Yes Jose wanted to improve the squad but the only players you can really say that he wanted and didn't sign were Pogba and Stones (I already explained why they were near impossible targets for obvious reasons). As ambitious as Jose is, he signed Falcao but no one mentions it!!! Imagine the board were the ones who pushed that signing, all hell would break loose as it already is.

 

 

Falcao was brought in to replace Drogba, the third-choice striker. He was a punt and it hasn't paid off but I don't think it's a huge issue. Personally losing Drogba's presence in the dressing room was the biggest loss in this deal.

 

 

Selling Cech was hardly weakening the squad from a number 2goalkeeping standpoint and I get why he was sold. He wanted to sign for Arsenal, you say the board doesn't respect it's players but Roman showed class in not holding a club legend should be a number 1 against his will. We got 10m for him. A year later we would lose him for free to the same direct rival.  Our goalkeeping situation is not the reason we are/were in the position we are/were in.

 

 

Again, presence. Losing Drogba is one thing, losing Cech is another and that's one more big personality in the dressing room that you've lost.

 

Selling him to a rival, a hated rival at that and one who have been crying out for a top-class keeper for almost a decade against the initial wishes of the coach.....that's undermining him and the club in one-fell swoop. But we got a good fee for him (although he had two years left on his contract).....

 

To answer your question, what gave me an indication that this club could compete is that the board were not forced to sell any of the players that helped us win the title. Our squad was good enough to retain the title. The Pedro signing hasn't really worked yet. I still remember in August everyone from our own fans to the media backing us to win the league. We haven't even come close to challenging for even a Europa place and yet we still make excuses for Jose and blame the board. This is what I don't get. If we were a inch off challenging I would understand your points more.

 

 

So the one act you can point to that says the club was willing to retain the title is that we didn't lose any players from a squad who limped across the line and were completely outclassed in Europe? That's whilst our rivals (with our help) improve their squads?

 

Our squad wasn't good enough to retain the title and it certainly wasn't after the board weakened it. Luis for Rahman, Begovic for Cech, Pedro for Cuadrado - every one of these moves either does nothing to improve us or weakens us. Cech to Arsenal weakens us and improves Arsenal immeasurably. 

 

Djilobodgi and Kennedy are the only two additions we actually make to the squad. One of them has now left.

 

You can blame Jose but what has happened since he's left?

 

Ramires sold. Remy on the verge of leaving. Two more squad players being sold by a club too arrogant or too naive to realise they're in a relegation battle. 

 

Pato brought in. 

 

Mourinho won the title in May and then had his squad weakened by the board. I can absolutely understand how a guy who puts so much pressure on himself to win would crumble in the way he did. The club didn't put him in a position to succeed which is what you need to do with Jose. When they sorta did that in 2014, he won them the title. 

 

And you can't point to a single ambitious action this club took. That is something you can't do in the Premier League. When you stop trying to move forward, you get overtaken.

My opinion may come across as unpopular, but I care about my club far more than any player and manager. I have seen so many great things I could never have imagined and thank the board for that.

 

 

You've got it the wrong way around. The board aren't the club, they're merely custodians. They serve the club and the club is the supporters. 

 

Roman gives Jose a warchest to build a squad and within 2 years it falls to bits and Roman gets the blame for lack of ambition.

 

 

Mate, it wasn't. We've seen that. Jose didn't actually have a considerable warchest. He had to sell players to buy players and that's why in his three years here he had an average net spend lower than clubs like Crystal Palace.

 

JT nearly leaves for City in 2010 and demands that no player is paid more than him (this has stopped I know), but it's the board who don't show 100% loyalty.

 

Out of interest, is there anything you are critical of Mr Abramovich and Mr Emenalo of? Or are they beyond reproach?

Falcao was brought in to replace Drogba, the third-choice striker. He was a punt and it hasn't paid off but I don't think it's a huge issue. Personally losing Drogba's presence in the dressing room was the biggest loss in this deal.

 

 

Again, presence. Losing Drogba is one thing, losing Cech is another and that's one more big personality in the dressing room that you've lost.

 

Selling him to a rival, a hated rival at that and one who have been crying out for a top-class keeper for almost a decade against the initial wishes of the coach.....that's undermining him and the club in one-fell swoop. But we got a good fee for him (although he had two years left on his contract).....

 

 

So the one act you can point to that says the club was willing to retain the title is that we didn't lose any players from a squad who limped across the line and were completely outclassed in Europe? That's whilst our rivals (with our help) improve their squads?

 

Our squad wasn't good enough to retain the title and it certainly wasn't after the board weakened it. Luis for Rahman, Begovic for Cech, Pedro for Cuadrado - every one of these moves either does nothing to improve us or weakens us. Cech to Arsenal weakens us and improves Arsenal immeasurably. 

 

Djilobodgi and Kennedy are the only two additions we actually make to the squad. One of them has now left.

 

You can blame Jose but what has happened since he's left?

 

Ramires sold. Remy on the verge of leaving. Two more squad players being sold by a club too arrogant or too naive to realise they're in a relegation battle. 

 

Pato brought in. 

 

Mourinho won the title in May and then had his squad weakened by the board. I can absolutely understand how a guy who puts so much pressure on himself to win would crumble in the way he did. The club didn't put him in a position to succeed which is what you need to do with Jose. When they sorta did that in 2014, he won them the title. 

 

And you can't point to a single ambitious action this club took. That is something you can't do in the Premier League. When you stop trying to move forward, you get overtaken.

 

Drogba's loss was big and I remember many fans (not you) saying how he ruined his legacy by coming back as he was not the same player.  Bringing in Falco wasn't a huge issue because Jose signed him but when Emanalo endorses Papy for £3.1m suddenly it becomes a big issue.

 

Cech didn't have two years left. This was his last year, which is why we had to cash in now. How is the board respecting Cech's decision to leave a bad thing undermining Jose in a negative way? Can there be no understanding that a club legend deserves to be playing more football at the highest level? If anything blame Cech for wanting to go to a rival, but rightly so none of us do. Easy option though is to take it out on the board.

 

We limped across the line yes but we only lost one game in 4 months. Plus why has Jose built a squad that has to limp across the line for 4 months and continue into next season? We were outclassed due to Joses negative tactics and poor approach to big games and PSG are a top side anyway.

 

Luis didn't even get any game time. Bergovic is probably the best number 2 in the league and Pedro is miles better than Cuadrado who was a disaster of a signing. Jose shouldve just kept Schurlle.

 

Ramires sold for good money, Remy always injured. We won't get relegated now and the season is a write off. Pato's signing is an experiement and no big deal considering we won't get into the top 4.

 

What ambition did Levy show this summer? What ambition did Wenger show (Cech alone is not enough, they needed a striker and DMF, what ambition did Leicester show)?

 

This lack of ambition at Chelsea is laughable considering the money Jose has been given and not once been forced to sell his best assets.

You've got it the wrong way around. The board aren't the club, they're merely custodians. They serve the club and the club is the supporters. 

 

 

Mate, it wasn't. We've seen that. Jose didn't actually have a considerable warchest. He had to sell players to buy players and that's why in his three years here he had an average net spend lower than clubs like Crystal Palace.

 

 

Out of interest, is there anything you are critical of Mr Abramovich and Mr Emenalo of? Or are they beyond reproach?

 

Roman, I can't fault him. When you look at other owners, they are nothing like him with regards to commitment and intention. Yes he sacked managers, but now look, every other club does the same thing. He is not perfect but for an owner, he is pretty close. Emanalo, I don't know too much about, none of us do. People just blame him because hes Nigerian and are too scared to shout out to Roman. Same situation with Rafa, give him abuse but too scared to take it out on the real source. Its all scapegoating.

Drogba's loss was big and I remember many fans (not you) saying how he ruined his legacy by coming back as he was not the same player.  Bringing in Falco wasn't a huge issue because Jose signed him but when Emanalo endorses Papy for £3.1m suddenly it becomes a big issue.

 

Cech didn't have two years left. This was his last year, which is why we had to cash in now. How is the board respecting Cech's decision to leave a bad thing undermining Jose in a negative way? Can there be no understanding that a club legend deserves to be playing more football at the highest level? If anything blame Cech for wanting to go to a rival, but rightly so none of us do. Easy option though is to take it out on the board.

 

 

Nope, you're right. 2016 his deal expired. We didn't have to sell him to a direct rival and one might say you've flipped from your view that no-one is bigger than the club to a view that we should acquiesce to player's wishes. I take it on more of a case-by-case basis and I think strengthening a rival like Arsenal isn't what you should do to the fans.

 

 

We limped across the line yes but we only lost one game in 4 months. Plus why has Jose built a squad that has to limp across the line for 4 months and continue into next season? We were outclassed due to Joses negative tactics and poor approach to big games and PSG are a top side anyway.

 

One could argue that we didn't have the squad big enough to rotate when we needed to, because of a lack of investment. 

 

 

Luis didn't even get any game time. Bergovic is probably the best number 2 in the league and Pedro is miles better than Cuadrado who was a disaster of a signing. Jose shouldve just kept Schurlle.

 

 

But you're ignoring the point that you're weakening a squad that already has issues. That's been the point all the way through and you've not really disputed it, so is it safe to say that you agree that we weakened the squad this summer?

 

Ramires sold for good money, Remy always injured. We won't get relegated now and the season is a write off. Pato's signing is an experiement and no big deal considering we won't get into the top 4.

 

 

Why won't we get relegated? What gives us the divine right not to be relegated? Newcastle is our easiest fixture for the next two and a bit months and if we win that we're a bit safer, but anything less than 3 points puts us in real danger. 

 

Again, arrogance and naivety could be this club's downfall and if we're actually in a relegation fight, then we've weakened the squad in the last month. That is pretty stupid.

 

What ambition did Levy show this summer? What ambition did Wenger show (Cech alone is not enough, they needed a striker and DMF, what ambition did Leicester show)?

 

This lack of ambition at Chelsea is laughable considering the money Jose has been given and not once been forced to sell his best assets.

 

Wenger fixed an issue that has been plaguing them for years, but if you're actually comparing us to teams that only have top four aspirations then that says it all. 

 

Tell me the honest reason you didn't use Man United or Man City as examples. Because they're ambitious. They made moves to improve their squad and they've already done the same for next season by getting new coaches.

 

This lack of ambition at Chelsea is laughable considering the money Jose has been given and not once been forced to sell his best assets.

 

Again, it comes down to net spend. How much new money was Jose given to improve the squad.

 

Last summer we took a squad with issues and weakened it. If you tell me that you honestly believe that isn't true then that's fine. But with all due respect I don't think you nor anyone else on this forum or in the ground would.

 

 

Roman, I can't fault him. When you look at other owners, they are nothing like him with regards to commitment and intention. Yes he sacked managers, but now look, every other club does the same thing. He is not perfect but for an owner, he is pretty close. Emanalo, I don't know too much about, none of us do. People just blame him because hes Nigerian and are too scared to shout out to Roman. Same situation with Rafa, give him abuse but too scared to take it out on the real source. Its all scapegoating.

 

Roman has had muddled thinking for the last decade about what he wants from this club and he's appointed certain people poorly. 

 

But I think it's massively unfair to suggest that Emenalo is criticised for his nationality. There's no reason to play the race card because apart from anything else, people can see straight through it nowadays.

 

Emenalo was over-promoted not based on his record or experience, but because of his personal relationships with Grant and Abramovich. Look at the way a club like Bayern appoints someone to a similar position. They demand the best and they get the best. The suspicion of Emenalo goes back to the Ancelotti days when Butch was sacked and Emenalo promoted. 

 

The guy went from under-12 girls coaching in Tuscon in 2007 to assistant coach in 2010, to sporting director in 2011. In any other area of work that raises questions but Roman is able to do as he pleases, and he does. 

 

 

EDIT

 

Enjoyed the back and forth but I think it's going to go around in circles soon. I do get where you're coming from and I do love many things about Roman but I think last summer was a failure and that Roman's fluctuating demands for what he wants on the pitch has caused instability. I don't think it's worth going over the same points though. Ultimately we want the club to progress and for that to happen we need to institute changes. Hopefully that happens.

Edited February 11, 201610 yr by ShedEnder91

Fair enough,  i'll agree to disagree on most points. I have no doubt we will see good times sooner rather than later, so will remain positive.

It's not often I agree with Blue Daze but there are some good points there.

 

The one thing I must state though is that it is an ever increasingly popular view point to look at the boards business over the summer as one of the main reasons for our fall from grace this season.

 

Now, in hindsight, it was not a good summer I think we can all agree. I say in hindsight, as I don't think people thought it was anyway near as bad at the time as they do now. The majority, myself included, had major doubts about Falcao bringing anything useful to the table and selling Cech to Arsenal was always going to be a disaster- terrible , terrible decision, and the worst thing was that everyone knew it.

 

The majority were very happy we "stole" Pedro from United's grasp though. There was hope he would turn out to be more Sanchez than Salah.

 

I don't remember many complaining about Baba either. Personally I was a fan of Luis myself but that's not the point.

 

The point is that, we had a bad summer, yes.

You could certainly argue it was bad enough for us to not be competing for the title (although Leicester being top does somewhat reduce the credibility of that argument).

What you can't argue, is that it was bad enough for us to be in a relegation battle. No chance.

I think if Jose had the team hovering around the Europa places we could quite easily justify blaming it all on the board and that would be nice and convenient. Hell, let's all just blame it all on Emanalo as that seems to be the most fashionable scapegoat to use these days.

 

The fact of the matter is that our transfer activity over the summer was one ingredient to our downfall but in reality, it doesn't even begin to explain our current plight and that is down to Jose and the players.

Edited February 11, 201610 yr by mclovin83

 

What you can't argue, is that it was bad enough for us to be in a relegation battle. No chance.

I think if Jose had the team hovering around the Europa places we could quite easily justify blaming it all on the board and that would be nice and convenient. Hell, let's all just blame it all on Emanalo as that seems to be the most fashionable scapegoat to use these days.

 

The fact of the matter is that our transfer activity over the summer was one ingredient to our downfall but in reality, it doesn't even begin to explain our current plight and that is down to Jose and the players.

 

Totally agree. Even though we weren't perhaps going to be competing for the title, we shouldn't have been where we were but here's why I think we did.

 

You have Formula One cars designed to do one thing - go fast around a track. You have to push those things as hard as you can but in a controlled way. What you can't do is drive them slow because the tyres don't have enough heat in them to have any grip and you don't build up enough downforce to keep them cemented to the road. Ultimately they spin off. We spun off.

 

I don't think Jose knows how to go less than full speed. I think he's tuned to work well within very fine margins and he's high maintenance. That happens to a lot of successful people I think, if they aren't going full speed then they become unpredictable and frustrated. They need resources that match their ambition and I think that was the biggest issue between the two parties.

Edited February 11, 201610 yr by ShedEnder91

Totally agree. Even though we weren't perhaps going to be competing for the title, we shouldn't have been where we were but here's why I think we did.

You have Formula One cars designed to do one thing - go fast around a track. You have to push those things as hard as you can but in a controlled way. What you can't do is drive them slow because the tyres don't have enough heat in them to have any grip and you don't build up enough downforce to keep them cemented to the road. Ultimately they spin off. We spun off.

I don't think Jose knows how to go less than full speed. I think he's tuned to work well within very fine margins and he's high maintenance. That happens to a lot of successful people I think, if they aren't going full speed then they become unpredictable and frustrated. They need resources that match their ambition and I think that was the biggest issue between the two parties.

Not disagreeing with but kindly relate all that mechanics in line 2 with the situation Chelsea is/was. Thanks

IMO our net spend on transfers in has been low compared to city and United, however that's not the whole picture !

I understand from looking through the media news reports that Chelsea pay massive wages ( according to the media.....Chelsea has the highest wage bill in the premier league ) and obviously a major contributing factor of that Represents the massive wages Chelsea are paying to the 300 players out on loan !

And the millions that CFC is paying to agents.

Chelsea are planning to spend 500 million on a new stadium and understandably they are tightening their belt, by trying to reduce the wage bill.

The Chelsea board recruitment policy is to buy Cuadrado & Salah etc type players ( which is a joke ), because we already have players like ..Moses, Ake, Christensen and many more others who are better than those we are buying.....it's ridiculous !

We need to play more of our home grown youth players and reduce the number of players out on loan.

The point is that The real overall total costs incurred of buying a player involves so much more than just the transfer fee.

I would love to see great players back at the club in a coaching or managerial capacity.

 

Babayaro would be a good start.

My opinion may come across as unpopular, but I care about my club far more than any player and manager. I have seen so many great things I could never have imagined and thank the board for that.

 

Roman gives Jose a warchest to build a squad and within 2 years it falls to bits and Roman gets the blame for lack of ambition.

 

JT nearly leaves for City in 2010 and demands that no player is paid more than him (this has stopped I know), but it's the board who don't show 100% loyalty.

You seem to be a bag of contradictions.

 

You can thank the board for wonderful things, I imagine such as winning 4 BPL titles, but feel no appreciation for the man who won 3 of those 4 titles?  You chose to ignore that it was the meddling of the board that prevented those titles from being say 5, 6 or 7 instead of just 4?  (forcing players on managers, sacking the #2 for no justifiable reason behind the managers back, failing to support a winning manager but instead actively undermining and weaking their squad on multiple occasions etc).

 

What war chest was Mourinho given to win that title?  Keep in mind that was the first time in a decade a title had been won while making a profit in transfers (Or in simple speak, Jose sold more than he bought).  The squad that won the title was funded by selling the players you seem to hate Mourinho for (again, no sale if the board disagrees)...yet that title doesnt exist without those new players.

 

Of course the squad fell to bits this season, I wont beat this bush again other than to state the fact that this squads problems were obvious  months before they lifted the title yet no transfer action was taken until after the season had already started and then they were desperate last minute bids that really had no feasible chance of success.  

 

In terms of the board showing loyalty, to whom?  Cech?  Certainly, but by being loyal to Cech they betrayed the fans and the manager....For such a loyal board, we sure see a lot of Chelsea legends wearing the shirts of our direct BPL rivals in recent years.  Lets see if they do the hattrick and get Terry off to either MUFC or LFC, then it can be three seasons in a row for Chelsea fans to see their biggest modern legends in a hated rivals shirt...... shame they missed the trick with Drogba, could of been 4 years on the trot if they shipped him to a BPL club instead of Turkey after the CL win.

IMO our net spend on transfers in has been low compared to city and United, however that's not the whole picture !

I understand from looking through the media news reports that Chelsea pay massive wages ( according to the media.....Chelsea has the highest wage bill in the premier league ) and obviously a major contributing factor of that Represents the massive wages Chelsea are paying to the 300 players out on loan !

And the millions that CFC is paying to agents.

Chelsea are planning to spend 500 million on a new stadium and understandably they are tightening their belt, by trying to reduce the wage bill.

The Chelsea board recruitment policy is to buy Cuadrado & Salah etc type players ( which is a joke ), because we already have players like ..Moses, Ake, Christensen and many more others who are better than those we are buying.....it's ridiculous !

We need to play more of our home grown youth players and reduce the number of players out on loan.

The point is that The real overall total costs incurred of buying a player involves so much more than just the transfer fee.

 

Absolutely agree and I've said that with FFP and amortisation that Net Spend is not a definitive indication of our expenditure on players, but when your supposed competitors are outspending you by three or four times over a three year period then it gives an indication of where things are heading. Our wages are roughly the same as United's and City's and the three teams tend to swap positions at the top of the wages table most year.

 

The real issue for me is that we seem to waste a lot of resources because we have poor leadership at the top. If you're not maintaining consistency on the pitch in terms of playing style then it's hard to make mid or long-term plans especially when it comes to player acquisition. A player like Chalobah will have gone through about four managers by the time he's released so it's hard to mould him into a particular style.

 

That vision can't come from the manager though because they have such short lives in modern football, so it needs to come from someone above them.

 

Unfortunately for us (and to relate it back to my initial point) that's Roman Abramovich) at Chelsea and he lacks either the patience or commitment for us to set any long-term plans into motion. 

 

So we become a schizophrenic club, going from wanting one style of football to another with success coming primarily through one thing - money. 

The board and the owner have made their share of mistakes, sure. Who hasn't? Surprised at people moaning about frequent change of managers. It may not be ideal, but most clubs do that, cases like Fergie's United and Wenger's Arsenal are exceptions.

 

Plus, the usual complaining from the Jose brigade. Just leave it be already, the man will always be a legend for what he did for the club, but he's not cut out for a long term job, he just isn't, so stop whining already. Yes, we didn't strengthen in the summer, but it's virtually the same squad and Mourinho completely lost the plot and the team was in a free fall. The players are to blame, too but you can't buy a new squad every time things are going bad, so it was clear he had to go. And I give him three years at the most at MU before things start to unravel.

 

Roman and the board should be blamed for buying into this idea that we could be self sufficient and dominant at the same time. I'm afraid it's either one or the other. People should stop comparing us to City, they're funded by the oil sheikhs, they're on a different planet to us in terms of spending and have literally wiped their arses with FFP with their creative bookkeeping. How are you supposed to compete with that?

 

I agree on the fact that it's quite irritating to have so many players on loan, but one has to remember that this system is what allowed us to remain competitive, by selling young talent to finance our transfer business. Our deals for Costa and Fabregas in the summer of 2014 secured us our latest title. The problem with it is that you don't have Lukakus and De Bruynes to sell every summer and worse yet, you may eventually end up with inferior players than the ones you'd sold. Still, if anyone knows a way to do away with that type of setup and still remain a top club that can afford to spend big without getting into trouble with FFP, please share your thoughts.

The board and the owner have made their share of mistakes, sure. Who hasn't? Surprised at people moaning about frequent change of managers. It may not be ideal, but most clubs do that, cases like Fergie's United and Wenger's Arsenal are exceptions.

 

Plus, the usual complaining from the Jose brigade. Just leave it be already, the man will always be a legend for what he did for the club, but he's not cut out for a long term job, he just isn't, so stop whining already. Yes, we didn't strengthen in the summer, but it's virtually the same squad and Mourinho completely lost the plot and the team was in a free fall. The players are to blame, too but you can't buy a new squad every time things are going bad, so it was clear he had to go. And I give him three years at the most at MU before things start to unravel.

 

Roman and the board should be blamed for buying into this idea that we could be self sufficient and dominant at the same time. I'm afraid it's either one or the other. People should stop comparing us to City, they're funded by the oil sheikhs, they're on a different planet to us in terms of spending and have literally wiped their arses with FFP with their creative bookkeeping. How are you supposed to compete with that?

 

I agree on the fact that it's quite irritating to have so many players on loan, but one has to remember that this system is what allowed us to remain competitive, by selling young talent to finance our transfer business. Our deals for Costa and Fabregas in the summer of 2014 secured us our latest title. The problem with it is that you don't have Lukakus and De Bruynes to sell every summer and worse yet, you may eventually end up with inferior players than the ones you'd sold. Still, if anyone knows a way to do away with that type of setup and still remain a top club that can afford to spend big without getting into trouble with FFP, please share your thoughts.

 

Good post. The thing I'd say is that it's one thing to make mistakes, it's quite another to keep on making them.

 

Also City run their club like a proper club/business. They hire the best people they can get for the job. We don't. Until we do (and actually give them control) then we're going to keep going around in circles, except we won't have the money to bail us out this time.

People should stop comparing us to City, they're funded by the oil sheikhs, they're on a different planet to us in terms of spending and have literally wiped their arses with FFP with their creative bookkeeping. How are you supposed to compete with that?

 

 

Like Leicester are ?

Good post Abramovitch.........in my opinion I think that is similar to what Roman himself would have said, if he had the time ! especially using the word "already" in your sentences Lol !

Are you Roman in disguise?

If we win the cup double ( F A cup and UEFA champions league) this year, that will go some way to easing the anger and irritation us fans have suffered, caused by the complacency shown by the Chelsea board of directors, Jose and the players during the preseason and months before Guus arrived to calm things down.

Good post Abramovitch.........in my opinion I think that is similar to what Roman himself would have said, if he had the time ! especially using the word "already" in your sentences Lol !

Are you Roman in disguise?

If we win the cup double ( F A cup and UEFA champions league) this year, that will go some way to easing the anger and irritation us fans have suffered, caused by the complacency shown by the Chelsea board of directors, Jose and the players during the preseason and months before Guus arrived to calm things down.

 

 

Not a chance, I know we've got out of jail before, but I just cannot see it this season.

Like Leicester are ?

 

I wasn't talking about just this season in particular, since most of the performances and our league position don't reflect the quality of our team. Leicester deserve all the praise they're getting, but I doubt they'll be able to repeat these heroics season after season without some serious investment.

Good post. The thing I'd say is that it's one thing to make mistakes, it's quite another to keep on making them.

 

Also City run their club like a proper club/business. They hire the best people they can get for the job. We don't. Until we do (and actually give them control) then we're going to keep going around in circles, except we won't have the money to bail us out this time.

 

Come on now. They wasted a lot of money over the last few years. The thing is, if you spend enough money, sooner or later you're going to get it right. We did the same about ten years ago and it allowed us to remain relatively successful for a while. The difference between us and City now is that, unlike CFC, they can keep spending without worrying while we have to sell in order to buy. It's Chelsea that's been run like business over the last few years, that's why after turning a little profit in 2014 we reported a loss again a year later. Our commercial income is real and comes from our success on a pitch, most of theirs, if we're being honest, is just their owner putting a few quid from one of his pockets into another.

Come on now. They wasted a lot of money over the last few years. The thing is, if you spend enough money, sooner or later you're going to get it right. We did the same about ten years ago and it allowed us to remain relatively successful for a while. The difference between us and City now is that, unlike CFC, they can keep spending without worrying while we have to sell in order to buy. It's Chelsea that's been run like business over the last few years, that's why after turning a little profit in 2014 we reported a loss again a year later. Our commercial income is real and comes from our success on a pitch, most of theirs, if we're being honest, is just their owner putting a few quid from one of his pockets into another.

 

Granted there is this weird thing where they aren't run particularly well in a commercial sense, but act like a proper club in appointing people to football positions whereas we seem to have our sh*t together off the pitch but are a bit of a mess when it comes to the footballing side.

 

I think it's a case of their scale of ambition being so large, with the whole City Football Group being a revolutionary concept. We have a much smaller focus but act so amateurish in some ways. I think the ideal middle ground is to copy the model of someone like Bayern.

You seem to be a bag of contradictions.

 

You can thank the board for wonderful things, I imagine such as winning 4 BPL titles, but feel no appreciation for the man who won 3 of those 4 titles?  You chose to ignore that it was the meddling of the board that prevented those titles from being say 5, 6 or 7 instead of just 4?  (forcing players on managers, sacking the #2 for no justifiable reason behind the managers back, failing to support a winning manager but instead actively undermining and weaking their squad on multiple occasions etc).

 

What war chest was Mourinho given to win that title?  Keep in mind that was the first time in a decade a title had been won while making a profit in transfers (Or in simple speak, Jose sold more than he bought).  The squad that won the title was funded by selling the players you seem to hate Mourinho for (again, no sale if the board disagrees)...yet that title doesnt exist without those new players.

 

Of course the squad fell to bits this season, I wont beat this bush again other than to state the fact that this squads problems were obvious  months before they lifted the title yet no transfer action was taken until after the season had already started and then they were desperate last minute bids that really had no feasible chance of success.  

 

In terms of the board showing loyalty, to whom?  Cech?  Certainly, but by being loyal to Cech they betrayed the fans and the manager....For such a loyal board, we sure see a lot of Chelsea legends wearing the shirts of our direct BPL rivals in recent years.  Lets see if they do the hattrick and get Terry off to either MUFC or LFC, then it can be three seasons in a row for Chelsea fans to see their biggest modern legends in a hated rivals shirt...... shame they missed the trick with Drogba, could of been 4 years on the trot if they shipped him to a BPL club instead of Turkey after the CL win.

 

are you trying to compare roman and JM? if it is then I just have to say one is the boss and the other one is the employee, the boss pays money out of his own pocket while the employee gets paid by the boss and it ain't peanut in jose case... The level of contribution for the club by roman is massive, he's the one who's been giving out without actually getting back enough in return.. 

 

I'm surprised with this jose talk falling back in after he's gone.. His influence is pretty deep I must say, to some certain people..  

Granted there is this weird thing where they aren't run particularly well in a commercial sense, but act like a proper club in appointing people to football positions whereas we seem to have our sh*t together off the pitch but are a bit of a mess when it comes to the footballing side.

I think it's a case of their scale of ambition being so large, with the whole City Football Group being a revolutionary concept. We have a much smaller focus but act so amateurish in some ways. I think the ideal middle ground is to copy the model of someone like Bayern.

Fans Speculations = Rubbish.

So is this the lowest ebb of Roman's tenure as owner of this club? Going out not with a bang but with a whimper against a team who beat us comfortably over two legs but who will almost certainly lose to one of the top European teams?

 

For the first time under Roman, I'm not sure where we go. We can have topics about which players we should bring in but we don't have a clue what type of funds are available or what type of football we want to play. How many of those players out there are actually worth keeping and how many can we actually keep hold of?

 

For me there's Courtois, Zouma, Costa, Traore, Kenedy and Terry. 

 

What of that performance tonight was in anyway similar to any of the big European nights of the last 20 years? I'm going back to the Vicenza and Barcelona nights, great nights where we played like lions and for the older blokes I'm sure it goes back further. f**k me Paul Furlong's arse had more of an impact then some of these players have had all season.

 

Right now it feels like the soul of this club has disappeared, or at least it was sitting in the stands. That's where JT belonged tonight, in the stands with 40,000 other Chelsea supporters who get what this club is about and what it stands for because it wasn't on the pitch after Diego went off. 

 

This idea that we'll add a defender here, a midfielder here and be back in the Champions League 'where we belong' looks crazy right now.

 

The question for me though isn't how we got to this point because that's been covered extensively. What I'm struggling to work out is how this group of players won the league last year.

Roman anticipated our academy to produce top level players so he wouldnt have to spend 100m every summer. As of now that hasnt worked out. The squad isnt up to snuff. Interesting to see where we go and how we handle this summer.

As for this group of players, well its just bad timing IMO. Many of them have gone through or are going through the worst run of form in their careers whereas last season it was the opposite for the most part. One or two players playing poorly for a season we could handle.

Im not as doom and gloom as some when I think about the future of the club. It certainly COULD be that we never get back to winning trophies especially with all the money our rivals are splashing but with the players we have and the ones coming through we should be able to make it through this rough time.