Ho ho ho. I can't wait for this .. I've looked on Google Maps and Surrey is definitely nearer to his kids. Do you really want Kia Joorabchian at every game, mixing with Roman? Careful what you wish for mate. It was bad enough when Pini Zahavi was holding court ..

Fair enough. However how he performed at youth level has little bearing on his professional career. Many strikers end up being centre-halves and vice versa. Players develop in different ways and I don't think there's any relevance to Mikel's youth days. This is how I feel, others will disagree. The kid you see does not necessarily equate to the pro you'll see.

I guess it has something to do with age. Josh is an U21 player whereas Ryan isn't.

I agree with many of the observations here. I can't stand Mikel and I make no apology for it. He is a Chelsea player and I back him but I just do not rate him. For me, along with Anelka, he is least deserving of the wages he picks up. It just isn't enough. No way near enough. As others have said, he needs longer on the ball than his teammates, because it takes him longer to see things and make decisions. He is never one step ahead but always two behind in my view. I find him infuriating to watch. He has good technique, and he is clearly no donkey, and he can look elegant on the ball, but that's all it is, a facade. There is very little substance going on, when you examine his contribution. Castiel says he's inconsistent, but I disagree with that. I think he's very consistent. You always know what you're going to get and sadly, it's not good enough. Occasionally he does have a good game, and he improved under Hiddink, but invariably it's more of the same. As for Castiel's observation that we may be to blame for converting him into a DM, again I disagree. He shows no evidence of having a creative/attacking instinct in his body. If it was there, we would have seen it, just as we've seen it with Josh when he's been asked to play deep. All of which would be fine if he could hold, but he can't. He still hasn't really grasped the position for me, but of course we were spoilt with Makelele. I really think Oriol grasps the position far more and is just an all-round better player. Mikel has no pace, no athleticism, he is immobile, he is the worst header I have ever seen, and he lacks aggression. He is strong, I'll give him that, and he is big, but it's not enough. Having said that we have to be careful not to scapegoat him. He is not responsible for Arsenal and QPR, though he didn't help things in my view. A lot more is being asked of him now we are far more open, and again that's not his fault. Also, many respected managers have kept on picking him, and I rate AVB, so there may be something I'm missing. Having said that, I fully expect Oriol to take over, and quick. The other thing that must be noted is that Mikel seldom makes silly mistakes in his own box, like Luiz for example, or like Essien did when he was asked to hold last season. Mikel is very disciplined in that sense. He used to make silly tackles but not now, and that's one thing to his credit. Would I be sorry to see him go? No. Have I completely given up? No, but I've been saying that a long time now, and it's wearing thin.