4 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Anyone got suggestions as to who we could ask Inter for the would add quality to our squad? Martinez has been suggested, anyone else?

Martinez, Barella is top quality and Bastoni too there is no one else I would have from Inter. I highly doubt that they would even entertain the idea of having Lukaku back. 

2 minutes ago, Gentian said:

Jermain Jenas on match of the day thought that Lukaku wasn't a Tuchel signing rather a club signing hence he struggled to fit him into the team and perhaps Lukaku felt that. I sort of agree with him. It was so foolish from Lukaku as he was just discovering his form with us. 

I don't think Inter or the fans want him back even if they could afford him so we are stuck with him. 

Lets hope for the best with the meeting tomorrow. 

I can believe that. I can believe TT asked for a top striker and our board came up with Lukaku.

4 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

We were linked with Skriniar & Barella not that long ago. 

Woild they be good fits for us though?

2 minutes ago, Gentian said:

Martinez, Barella is top quality and Bastoni too there is no one else I would have from Inter. I highly doubt that they would even entertain the idea of having Lukaku back. 

Which would make his whole position insane. Why do this unless you know Inter would take you back?

Just now, axman2526 said:

Which would make his whole position insane. Why do this unless you know Inter would take you back?

I think that perhaps he thought someone like him could influence Tuchel to change the style of play so he is the centre piece, like Ronaldo is/was at every club he's been. 

Also, he knows the history of the club with managers and results haven't being to kind lately. 

Either way he has behaved very foolishly because this is not the way to go about it. 

They should put the meeting tomorrow on pay per view, would make a fortune, enough to replace Lukaku.

So what if the meeting goes well for Lukaku and he is back in the squad? Are we supposed to just move on like nothing happened? He f**king opened his big mouth when we was supposed to f**king mind his own business and be a f**king pro when his club was already under the spotlights. Even if the interview was taken some three or four weeks ago, he should have called those Italian guys and said "Listen fellas let's cancel that thing, my club is under a bit of pressure now, I don't want to bring extra noise around this thing, will do another one when things cool off a bit".

It's not like he was paid to do it and they had no choice but to air the interview, the tick f**ker knew it would heat things up and did not give a f**k about the club, nor the fans.

What if we're into the CL semis in April and the thick f**k throws his toys out of the pram again because he is unhappy Havertz outscores him as a false 9 at that moment? Right before an important CL semi? Just like Mourinho, this guy has proven he can't change and won't keep his mouth shut, he is thick and can't be trusted.

If this was the 80s and some mob boss was in charge of the club, he'd spend the rest of his contract playing with the 16 year olds. 

Hope we get the f**ker out of this club.

https://youtu.be/c5F-U4C29d4

Carragher probably has got it right. I Hope anyway

 

So he indeed has „Inter Milan“ writtenin his facebook profile? What a spoiled brat, really. Laughable. Grow up big man

Lukaku has become a journey man. He’s had so many clubs and has said the same things at every club he’s been at. I thought with Chelsea being his boyhood club, he would settle but he hasn’t. 

17 hours ago, abramovich said:

I'm afraid my command of English might not be good enough to explain what I meant by not backing down. This is not some tough talk in a schoolyard or posturing, what I meant was there are situations where you have to draw the line and make some tough decisions because otherwise you risk more by just staying put. Doing what you've suggested may keep things civil on the suface but it would damage our reputation and set a very dangerous precedent. Long term we would have to deal with more players acting in the same manner because we've allowed that in a past. If Lukaku realized he f**ked up and issued a public apology, at least I could see us taking it easy and not leave him out of the squad but even that would be up to Tuchel. But he didn't even bother say he's sorry and in this situation the diplomatic approach you proposed would be the wrong option, imo. The player basically defies the club and does it publicly and them refuses to apologize. He leaves the club no other option.

We obviously disagree on how the club should respond. The tough decision you seek concerns a 100 million or so pound asset. Not a business on earth will throw that away merely for the sake of how it's going to be perceived, as nobody outside the club will care one fig about how it is handled. It's just a bit of juicy gossip to outsiders. This isn't about sales figures and reliability for instance in a case of product tampering. Supporters will continue to buy tickets and merchandise, players will continue to sign and no sponsors will withdraw. As group dynamics go, the dressing room and coaching staff will sort themselves out, probably after giving Lukaku some serious grief, should anyone be bothered by this. 

After talking things out with Lukaku, diplomacy is exactly what is needed to keep that multi-million asset on board. That doesn't mean the board needs to stroke him over the head saying 'There there now'. It's possible to be firm behind closed doors, involving Tuchel as well. Diplomacy and firmness are not mutually exclusive.

You're afraid of creating a precedent. I'd say 99% of the players toe the line, and there will always be a few that don't. Compare it to misbehaviour or causing an accident after alcohol use: players know damn well what the consequences are (huge fines, dropped from the squad to name but a couple), yet it is still happening. That's because we're dealing with people, and it's an illusion to think you can control everything. It would be unwise if the club would decide to publicly set an example now for the uncertainty of the odd future player doing what Lukaku did, at the expense of losing a recent high-figure investment. Chelsea FC is a business, like it or not, it needs to be run like a business.

Edited January 3, 20224 yr by Valerie

8 hours ago, petre ispirescu said:

So what if the meeting goes well for Lukaku and he is back in the squad? Are we supposed to just move on like nothing happened? He f**king opened his big mouth when we was supposed to f**king mind his own business and be a f**king pro when his club was already under the spotlights. Even if the interview was taken some three or four weeks ago, he should have called those Italian guys and said "Listen fellas let's cancel that thing, my club is under a bit of pressure now, I don't want to bring extra noise around this thing, will do another one when things cool off a bit".

It's not like he was paid to do it and they had no choice but to air the interview, the tick f**ker knew it would heat things up and did not give a f**k about the club, nor the fans.

What if we're into the CL semis in April and the thick f**k throws his toys out of the pram again because he is unhappy Havertz outscores him as a false 9 at that moment? Right before an important CL semi? Just like Mourinho, this guy has proven he can't change and won't keep his mouth shut, he is thick and can't be trusted.

If this was the 80s and some mob boss was in charge of the club, he'd spend the rest of his contract playing with the 16 year olds. 

Hope we get the f**ker out of this club.

That’s supposing Lukaku has got a brain. He clearly lacks one. 
 

No doubt he has advisers but seeing as though they get paid heavily when he moves they won’t be fussed if he does move on. 

Everyone has an opinion on what Lukaku has done, but it appears there is little support for the striker’s actions in the dressing room. As one source explained to The Athletic: “I was speaking to one of the players and asked him if anyone was sticking up for Lukaku. He said no. None of them can believe he’s done it.”

https://theathletic.com/3046668/2022/01/03/romelu-lukakus-interview-the-fallout-the-meetings-with-tuchel-the-future/?source=twitteruk

No support from his fellow players either. Senior players were also consulted before he was banned v Liverpool.

2 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Everyone has an opinion on what Lukaku has done, but it appears there is little support for the striker’s actions in the dressing room. As one source explained to The Athletic: “I was speaking to one of the players and asked him if anyone was sticking up for Lukaku. He said no. None of them can believe he’s done it.”

https://theathletic.com/3046668/2022/01/03/romelu-lukakus-interview-the-fallout-the-meetings-with-tuchel-the-future/?source=twitteruk

No support from his fellow players either. Senior players were also consulted before he was banned v Liverpool.

Lukaku can only blame himself at this point. He made the decision to isolate himself as if he's not a part of the group anymore and then he even changed his social media description to Inter Milan as if he's somehow longing to belong there again.

He looks like he has a big ego so I really wonder how is Tuchel going to react when Lukaku says that he's sad that the whole team isn't focused around him. Reminding him that he signed a 5 year contract less than 6 months ago and that he's the highest earner in the club won't work, Lukaku doesn't seem to have common sense here.

Tuchel would have an easier time accommodating Adrian Mutu than Lukaku right now.

This situation is still fixable. Like JFH and Carrick said. Lukaku apologies, agrees to knuckle down. Tuchel says what a great player he is and life goes on. Lukaku has  great ability was voted man of the match on here recently. Whether he plays every game or not we need him and he needs to show he is “on the bus”.  He needs to show the world he can be a team player. It’s a bit to his ego not starting every game and being the star like he was at Inter. A bit of diplomacy is what’s needed. Less oxygen for this fire. 

Edited January 3, 20224 yr by ozboy

5 minutes ago, ozboy said:

This situation is still fixable. Like JFH and Carrick said. Lukaku apologies, agrees to knuckle down. Tuchel says what a great player he is and life goes on. Lukaku has  great ability was voted man of the match on here recently. Whether he plays every game or not we need him and he needs to show he is “on the bus”.  He needs to show the world he can be a team player. It’s a bit to his ego not starting every game and being the star like he was at Inter. A bit of diplomacy is what’s needed. Less oxygen for this fire. 

The ball is in Lukaku's court. It's only fixable if he backs down and apologises. I think his ego will get in the way of that unfortunately. All the club and TT can do is create the right environment where an apology can be made without losing a huge amount of face. They are already doing this by scheduling the talks today. It is up to Romelu now. 

Personally I'd question whether this is even worth fixing. Better for everyone if we part ways, and hopefully we won't lose too much money, but it's only money at the end of the day, and it's not as if we haven't wasted £100m before .... (Drinkwater £34m, Bakayoko £36m, Batshuayi £35m just for starters ... )

Lukaku just brought everything on himself and honestly, I can't understand what was the reason behind this stupid interview. 

He could get us 3 points against Liverpool and bring us back to the title race but he found himself out of the squad. Tuchel has made the right decision, there is no player above the team and I was so happy that we almost made a comeback, played some good part of football without Lukaku but it can also show him that if he's really hungry and motivated to play for our shirt, then he can become a monster.

I'm disappointed with everything he said, I'd prefer us to get a proper striker and create of him a world class striker instead of convincing Lukaku to stay.

January is here, if he wants, he can go. That's my opinion, I've lost my trust in him.

.......spotted in Coventry.

2 hours ago, Sindre said:

Everyone has an opinion on what Lukaku has done, but it appears there is little support for the striker’s actions in the dressing room. As one source explained to The Athletic: “I was speaking to one of the players and asked him if anyone was sticking up for Lukaku. He said no. None of them can believe he’s done it.”

https://theathletic.com/3046668/2022/01/03/romelu-lukakus-interview-the-fallout-the-meetings-with-tuchel-the-future/?source=twitteruk

No support from his fellow players either. Senior players were also consulted before he was banned v Liverpool.

Not surprised. Imagine what the likes of Azpi, Mount and the academy boys think, who lost their mate Tammy because of this fraud. He seems an incredibly unlikeable person, the type to befriend the Pogba’s of this world naturally. The door is closed no matter what happens now, no way back even with a little redemption ark, hoping Marina has a masterstroke up her sleeve for getting rid; money laundering agreement with Juve or something with de Ligt involved. 

5 minutes ago, Term_X said:

Not surprised. Imagine what the likes of Azpi, Mount and the academy boys think, who lost their mate Tammy because of this fraud. He seems an incredibly unlikeable person, the type to befriend the Pogba’s of this world naturally. The door is closed no matter what happens now, no way back even with a little redemption ark, hoping Marina has a masterstroke up her sleeve for getting rid; money laundering agreement with Juve or something with de Ligt involved. 

That's the most bewildering thing for me, we literally had a similar profile of player who was sold because he didn't fit the system.

Let's be real, there is no way back from this. 4 months in, he throws his toy out  because he can't perform well enough to make the striker position his. 

Even if we do reintegrate him, a couple of non-performing weeks then it's back to "I love Italy, Inter is the best, I love pasta etc etc"

3 hours ago, Valerie said:

We obviously disagree on how the club should respond. The tough decision you seek concerns a 100 million or so pound asset. Not a business on earth will throw that away merely for the sake of how it's going to be perceived, as nobody outside the club will care one fig about how it is handled. It's just a bit of juicy gossip to outsiders. This isn't about sales figures and reliability for instance in a case of product tampering. Supporters will continue to buy tickets and merchandise, players will continue to sign and no sponsors will withdraw. As group dynamics go, the dressing room and coaching staff will sort themselves out, probably after giving Lukaku some serious grief, should anyone be bothered by this. 

After talking things out with Lukaku, diplomacy is exactly what is needed to keep that multi-million asset on board. That doesn't mean the board needs to stroke him over the head saying 'There there now'. It's possible to be firm behind closed doors, involving Tuchel as well. Diplomacy and firmness are not mutually exclusive.

You're afraid of creating a precedent. I'd say 99% of the players toe the line, and there will always be a few that don't. Compare it to misbehaviour or causing an accident after alcohol use: players know damn well what the consequences are (huge fines, dropped from the squad to name but a couple), yet it is still happening. That's because we're dealing with people, and it's an illusion to think you can control everything. It would be unwise if the club would decide to publicly set an example now for the uncertainty of the odd future player doing what Lukaku did, at the expense of losing a recent high-figure investment. Chelsea FC is a business, like it or not, it needs to be run like a business.

I didn't say anything about throwing away  a 100 million pound asset. The most likely outcome out of all this is that Lukaku realizes he's made a mistake and issues an apology, and the club and the player just move forward. The fans won't forget obviously, but as long as he delivers on the pitch where it matters, they'll support him. After all, this is probably the best decision for both parties. I never wanted him at Chelsea and stil wish we haven't bought him, but what's done is done, we've massively overpaid for him due to our desperate need of a goalscorer and a shortage of genuine world class strikers on the market and now it's going to be very difficult to move him due to the fee and wages involved, not to mention finding and securing a suitable replacement.

I completely disagree that nobody outside of the club cares about how it's handled. Reputation matters, in business world  or any other. And football at the highest level is not just a matter of money, it's about fans, people who are emotionally invested in their clubs, and you better believe the clubs care a whole lot about how they're perceived in public, just look at the reaction to the Super League protests. If you check the feedback to this situation not from just CFC supporters' point of view, but even from the rival fans and pundits across the board you'd realize it very difficult to  find anyone taking the player's side in this matter. And I repeat if it was something that happened behind closed doors at Cobham, we could deal with it privately because it would have been in our interest to do so. But since the player in question was dumb enough to arrange an interview for the whole world to see, our reaction couldn't have been just limited to diplomacy behind closed doors. Now that we've made our point publicly, comes the behind the doors part, the outcome of which we'll find out shortly.

Yes, I don't want a precedent set where players feel they can throw the club and the manager under the bus and won't have any consequences. No, you can't control everything but there has to be an accountability for your actions in any professional environment and we're talking about one of the biggest football clubs in the world. And again, it wasn't the club's choice to take it public, it was the player's. It was Lukaku who arranged the interview without authorization, it was Lukaku who said all those things. I honestly don't see how we could have dealt with it in any other way. 

Edited January 3, 20224 yr by abramovich

So who is going to talk first after the meeting ?

Will the club announce anything to the fans ? Or should we expect big mouth to talk first through Tim Howard ?

Will we hear anything at all today ? Or do we have to wait for pre-match interviews Wednesday before we find out what has been said ?

 

 

So any update on the meeting?

12 minutes ago, coco said:

So who is going to talk first after the meeting ?

Will the club announce anything to the fans ? Or should we expect big mouth to talk first through Tim Howard ?

Will we hear anything at all today ? Or do we have to wait for pre-match interviews Wednesday before we find out what has been said ?

 

 

You know the Tim Howard thing really annoys me. Given how this exploded he goes and then says something not too inflammatory (IMO) but must have known this would be aired by Howard. I seen an interview with Tuchel and this was put to him (a meeting Monday) and he seemed taken a back by it, almost like how do you know this ?

20 minutes ago, coco said:

So who is going to talk first after the meeting ?

Will the club announce anything to the fans ? Or should we expect big mouth to talk first through Tim Howard ?

Will we hear anything at all today ? Or do we have to wait for pre-match interviews Wednesday before we find out what has been said ?

 

 

Lukaku will probably do another interview wearing his inter shirt