Sorry for the random topic but I just found this on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H-uLTawM8g

Watching that makes me so gutted that he threw it all away ;) I genuinly thought he was gonna be one of the Chelsea greats at the beggining of that season.

he was a good player but he took drugs and the club kicked him out

Yeah, really sad that he f*cked it all up. Could have been great at Chelsea.

Forgot he had 2 good feet... could have ended the number 7 jinx yet he pissed it all up the wall.

Thought he and Crespo were going to set the world alight. Shame the London Life got too much for him, such a waste.

Also have to admit, it seemed like one hell of an astute signing by Claudio at the time. I loved that "double free kick" goal against Leicester

Edited March 20, 201016 yr by mad_mac

Yeah, I am more tolerant than most obviously, maybe it might have been in Chelsea's interest to have supported him through his troubles.

I was also thinking against Wet Spam, that our Midfield would have been better with Scott Parker still in it rather than Ballack

Also I think Duff has had a good season, Robben playing a little more regularly at the moment.

Great team in hindsight.

Looking back, we should have kept him and helped through rehab. The guy has ability, more than Kalou etc could ever dream off. As soon as he was let go, Juventus (still a big club back then) picked up him. Yes he was a drug cheat and play boy, but United did stick with Rio when he was suspended for a year. We can only speculate what he could have done if the club gave him a chance. At the time, we had all the money in the world, he was one of those we tossed out when things went wrong :)

Looking back, we should have kept him and helped through rehab. The guy has ability, more than Kalou etc could ever dream off. As soon as he was let go, Juventus (still a big club back then) picked up him. Yes he was a drug cheat and play boy, but United did stick with Rio when he was suspended for a year. We can only speculate what he could have done if the club gave him a chance. At the time, we had all the money in the world, he was one of those we tossed out when things went wrong :angry:

Chelsea did offer him rehab after asking him if he had any drugs problems, in fact they asked him 3 times in total i think with mutu denynig it right to the end. He was given every chance by our club and f**ked us off, o no we shouldnt have kept him.

It pisses me off that he never worked out. Like Jack, i thought he was a surefire legend the way he started. Then the curse of the #7 shirt took hold.

btw, andy, I doubt the Parker we see today wouldve ever come that good at Chelsea when he was but a bench option.

Chelsea did offer him rehab after asking him if he had any drugs problems, in fact they asked him 3 times in total i think with mutu denynig it right to the end. He was given every chance by our club and f**ked us off, o no we shouldnt have kept him.

Exactly, rival fans often slate us for "kicking him to the curb" but he threw away the chances he had to get better here. Roman wouldve made sure he had the best treatment, but he "didnt have a problem" and Jose wasnt going to mess about with a distraction like that in the squad when there was a league to be won.

Lets not forget the affair with the Romanian porn star, and then fleeing the police in downtown Bucharest. We had a "bad boy" reputation at that time too.