“I don’t like talking about individuals, but Patrick [bamford] is very important to us… I know that Jose likes him.â€

 

Aitor Karanka (Middlesborough’s Manager, 13th December, 2014)

 

This guarded quote by Jose Mourinho’s one time assistant may have ended with a defences-down name drop, but it often takes such a revelation (by trusted friend in relaxed frame of mind after a good win) to reveal a hidden truth you kinda hoped would remain just that… hidden. Although, in this instance, I’m sure Jose isn’t too miffed by a tiny breach of confidence, the odds being that nobody has paid the slightest attention to it - other than the likes of us, the fans desperately searching for the next big breakthrough into Chelsea first team contention following Ruben Loftus-Cheek in midweek. 

 

And, quite frankly, there really does need to be a continual flow of youthful good intent on the club’s part, because ten minutes at the fag end of ninety’s worth of Champions League frustrated expectation has left us all hungry for more and, perhaps like me, wondering why Jose opted to give Ruben star billing in the first place, in stark contrast to the playing down of Patrick‘s loaned out situation. Difficult to fathom? Well, not if you believe, as I do, that Jose knows exactly when and where the weight of expectation should fall on these youngsters and, especially at a club like ours, that timing is all important. Let’s start with Ruben’s sudden elevation to first team status…

 

To my mind, conspiratorial as always, the Youth Cup winning captain provided Jose with an ideal home grown player to present to the media at a time when Man City were unveiling a new Academy and parading a host foreign imports in the accompanying promotional coverage on Sky. Indeed, such was the success of this ’counter-offensive’, Sky’s Soccer Saturday crew felt obliged to launch a grossly exaggerated retaliatory attack of their own, using a couple of regular panel members to deliver an anti-Chels message that bordered on the defamatory. Firstly, Paul Merson was prompted by Jeff Stelling to comment, not so much on Loftus-Cheek’s performance, but on our previous [admittedly poor] record of youth development. Like a frightened terrorist hostage told to deliver pre-prepared propaganda, Mers looked sheepish prior to responding, before plunging into a totally negative diatribe that ended with him seeing no reason at all [even now?] why the mother of any gifted young footballer would choose Chelsea as the club to develop her child’s talent.

 

Talk about an unprovoked attack! And one that was soon followed by Charlie Nicholas who, when asked to comment specifically on Ruben’s cameo performance, pre-empted it by thinking back to the youngster’s arrival at Chelsea which [he recalled] was at great cost, the player being ’nicked from West Ham at around [the age of] fifteen’. Now Charlie may be getting on a bit these days and never was the sharpest tool in the penalty box, but feigning unawareness of the player’s allegiance to our club since the tender age of eight, a fact both stated and stressed by the lad himself at his press conference, either proves just how low this Saturday show’s level has sunk or how ludicrous the Nicholas punditry has become, or both. Finally, to compound all this utter bilge, reference was then made [by Stelling] to Middlesborough completing their victory against Derby a few moments earlier with ‘Patrick Bamford scoring for Boro against one of his other clubs’, making him sound like an old seasoned pro, no mention made of him remaining a Chelsea player throughout both loan periods.

 

Of course, there is no good reason why Sky should take the stance they do regarding our club, but we need search no further than Jose himself if we really wanted to find one. Of late, the Special One has made it abundantly clear in his press conferences that the tele-visual element of the media circus is getting right up his nose, whereas the print side of things is far more acceptable and worthy of all his quotable material, plus the odd smile or two. Hence the recent sullen demeanour in front of the cameras, swiftly followed by sweetness and light for the scribes - the boss knows it’s pointless giving Sky and their assorted gossipmongers game-related information or his best lines, as they’re not going to air any of it on SSN anyway. 

 

Clear evidence of this good cop-bad cop approach was seen in Jose’s handling of the emotive Lampard situation, when he gave TV the cold shoulder [another team’s player, no comment] but said the following to the print brigade:-

 

“My view is that when you want to look forward, look for the future and have people like Fabregas, Matic and Jermie Boga, which are the next 10 years of the club, not the next year, we made the right decision…. The nucleus of the team has to be developed, if you have a big player like Frank it would stop the development of the other guys.â€

 

How refreshing and revealing is that, even providing a golden nugget of information about a certain Monsieur Boga being earmarked as Frank’s long term replacement, should anyone wish to sit up and take notice! Little wonder Jose has grown tired of Gary Cotterill and his Sky cronies asking him about controversies [mostly of their own making] or wanting to know why he isn’t happy with life - honestly, who would be having to answer dumb questions like that all the time? No, what we are seeing here is Mourinho manipulation at its best - the drip feed of detail for journalists willing to take it up and run with it for their readership, and for the rest, well, they can go hang - around Pellegrini and learn how ‘important’ wins are in football, for the umpteenth time. 

 

And the dilemma for Jose? Well, he has to judge the moment to stop those hints to print and begin delivering in earnest. A good start would be confirmation that Patrick Bamford is coming back as third striker next season - sooner rather than later, please. The boy is doing everything that could possibly be asked of him and, once rewarded, I look forward to that costly kid we nicked from the Hammers taking a similar loaned out route to eventual Chelsea first team status. Reported on or not, it can only benefit all parties concerned and, adapting a current quality player euphemism… what’s not to like?

 

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Edited December 15, 201411 yr by Dorset

The lad from One Direction had a text from Jose proclaiming "he scores again" RE Bamford when on loan at Derby last season and there was quote from Bamfordino himself in the summer that Jose was debating making him 3rd choice. 

 

He's scoring semi regular for Boro now and so if ever there was a player with a chance to come into the first team squad it's got to Bamford, if Drogba decides to move into a coaching role you have the perfect storm for Bamford to come into the squad and in DD he'd have a fantastic mentor in helping him transition into the Premier League. 

 

Possibly a bit too much wishful thinking on my part but who knows. 

Big fan of Bamford. He's a very good young man and as a player he's got this tremendous knack of scoring goals. Doesn't rely on pace like a lot of youngsters, but instead uses intelligent positioning to get goals which should see him able to replicate his form at the top level. Still a long way to go but I reckon he's got a great chance of being third choice next year.

 

But the reason RLC was given 'star billing' is because he's still actually at the club, but he's also a real stud of a prospect. Physically, technically and mentally he's probably the best prospect we have at the moment and the best advert for the club.

A lot of people may be dubious of Jose's claims of youth production, but I have faith that he will put his money where his mouth is this time; there is no reason why he wouldn't. 

I think it will take a few more years but we will see more of the youth fill the squad space. Players like Salah and Mikel will move on and youth might be given the squad space.

The thing is it isnt just down to Jose. The player himself has to wait and want to make it. If a young player says he doesnt want to play only cup games and has to play week in week out then what can we do? The player will have to leave because he isnt going to replace someone like Hazard or Costa in the team.

I think Ake is the perfect example of this. He has waited and take his chances when they have come up and now he seems like the one closest to be given a first team squad space.

Ive seen Bamford 4 or 5 times now, and each time Ive been very impressed by his movement and also the percentage of shots he gets on target. Take the penalty he won no the weekend for example, the way he got back onside and found space in the box was movement of a much more experienced player, it was superb work.

our scouts certainly did brilliantly to find him. I really hope he does get into the team next season. 

good assessment and i really do see JM doing a good job in allowing the youngsters to flourish.