He’s been fined £418,000 for the interview,it’s not a bad amount that, expected the usual 5 figure sums the premier league normally hand out for more serious stuff. 

Whats that for him, one / two weeks wages? That would hurt regardless - hope it's true. 

Maybe he will learn to shut his trap and do his talking on the pitch - if he can stay fit. 

I think if he has a decent season, say, 16+ goals, there will be murmurings about him leaving in the summer for a decent amount, maybe to Real. 

If he scores 20 goals no one wants him to leave. No matter what he said in an interview.

4 hours ago, Sexyfootball said:

For me, this chart of our annual wage bill demonstrates the big problem. We are by no means the worst, but look at the trend line, and in particular the recent huge jump in the first pandemic year. It's insane. The top earning players make more in a month than a nurse makes in 40 year career.

The big clubs have collectively shat the bed in handing over all their TV windfall money (and more) to the players and their agents, and hence the power shift. It is too easy for the players to down tools when they don't like something the manager does, and the club is so heavily invested in them that it is always the manager that gets the boot. And certain players know this and act accordingly.

The root cause is poor decision making in the board room. handing over ridiculous contracts without any poor performance considerations whatsoever, but plenty of additional bonuses for "good performance".

So many muppets running top clubs ... 

08/09 Chelsea generated €242m in revenue, in 18/19 it was €512m.

We paid 69% of that revenue to the players in 08/09 and in 18/19 we paid 56% of the revenue to players. 

So in that case, the players have actually seen a pay cut in that 10 year period. Because if our club doesn't give it to the players, who would you rather they give it to? It won't be me and you.

I also imagine you give Chelsea more money than you give NHS charities each year. Either through tv subs, going to games, buying merch etc. Even just eyeballs on their youtube channels sends money to the players. When 1000s of people pay to watch nurses work each weekend, then they can earn a similar amount to footballers 😂

Edited January 4, 20224 yr by bisright1

53 minutes ago, evissy said:

If he scores 20 goals no one wants him to leave. No matter what he said in an interview.

Nah some will complain that he does not run, does not press, make our team look less fluid. 

5 hours ago, Zola said:

I would love nothing more than Werner to hit a bit of form and keep this absolute mercenary out of the team. 

Man you must really2 hate Tuchel and want him to get sacked.

 

14 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

08/09 Chelsea generated €242m in revenue, in 18/19 it was €512m.

We paid 69% of that revenue to the players in 08/09 and in 18/19 we paid 56% of the revenue to players. 

So in that case, the players have actually seen a pay cut in that 10 year period. Because if our club doesn't give it to the players, who would you rather they give it to? It won't be me and you.

I also imagine you give Chelsea more money than you give NHS charities each year. Either through tv subs, going to games, buying merch etc. Even just eyeballs on their youtube channels sends money to the players. When 1000s of people pay to watch nurses work each weekend, then they can earn a similar amount to footballers 😂

You're trying to argue that they have had a pay cut and should be paid more ?  O ... K ... LOL :-) 

The club are losing a ton of money -  £153m loss in the year ending June 2021 in a year we won the Champions League and had extra TV revenue and prize money for doing so ! Paying the amount we do on wages is insane, and it isn't just us, it's all the big clubs, all badly run and spending way beyond their means,  which is why they were all itching to form a Super League as a quick fix for extra revenue, when what they should be doing is getting together to agree squad salary caps and massive reductions in agent fees etc etc.  Cut the wages last year by 40-50% and CFC are at break even. And it is not as if the players are going hungry at that level either. Their families were set for life for multiple generations off the back of what players were earning in 2002 let alone 2022.

Anyway I didn't mean to de-rail the thread, so back to Lukaku - hopefully he'll get a hat trick against Spurs on Wednesday as the start of his redemption !

8 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Mourinho was brilliant at handling this kind of thing back in the day, all of the best coaches were. Things have changed these days though and players need to be treated like babies for some reason. Both Drogba and Carvalho responded positively after Mourinho had his say, but these days, you get the opposite reaction and players just down tools until the manager is sacked.

Willian's reaction after we won the F.A cup final regularly pops up in my head when I think of how bad player power is now. The way he reacted after the F.A cup final win and then the interview a few months later with him blaming his daughter and criticising Conte was something I never got over. He faced no punishment for it, if anything, he was rewarded. He pretty much became the face of the club alongside the likes of Hazard, Kante and Azpilicueta. Ads, kit reveals, he would feature in all of this. It's the main reason why Willian never grew on me and why I will always think of him as a frustrating player who had flashes of billiance but acted like a d**khead when we won the F.A Cup.

Blaming his daughter was all kinds of wrong but frankly if Conte was even half as bad as reported that season I don't blame him for his initial reaction one little bit.

There needs to be middle ground, as someone who has had experiences with bad/toxic bosses the idea a manager can behave however they want too and players have to unconditionally submit doesn't sit right with me atall.

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

Nah some will complain that he does not run, does not press, make our team look less fluid. 

I still find it mindblowing that people so casually dismiss the importance of pressing.

I literally shared analysis yesterday showing how as much as one player not pulling their weight can cause absolute carnage.

2 hours ago, evissy said:

If he scores 20 goals no one wants him to leave. No matter what he said in an interview.

I'm sure he will pick up goals against the likes of Norwich, Newcastle, Burnley, Villa, Palace, Brighton, Brentford.

But we really need him to score against our direct rivals (top 7) for his 20 goals to have much bearing on our season.

29 minutes ago, Argo said:

Blaming his daughter was all kinds of wrong but frankly if Conte was even half as bad as reported that season I don't blame him for his initial reaction one little bit.

There needs to be middle ground, as someone who has had experiences with bad/toxic bosses the idea a manager can behave however they want too and players have to unconditionally submit doesn't sit right with me atall.

If he is such a bad boss, how does he keep winning wherever he goes? As far as I know, he had issues with only Costa and Willian, both head cases. Willian was just not pulling his weight and was rightfully dropped. But instead of working hard to get back into the team, he kept ranting and raving. Agree with Scott, he will never be someone I have fond memories of. 

1 hour ago, RomansRoubles said:

If he is such a bad boss, how does he keep winning wherever he goes? As far as I know, he had issues with only Costa and Willian, both head cases. Willian was just not pulling his weight and was rightfully dropped. But instead of working hard to get back into the team, he kept ranting and raving. Agree with Scott, he will never be someone I have fond memories of. 

I'm talking purely in the context of that 17/18 season. Conte was practically telling the world the players were sh*t every chance he got. He could have been Angel Gabriel every other season in his career, still doesn't change the fact he was at best extremely difficult to work with that time round. 

Btw I'm not a huge fan of Willian myself, always preferred Pedro.

36 minutes ago, Argo said:

I still find it mindblowing that people so casually dismiss the importance of pressing.

I literally shared analysis yesterday showing how as much as one player not pulling their weight can cause absolute carnage.

I still find it mindblowing how anyone can asses player and pressing is the big factor deciding which forward is better.

Based on your assesment we should pick Werner over Mbappe/Hazard. 

 

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

I still find it mindblowing how anyone can asses player and pressing is the big factor deciding which forward is better.

Based on your assesment we should pick Werner over Mbappe/Hazard. 

You're not seriously suggesting Rom deserves the exact same treatment as an Mbappe or Hazard?

Those two are (or were in Eden's case) good enough to justify a workrate excemption and the system modified accordingly, Lukaku isn't even close to falling into that category.

Regardless of him being capable of scoring 20 goals per season, we should sell him in the summer and invest the trust in Havertz being the first choice while playing a false 9.

Get a winger like Asensio or Chiesa that can contribute with 10 goals and Pulisic+Mount+CHO will do the same on the other wing.

And to add to that, Giroud + Tammy would also score 20 goals but we would have a bigger squad depth too. Tuchel failed us by not trusting in either of them and gambling on Lukaku. He could have said to the board and to Cech and Marina that he doesn't want him.

Edited January 4, 20224 yr by Gol15

16 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

Regardless of him being capable of scoring 20 goals per season, we should sell him in the summer and invest the trust in Havertz being the first choice while playing a false 9.

Get a winger like Asensio or Chiesa that can contribute with 10 goals and Pulisic+Mount+CHO will do the same on the other wing.

Nah sell Rom and trust this man, he won't let us down:

Edited January 4, 20224 yr by axman2526

When’s he making a public apology?

3 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

When’s he making a public apology?

He can't get the gag off.

 

29 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

I still find it mindblowing how anyone can asses player and pressing is the big factor deciding which forward is better.

Based on your assesment we should pick Werner over Mbappe/Hazard. 

 

 

22 minutes ago, Argo said:

You're not seriously suggesting Rom deserves the exact same treatment as an Mbappe or Hazard?

Those two are (or were in Eden's case) good enough to justify a workrate excemption and the system modified accordingly, Lukaku isn't even close to falling into that category.

To further expand on that, there were actually occasional games where Hazard's lack of workrate/defensive nous got exploited. The reason it was never brought up was because he'd repay us by delivering in big league games, big semi's, in finals and crucial games in title races. The pros outweighed the cons.

For 1 game we lose because that was exploited he'd win us 5 almost by himself.

If Lukaku wants a workrate excemption that's the standard, if not he falls in line and does the hard graft like everyone else.

26 minutes ago, Argo said:

You're not seriously suggesting Rom deserves the exact same treatment as an Mbappe or Hazard?

Those two are (or were in Eden's case) good enough to justify a workrate excemption and the system modified accordingly, Lukaku isn't even close to falling into that category.

Lukaku is not in their category for sure. The question is does he contribute defensively as low as hazard was ?  Does he run enough to  so we still have enough pressing presence up top ?  Do you want him to run more ? If I were opp manager the answer is absolutely.

20 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

When’s he making a public apology?

1 minute ago, Bob stark said:

Lukaku is not in their category for sure. The question is does he contribute defensively as low as hazard was ?  Does he run enough to  so we still have enough pressing presence up top ?  Do you want him to run more ? If I were opp manager the answer is absolutely.

Well as well documented I wouldn't have signed him in the first place, the stylistic mis match was so obvious (we literally had a similar player who we sold because he didn't fit the system).

I think many opposition managers (especially the big team one's) would rather face us with Rom full stop than without (Allegri practically said as much).

1 hour ago, Argo said:

I'm talking purely in the context of that 17/18 season. Conte was practically telling the world the players were sh*t every chance he got. He could have been Angel Gabriel every other season in his career, still doesn't change the fact he was at best extremely difficult to work with that time round. 

Btw I'm not a huge fan of Willian myself, always preferred Pedro.

If we go all in for Asensio that would have only 1 year left on his contract in the summer we could get a new Pedro and for his best years!