Few weeks ago was Jose in trouble and ready to leave, a couple of results quickly erased that. Conte just have to find a way to win a few games and ride it out, need a bit of luck if he could find it. I reckon we will get a striker ( not Crouch) in the next week or so, probably not exactly who he wanted but that's just how CFC works. We run the club in the way that the manager is there for a quick job, never get the chance to be settled or comfortable. Conte's problem is he over achieved last season, that was the transition season where we'd settle for a top 4 finish, he's delivering what he was expected last season right now  and he's coping criticisms left, right and center.

 

12 minutes ago, Ewell CFC said:

It's very easy to say that the board aren't backing the manager, however this is largely governed by how keen Roman is to dig into his own pockets in order to finance.

The new stadium needs paying for, Chelsea is essentially his hobby; under him we've won every competition out there including the big one. Does he get the same kick winning things as he did back in 2005?

Ps it doesn't help blowing 100 Million on some mediocre players but he doesn't have bottomless pockets

 

With £60m a year from Nike, £40m a year from Yokohoma and the largest TV money deal in history coming into the club we should not be eyeing up players like Peter Crouch on a 6 month loan deal. 

We are still an elite football club and a net spend of £21m over the last two seasons is very low for a club of our stature regardless of previous investment. 

8 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

But it's been so one sided because Juventus built a side no one could get close to, not necessarily because they were invested a lot more money than anyone else. 

Supposedly Conte walked away because Juventus weren't giving him the calibre of players or level of investment he felt was needed to remain competitive (sound familiar?) and were willing to listen to offers for some of their better players too, such as Vidal. 

You said Conte built the squad? My point was if Conte resigned due to transfers then maybe it's the Juventus board and Conte who built the squad. Juventus spent alot of money the last couple of years and the squad consists of players mainly after Conte left. Vidal left when Conte wasn't there, Juventus would be mad to not accept the Pogba offer.

Allegri took them to the next level IMO with 2 champions league final.

3 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

You said Conte built the squad? My point was if Conte resigned due to transfers then maybe it's the Juventus board and Conte who built the squad. Juventus spent alot of money the last couple of years and the squad consists of players mainly after Conte left. Vidal left when Conte wasn't there, Juventus would be mad to not accept the Pogba offer.

Allegri took them to the next level IMO with 2 champions league final.

The foundation of the Allegri side was Conte's team. 

He rejuvenated them as a club and over a three year period helped to build one of the best teams in Europe. He would have instilled the winning mentality, developed a better tactical understanding etc. 

I'm not going to pretend I know all the ins and outs of the goings on when he was at Juvetus, I don't follow football closely enough to. I only know what I've read, heard etc since Conte joined Chelsea. Vidal left after Conte did but I believe Juventus were listening to offers, including from Manchester United and it's my understanding he wasn't particularly happy with the direction the club were taking with transfers which played a big part in his decision to leave. 

He would have input about identifying players/positions he felt were needed and the club ultimately secure the transfers. When he was no longer get the players he felt he needed, he left. 

He appears to have a similar responsibility at Chelsea and, understandably in my opinion, has not really ever been too happy with our transfer dealings. 

32 minutes ago, ForeverCarefree said:

We are still an elite football club and a net spend of £21m over the last two seasons is very low for a club of our stature regardless of previous investment. 

Yeah, you could even go as far back as the end of the 13/14 season. After that we have spent roughly 35 million pounds net in the transfer market.

Thats what United will pay pr season for Alexis Sanchez. So you have to wonder how we are going to be able compete with that in the future.

 

Edited January 19, 20188 yr by Sindre

The plan was for the club to be self financing, and not rely on Romans wallet, which it pretty much is now, albeit with a net spend of not a lot over the last few years.

Common sense tells me this is the way it's gonna stay unless the big white chief decides to bankroll us again. 

40 minutes ago, Ewell CFC said:

The plan was for the club to be self financing, and not rely on Romans wallet, which it pretty much is now, albeit with a net spend of not a lot over the last few years.

Common sense tells me this is the way it's gonna stay unless the big white chief decides to bankroll us again. 

Yes this is what people must understand.  Our youth system is not designed to bring us players, it is designed to make us money.  This is how we have become more self-sustaining, have a wonderful academy and sell or loan our youngsters for profit.  This allows us to buy either established players or other prospects that we can look to load off for profit.  Of course we mess up with some players who either come up through our academy or we buy as prospects and turn to be great players...

but overall this is what our youth system is for: money making.  

We can't rely on selling players for ridiculous money to China every year though.

7 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

Looking increasingly unlikely that Conte will be in charge next season. 

The signings being touted are very short term, lots of loans being looked at which suggests it isn't a long term strategy. 

Even Conte's comments when we signed Barkley were odd, didn't sound off about how he was happy with the signing just said he had a lot of potential. 

Shame really, I thought Conte, if backed correctly, could have built a really solid squad. 

Understandable really, put yourself in Conte's shoes, he can land pretty much any job in the world now once he leaves Chelsea.

He expected to have more power over transfers when he won the league, you could clearly see that, but he didn't get the power he wanted. 

We need to start trying to push our youth through if you ask me. I actually think as transfer fees inflate we will see more youth players come through at different teams 

7 hours ago, ForeverCarefree said:

On the basis that Juventus have won the league every year since Conte was in charge during the 2011/12 season. 

 

Oh come on, they've also won every title since he left and were hardly going through a barren spell while they were in Serie A before being demoted for off-field issues either.

Look here,

https://www.transfermarkt.com/juventus-turin/alletransfers/verein/506

Conte was in charge for 11/12, 12/13 and 13/14. I make it roughly over 40 first team players signed and an absolute maximum of 7 a success as far as Juve are concerned. Absolutely no evidence of him being a great squad builder as far as recruitment goes. More like the opposite if anything.

 

2 hours ago, startedwithglenn said:

Oh come on, they've also won every title since he left and were hardly going through a barren spell while they were in Serie A before being demoted for off-field issues either.

Look here,

https://www.transfermarkt.com/juventus-turin/alletransfers/verein/506

Conte was in charge for 11/12, 12/13 and 13/14. I make it roughly over 40 first team players signed and an absolute maximum of 7 a success as far as Juve are concerned. Absolutely no evidence of him being a great squad builder as far as recruitment goes. More like the opposite if anything.

 

6 years without a title before Conte, for Juventus that is a massive barren spell.

Absolutely no evidence of being a great squad builder?  So these 6 consecutive league titles and the CL appearances, these don't count as evidence?  SAF signed a lot of busts too, does that mean we have no evidence he was a great squad builder?  If you judge someone only on what didn't work, even the greatest examples of overall success can be deemed failures.

The policy should be to buy 1 or 2 world class  players (or as close to that as possible) every year and then fill the squad out with youth, instead of spending the same amount of money on a heap of average nobodies. 

Then we'll gradually build an amazing base but also develop the youngsters... quite like how Utd used to do it under Fergie.

That way we can also pay the big players more and the young players don't demand the same salaries until they have fully proved themselves.

Might as well get in Wenger if the club is so concerned about finances. He'll get us 4th and pay off the stadium dues.Better start tapping him up now. 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Bobbywoodhogan said:

We need to start trying to push our youth through if you ask me. I actually think as transfer fees inflate we will see more youth players come through at different teams 

I personally believe all this inflation will do is start to see players roll down contracts until it gets to the point they can leave for a reasonable fee, so much so that will probably be what causes the market to crash back down to a somewhat respectable level because it surely can't get anymore silly, can it?

10 hours ago, Argo said:

I personally believe all this inflation will do is start to see players roll down contracts until it gets to the point they can leave for a reasonable fee, so much so that will probably be what causes the market to crash back down to a somewhat respectable level because it surely can't get anymore silly, can it?

There will be a natural limit, you can only build stadiums so big, there is only so much of a TV audience. On that last point thanks to the British Empire and the spread of spoken English that may have a while to go yet.

The home crowd attendances may fall if economic situations deteriorate too far and that might affect the global tv audience.

I would hope we can introduce some youngsters from the academy, we are not the worst with playing younger talents like Christensen and Ampadu yet undoubtedly we need to explore this more.

Re players rolling down their contracts to leave at a decent fee, it does not happen often because players only have limited shelf life with fitness and it takes a while for them to get spotted. The obvious example in the EPL is Arsenal yet that may be because of the Wenger-player and board-Wenger situation. There have been examples with foreign players wanting to return home re family circumstances yet it is often players looking for one big payday or silverware after being recognised as a talent late in their careers. 

 

Jamie Carragher having a good stir up today in his Daily Telegraph column saying that Conte should swap Chelsea for Arsenal.

To be fair he makes some good points;

"For me, Conte remains the best man for Chelsea. His record since moving to Stamford Bridge is extraordinary. Despite Manchester City's incredible run, Conte has won exactly the same number of points (140) as Pep Guardiola since his appointment. He has also won more premier league games (44 out of 61) than any other manager."

"It is too quickly forgotten Chelsea finished 10th before Conte took over. Certainly those Chelsea supporters booing over last weekends 0-0 draw with Leicester City must have wiped it from their memories. Had Conte finished in the top four in his first season Roman Abramovich would of considered it progress. No one could have expected Conte to have delivered the title."

"Conte is too good for Chelsea to let go. They should be desperately trying to keep him, not only because he will bring more success to the club, but to ensure he does not come back to haunt them when he returns with a rival. If the Chelsea board cannot see that. Arsenal should do everything in their power to ensure it is a short tube ride to his next destination."

 

And why would he go there? If he thinks our board is bad and can't do it's job, Arsenal's even worse. They are having their big transfer from time to time like Sanchez and Ozil but they are penny-pinching even more than us.

Conte doesn't get anywhere near the credit he deserves. He's a class act, and top 3 managers in world...EASY!

Conte doesn't get anywhere near the credit he deserves. He's a class act, and top 3 managers in world...EASY!

Agreed. Give him the side Pep has and he will beat him, hands down.

1 hour ago, JoseBlues said:

1 hour ago, Odiddy said:

Conte doesn't get anywhere near the credit he deserves. He's a class act, and top 3 managers in world...EASY!

Agreed. Give him the side Pep has and he will beat him, hands down.

Doubt it, the side Pep has is built for how his teams play.

Doubt it, the side Pep has is built for how his teams play.

Difference is we don't give Conte to build his

4 minutes ago, JoseBlues said:

10 minutes ago, Ernie_blue said:

Doubt it, the side Pep has is built for how his teams play.

Difference is we don't give Conte to build his

Give Conte the same transfer budget and players he wants and he will give Pep a good run for his money.

Ohh most definitely.......just back Conte a Little bit and he will show you what he is made of. A class act all around.....put in jar with barely any oxygyn left here at Chels. Then you have the likes of jose and pep.....as good as they are they have absolutely been backed to the tilt and now eating all the rewards, certainly in pep's case. My point is, the board are cutting Conte's fingers one by one.

Message to Antonio.

Hazard: ‘It’s easy to play you know-‘

Willian: ‘-when we play together.’

Hazard: ‘I want to say the same you know.’

Willian: ‘Yeah, when we play together it’s easy.’

Hazard: ‘It’s easy to play together… but Antonio OK, you know?’ Both laugh.