The next coaching appointment will define this ownership. Get it right, and they save themselves any further embarrassment and can fall back on the first season as them being naive and making mistakes which they learnt from.

Get the wrong person in again, then we're in for a world of pain both on-field and financially with FPP compliance, and the relations between the supporters and the ownership will be at an all time low.

I could be naive but I think there's a basis of a good squad already. It just needs to be trimmed down and most importantly we need proper coaching guidance from those who are tactically sound. Fitness (or lack of it) and tactical ineptness have been our biggest downfall this season.

1 hour ago, Conte said:

Its a blame game, I dont believe its the fitness levels. Tuchel had them running like crazy throughout the last season and we was dominating with our pressing game. What happened was we downgraded our team with KK and sterling getting rid of rudiger and werner/mounts influence. We bought overhyped players like cucu when we needed a striker. Whos idea was it to spend 600M and no striker/cdm? 

Then the issue of getting rid of backroom staff is another thing that must have been a change for the players. 

Additionally we went from a world class tactician who dominated europes best RL and MC to a manager who achieved 6 with a brighton team that imo is playing even better now with de zerbi. 

Would we be 12th with Tuchel? No chance. His 10 points has saved us. If we dont fix this we will be done for next season. Players dont want to be here and having an inflated squad is also a big problem

I must admit I must have missed the games when we "running like crazy";and dominating teams with our ";pressing game" under Tuchel or anyone else for that matter .

1 minute ago, enigma said:

I hear that Ronaldo wants to leave that Saudi club he's at. Shame we never went in for him. People scoffed at the idea when it was mentioned, but his presence in the dressing room/at the training ground would have been beneficial I believe. Motivating young players and helping improve those around him. Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course, but I was surprised so many didn't take to the idea and preferred us to keep Auba etc. 

Have you actually followed his behaviour at the Saudi club? He has been appalling, berating his teammates & manager regularly. He isn’t the same player anymore, but it is always someone else’s fault. If you thought he was a toxic figure in the Utd dressing room with the Piers interview, imagine the crap he would have pulled with us a club he no love for. 

1 hour ago, evissy said:

The positive is, we can only improve. 

The hope. Though when Potter was sacked you'd have thought we'd hit rock bottom. Didn't realise we were at the false bottom. 

Still on our descent. 

11 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

As Chelsea fans we have been very lucky.

If Roman hadn't existed ,  Ken Bates would have remained Chairman , shuffling his  Euro bond loans.  We would have been happy with decent football and delighted with a cup trophy.

Would the fans of the last 20 years have decided to support Chelsea if we were the Bates owned club ? I wonder sometimes.

The last 20 years are so unlike Chelsea and our past  that we should count ourselves lucky really..

So, a bit of a reality check , supporting a football club involves sticking thru the bad times , not knowing if they are going to get better , but hoping that it will. .

It's not a happy time, but for most of our history it's normal, we've had a 20 year unexpected miracle , but we are in a far far better place than.in our not too distant past .

Chin up folks !

 

 

 

.

 

good post, exactly the point. I hate posting "back in the day" type posts but for me it only seems like yesterday that I was throwing my pocket money into the plastic bucket out side Stamford bridge to pay the players wages. A few years later we were nearly relegated to the old 3rd division, 1982, I was 12 years old. my nostalgic memory (I wasn't at the game) but I was as happy as when we won the title at Bolton or the champions league in Munich.

I for one was very lucky to be a season ticket holder for most of the Roman era and I had to pinch myself at times. we were extremely lucky. The chant that the scousers came up with in particular, "you got no history" and in countless pundits and phone in's "not a big club" - both are kind of true in the grand scheme of things (history thing debatable) but I was in fact proud that we were say a  medium sized club upsetting the apple cart. 

Forward to now, there is no way Todd, the management the players are completely incompetent and accepting this relative failure lightly, I would imagine behind the scenes it is quite toxic but with a hint of optimism for next season - at least I hope so. 

All in all, we can't expect another Roman Era, but do expect the club to improve it might be slowly but I am sure it will. in the mean time, our trophy cabinet is over flowing, Get on a tour of the bridge and remind yourselves how lucky we were. 

KTBFFH

 

5 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Have you actually followed his behaviour at the Saudi club? He has been appalling, berating his teammates & manager regularly. He isn’t the same player anymore, but it is always someone else’s fault. If you thought he was a toxic figure in the Utd dressing room with the Piers interview, imagine the crap he would have pulled with us a club he no love for. 

We need tough love. He's a serial winner. I have no issue with a player whose won big trophies trying to motivate a team of players who are in their own feelings and feeling sorry for themselves. Because soft love hasn't helped us this season. 

19 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Have you actually followed his behaviour at the Saudi club? He has been appalling, berating his teammates & manager regularly. He isn’t the same player anymore, but it is always someone else’s fault. If you thought he was a toxic figure in the Utd dressing room with the Piers interview, imagine the crap he would have pulled with us a club he no love for. 

Absolutely spot on. It's said TB wanted to sign him, TT et al refused. Poisonous toad. Pompous preening narcissistic bully boy.

Edited May 3, 20233 yr by dermott

If you look this situation in a positive way you might say:

Arsenal will most probably win as many trophies as us this season

Liverpool, MU didn't win the title either

We have massively talented young players in our squad that are basically not even tested as we have not functioned as a team once this season; Andre Santos, Malo Gusto, Noni Madueke, Omari Huchinson, DD Fofana and Casadei to name a few.

We are going to kick out about 10 players in the summer. Many of them will be players that most fans want out; Ziyech, Aubameyang, CHO, Pulisic, Lukaku...to name some.

We are at rock bottom, only way is up. Hopefully at least. 

We will get a new 6, a new 9 at least in the summer.

We get to start from square one. 

 

13 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

we've had a 20 year unexpected miracle

Your post is spot on, and this in particular. Amazing it lasted as long as it did. By defying the odds and going on for this long, it clearly tricked many fans into thinking it was the norm, rather than an anomaly.
 

While 20 years may be a long time for a fairytale such as we had to persist and enough to fool one generation, it’s an incredibly short period of time in the grander scheme. This is why fans need to stop with the “things can’t get any worse because we’re a big club” nonsense.

Our youth players have performed better than the big signings this season. 

1 hour ago, Dean said:

Your post is spot on, and this in particular. Amazing it lasted as long as it did. By defying the odds and going on for this long, it clearly tricked many fans into thinking it was the norm, rather than an anomaly.
 

While 20 years may be a long time for a fairytale such as we had to persist and enough to fool one generation, it’s an incredibly short period of time in the grander scheme. This is why fans need to stop with the “things can’t get any worse because we’re a big club” nonsense.

I used to live in a remote village in the UK. As a lad we could never afford sky, and the only way I could keep up to date was the radio. Given we were deep in the sticks, radio reception was piss poor, and the only place I could get a reliable sound on 5 live and capital sport was by sitting out in my mums car, listening to the game. During evening games, she would bring me tea and biscuits to keep warm.

This was early 90s. Chelsea were a bit sh*t. Regularly down the bottom, rarely above half way. A cup run was a joy.

And I loved it!

Some of my happiest times were following Chelsea at that time. It got even better when Ruud and Franco came, and we had some glamour. Better still when we won that first FA cup after god knows how long. Best game ever (before the champions league final) was the 4v2 win against liverpool at the bridge when we came back from 2v0.

 

The point of all this is, you are right, the last 20 years HAS been a fairy tale - but winning isnt everything. Win or lose, up the blues.

I wish all the short term charlie, new money fans, who stomp their feet like spoiled brats and entitled little madams would just clear off and support utd, city or liverpool  - like they used to do back in the day when we were unfashionable and not winning.

5 hours ago, Dean said:

Your post is spot on, and this in particular. Amazing it lasted as long as it did. By defying the odds and going on for this long, it clearly tricked many fans into thinking it was the norm, rather than an anomaly.
 

While 20 years may be a long time for a fairytale such as we had to persist and enough to fool one generation, it’s an incredibly short period of time in the grander scheme. This is why fans need to stop with the “things can’t get any worse because we’re a big club” nonsense.

The issue with this argument is that success in this day in age builds a brand image considering the money that has been thrown around since the 90s. Your argument is like asking United fans to feel content with being average considering they were irrelevant for more than 30 years prior to SAFs arrival.  SAF built them to the brand that they are now and standards and expectations have been set. This is the same notion with us, and how Roman built us into the brand we are now. A successful winning club. 

I'm not sure why fans wanting the club to retain these standards and expectations have you lot, who have had the pleasure of supporting this club for as long as you have, to create such animosity and condescending remarks. 

4 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

I wish all the short term charlie, new money fans, who stomp their feet like spoiled brats and entitled little madams would just clear off and support utd, city or liverpool  - like they used to do back in the day when we were unfashionable and not winning.

Fair points yet this may  be the group that can afford tickets.

I know a few because of economic factors had to give up the season tickets.

A Telegraph source: “Everybody knows Chelsea have to sell [by June 30], so why would any club offer them what they want at the start of the window? Clubs will be happy to keep them sweating to drive prices down.” 

4 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

The point of all this is, you are right, the last 20 years HAS been a fairy tale - but winning isnt everything. Win or lose, up the blues.

Oh I’m fully with you here. There was definitely a flip side to the glory days, which is that it all lost its meaning somewhat. Right now it’s all frankly ridiculous. Plenty of silver linings to a full reboot if that’s what is on the cards. 

35 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

The issue with this argument is that success in this day in age builds a brand image considering the money that has been thrown around since the 90s. Your argument is like asking United fans to feel content with being average considering they were irrelevant for more than 30 years prior to SAFs arrival.  SAF built them to the brand that they are now and standards and expectations have been set. This is the same notion with us, and how Roman built us into the brand we are now. A successful winning club. 

I'm not sure why fans wanting the club to retain these standards and expectations have you lot, who have had the pleasure of supporting this club for as long as you have, to create such animosity and condescending remarks. 

😂 Im not sure you understand where I’m coming from at all. “You lot” 🤦‍♂️ 

11 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

A Telegraph source: “Everybody knows Chelsea have to sell [by June 30], so why would any club offer them what they want at the start of the window? Clubs will be happy to keep them sweating to drive prices down.” 

Exactly, few club owners are as arrogantly stupid as ours. Let's see who is sold and for what prices.

I keep seeing posts and hearing fans say "the only way is up". Is it? Todd and co may take us down next season.

27 minutes ago, Dean said:

😂 Im not sure you understand where I’m coming from at all. “You lot” 🤦‍♂️ 

Are you going to tell me or post more emojis? I'm interested in hearing you out.

Edited May 3, 20233 yr by Sconnie Blue

18 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Exactly, few club owners are as arrogantly stupid as ours. Let's see who is sold and for what prices.

I keep seeing posts and hearing fans say "the only way is up". Is it? Todd and co may take us down next season.

Gallagher for 40m in January now looking like a pipe dream. 

12 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Gallagher for 40m in January now looking like a pipe dream. 

English tax will help us make decent money on Mount, Gallagher and Chalobah.

Will cover us if some of the bigger signs are the ones that regret their contracts and demand to leave.

We know we ain't getting our money back if Enzo demands to leave, or Mudryk. But we could cover such a loss with home grown sales.

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Exactly, few club owners are as arrogantly stupid as ours. Let's see who is sold and for what prices.

I keep seeing posts and hearing fans say "the only way is up". Is it? Todd and co may take us down next season.

They will get bent over a barrel with " No Vaseline" come summer. Pity it will hurt the club but I am not sad these 🤡 are getting burnt in their pockets. 

They better get down on their knees and get Marina back for the summer  sale as she will get every penny she wants!!!

 

Lakers having a good season, Dodgers as well. Chelsea however an awful one.

Perhaps US sports are far more different to the PL and European Football eh?

"So the coach is like the conductor, and the players are like musicians, and their football boots are like musical instruments, and I am like the guy who hires the conductor, and you've got no unions there, and it's global, so I'm going to the Spanish conductor market to hire a coach, and we'll simply expand the orchestra to fit in the extra musicians, maybe by removing the roof from the concert hall, which is like the stadium, and we'll add a gift shop and rent out the changing rooms because the thing about London is the rental market is there to be exploited, and the musicians, I mean the players, no wait I do mean musicians, can simply change at home before the performance, and what I've learned is that I'm confident we are going to get this right". 

Edited May 3, 20233 yr by g3.7
Original version was too funny

The question is longer than the answer , and the answer didn't really address anything 🤔 Anyway, not expecting an apology or deep thoughts from Boehly. If he did learn something, hopefully next season he will be keep a safe distance from the dressing room, and leave the manager and other football people do their job

2 minutes ago, g3.7 said:

"So the coach is like the conductor, and the players are like musicians, and their football boots are like musical instruments, and I am like the guy who hires the conductor, and you've got no unions there, and it's global, so I'm going to the Spanish conductor market to hire a coach, and we'll simply expand the orchestra to fit in the extra musicians, maybe by removing the roof from the concert hall, which is like the stadium, and we'll add a gift shop and rent out the changing rooms because the thing about London is the rental market is there to be exploited, and the musicians, I mean the players, no wait I do mean musicians, can simply change at home before the performance, and what I've learned is that I'm confident we are going to get this right". 

Pretty good mate, though you made him sounds like he at least has some semblance of a clue.... ;)