28 minutes ago, Dean said:

The extreme is just for framing. You said you don’t care who the owner is as long as the team wins. You’d be ok with the Saudi state owning Chelsea. A brutal regime that engages in flogging (1000 lashes for terrible crimes such as setting up a website), beheadings, death sentences for abandoning one’s religion. You wouldn’t be ok with nazi Germany. How about Putin’s Russia - the actual state let’s say before Ukraine, but after all the other stuff (Litvinenko, Chechnya, Syria, Ukraine 2014) ? Saddam’s Iraq in a counterfactual where the west had let bygones be bygones after Kuwait and Saddam was accepted? Would you mind those?

If the Saudis were to buy Chelsea and Chelsea were to win trophies, would the knowledge of those goings-on not taint those victories? 

We are now being owned by an American. Not sure if Saudi Arabia is actually worse than the US considering the amount of wars started, the amount of regime change operations, the amount of global interference etc.

33 minutes ago, mojo said:

 bloody hell

Not so long ago we were on top of the world. Now fans of Arsenal, City, Newcastle, United, Liverpool, Spurs, Southampton, Leeds etc etc are laughing at us all.

16 minutes ago, reparto corse said:

 

We are now being owned by an American. Not sure if Saudi Arabia is actually worse than the US considering the amount of wars started, the amount of regime change operations, the amount of global interference etc.

‘An American’.. not America, think you missed the point of his post. 

 

….The gulf states are using Newcastle/City as a Marketing vehicle, it’s very different. 

Edited November 13, 20223 yr by Term_X

Hmm is Potter our version of Steve Bruce? Football to bore you to death.

I'd take your hand off for a swap right now!

A mate earlier said he'd rather see Rafa back there, thats the level it is now!

34 minutes ago, Term_X said:

‘An American’.. not America, think you missed the point of his post. 

 

….The gulf states are using Newcastle/City as a Marketing vehicle, it’s very different. 

It would be naive to believe that the American billionaire elites are not connected to the government.

12 minutes ago, reparto corse said:

It would be naive to believe that the American billionaire elites are not connected to the government.

I think again you miss the point on why they own a football club, in addition to this US & UK are two of one, a historical alliance and friendship of which no wars or atrocities will be enough to waver. Essentially, bullet proof of unfavourable geopolitical outcomes, which made them the ideal owners; aside from like Jim Ratcliffe maybe. 

The gulf states need to clean up their image and also deepen ties with the west, City & Newcastle are both Marketing vehicles for them. It’s totally different, Boehly/Clearlake saw an opportunity to invest and add to their portfolio, it has nothing to do with ‘America’, they are their own entity. 

36 minutes ago, Mod said:

I'd take your hand off for a swap right now!

A mate earlier said he'd rather see Rafa back there, thats the level it is now!

All thanks to the man who believes he is fit to run a football club, who also believe Salah and KdB came out of the Chelsea academy.

What happened to that @SwedishEntitywas it who signed up when Potter took over?

3 hours ago, cfcforeverfan said:

The amount of people who are willing to accept mediocrity is stunning and appalling 

if we have the budget of Norwich city Nottingham forest I can understand why we should adjust our expectations, back when those days in late 90s when we won a league cup I celebrated like a mad kid because I know that’s our level

However, nowadays we have one of the highest revenue in the world , one of the most expensive squad and highest wage bill and some fans could just accept ‘well it is what it is and we might never challenge the title again and this maybe just our rank from now on’ and completely ignore the fact that given our investment we should be fighting for top2 and cl every single year. 

Spot on.

It's probably the same group of people calling out Tuchel for regression in the team, and boring football. Yet, accept what we are serving up now, losing games, not scoring goals or even having a couple of decent shots on goal, and nobody is playing well ( somehow got nothing to do with the manager). The regression under Tuchel still got us the top 4 finish over the last 2 seasons, and not even talking about the CL. Where are we going to finish now, like top 8 or mid table?  There are good reasons other managers are speaking so highly of Potter, and pundits are taking it easy on us. We are the team that's in most trouble, NOT Liverpool or Man United.  They want us to go through this 'process' for a few years, by that time we will long forgot how to win anything, let along a title challenge.

1 hour ago, Term_X said:

‘An American’.. not America, think you missed the point of his post. 

 

….The gulf states are using Newcastle/City as a Marketing vehicle, it’s very different. 

Yes. It’s a massive false equivalence. 
 

leaving aside the human rights angle, there’s also the financial fair play one. It’s huge. These countries have basically limitless cash. There are no constraints on their spending whatsoever, unlike with individual wealthy owners, and there is no profit motive. City cooks the books. It’s obvious.

And that lack of financial constraint ties into a lack of political constraint that is only possible for a dictatorship. They have zero accountability to their citizenry. This is a big deal.
 

Imagine a world in which the US government starts buying sports teams and lavishing vast sums on them. Or the UK? Who thinks that would be normal  or fair? Nobody! But it couldn’t happen. Why? because whatever your complaints are about the US or UK geopolitically, they’re liberal democracies, and nobody is going to vote for governments that start splashing taxpayer money on sports teams that bring zero benefit to them.
 

Imagine now that some brave souls in Saudi Arabia started campaigning for more money to be spent on schools instead of football teams, their leaders’ toys/vanity projects in foreign lands from which the citizenry derives zero benefits. What would happen to them?a public flogging. maybe a stoning?

You see the difference?
 

They basically have an unfair advantage that is predicated entirely on their being dictatorships… and they wield this advantage in the free world. How fxcked up is that?

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Hmm is Potter our version of Steve Bruce? Football to bore you to death.

Yeah honestly, I wouldn't mind a couple of bad results if the football wasn't so atrocious to watch. 

1 hour ago, Mod said:

I'd take your hand off for a swap right now!

A mate earlier said he'd rather see Rafa back there, thats the level it is now!

Rafa got us 3rd and a Europa League win with Fernando Torres up front he was legitimately better than the sh*t we're seeing now

Edited November 13, 20223 yr by Drogba1

6 hours ago, Drogba1 said:

Kovacic is 30+ now and injury prone, I don't think anyone defends Havertz or Mount anymore. 

 

Tuchel still got 2 top 4s, 5 cup finals including a Champions League with this lot. A good manager can cover for a medicore squad. The rebuild that we need would be a lot less painful if Tuchel was still here.

kova is 28

I wasn't a Tuchel fan early on but the way he expertly managed a draconian schedule 2 years ago gave me confidence that although he might not be the best, he'd make a good run of it. His team did tailed off at the end of last season and the incompetency of Marina and Petr did see us get Lukaku in and losing Rudiger plus the lack of good midfield signings.

Boehly should have came in with a DoF ready to take the wheel. Tuchel had a hell of a job already and he needed to refresh the squad. The failure to do so was on him and Boehly. He also lost parts of the dressing room and left us with 1pts in the CL after 2 games.

But this sh*t by Potter is the worst I've seen in a very long time. AVB and Scolari has at least some ideas on what to do, as embarrassing as RDM's tactic was on the CL Final, it was still purposeful. Potter switches formations and moves players around 2-3 times per game. It's ridiculous, the players are confused and the insistence on playing RLC everywhere on the pitch is just mad. 

I have never seen a Chelsea team this disjointed, misguided, unmotivated and the loss of belief is slowly spreading. 

By the end of this horrible World Cup, if Potter still hasn't figured out what to bring to the table by the first few games, he needs the sack

8 minutes ago, Drogba1 said:

Rafa got us 3rd and a Europa League win with Fernando Torres up front he was legitimately better than the sh*t we're seeing now

Was it @cocowho likened us in some thread or other to the UK government? I might be imagining things. Anyway, I guess this is a bit like how the May government seemed like a golden age during the Johnson years. Or Suella Braverman comes in as Home Secretary and there’s suddenly some nostalgia for the level-headed stewardship of Priti Patel. 

3 minutes ago, Deino said:

I wasn't a Tuchel fan early on but the way he expertly managed a draconian schedule 2 years ago gave me confidence that although he might not be the best, he'd make a good run of it. His team did tailed off at the end of last season and the incompetency of Marina and Petr did see us get Lukaku in and losing Rudiger plus the lack of good midfield signings.

Boehly should have came in with a DoF ready to take the wheel. Tuchel had a hell of a job already and he needed to refresh the squad. The failure to do so was on him and Boehly. He also lost parts of the dressing room and left us with 1pts in the CL after 2 games.

But this sh*t by Potter is the worst I've seen in a very long time. AVB and Scolari has at least some ideas on what to do, as embarrassing as RDM's tactic was on the CL Final, it was still purposeful. Potter switches formations and moves players around 2-3 times per game. It's ridiculous, the players are confused and the insistence on playing RLC everywhere on the pitch is just mad. 

I have never seen a Chelsea team this disjointed, misguided, unmotivated and the loss of belief is slowly spreading. 

By the end of this horrible World Cup, if Potter still hasn't figured out what to bring to the table by the first few games, he needs the sack

Fully agree, though Tuchel got sacked after our very first game in the group against Zagreb, so it's not like we were in massive danger of crashing out of the Champions League either.

5 hours ago, cfcforeverfan said:

I will NEVER EVER accept finishing 8th 2 season in a row, and no CL football for 3 years

Rather go off and support city in that instance then would you?

Some of our fans are an entitled bunch...

Vast majority of the comments in here are laughable.

Lets start off with what is clear. Our football at the moment is broken. We look lost, out of attacking ideas, slow, and mostly not even "up" for it. This is some of the worst football we have played and the team is broken from top to bottom.

But pinning that on a manager that has just come in and calling for his head is lunacy.

The rot has been setting in for years. Lamps worked wonders to get us over the line of the top 4. Tuchel worked wonders to win us the champs league. But those "wins" were only a case of putting a plaster on a bullet wound. The problems were there, we have been regressing as a team for years - and a succession of managers have been unable (lamps) or unwilling (tuchel and sarri) to make the changes necessary.

Potter may turn out to be a huge failure - but we won't know that for some time. Getting this group of players drilled to play a different way, outside of the ultra negative manner in which tuchel had us playing, is going to take time. 

 

3 hours ago, Dean said:

Yes. It’s a massive false equivalence. 
 

leaving aside the human rights angle, there’s also the financial fair play one. It’s huge. These countries have basically limitless cash. There are no constraints on their spending whatsoever, unlike with individual wealthy owners, and there is no profit motive. City cooks the books. It’s obvious.

And that lack of financial constraint ties into a lack of political constraint that is only possible for a dictatorship. They have zero accountability to their citizenry. This is a big deal.
 

Imagine a world in which the US government starts buying sports teams and lavishing vast sums on them. Or the UK? Who thinks that would be normal  or fair? Nobody! But it couldn’t happen. Why? because whatever your complaints are about the US or UK geopolitically, they’re liberal democracies, and nobody is going to vote for governments that start splashing taxpayer money on sports teams that bring zero benefit to them.
 

Imagine now that some brave souls in Saudi Arabia started campaigning for more money to be spent on schools instead of football teams, their leaders’ toys/vanity projects in foreign lands from which the citizenry derives zero benefits. What would happen to them?a public flogging. maybe a stoning?

You see the difference?
 

They basically have an unfair advantage that is predicated entirely on their being dictatorships… and they wield this advantage in the free world. How fxcked up is that?

You are in for a nasty surprise thinking the US and the UK are liberal democracies. This is not the place to discuss this so I will just stop but I find your opinions incredibly naive. It's like the last couple of years didn't happen for you?

9 hours ago, cfcforeverfan said:

I supported Chelsea since 1997, I dont ask for titles every season back then because we arent as big as Man United, Arsenal or Liverpool.

but this is 2022, and my expectation changes accordingly, so sorry for not accepting mediocrity anymore 

Well, I guess this is where we part ways.

A lot people say we need to give potter time let's be frank, you can give potter another 10 years and potter won't turn jogavic into at least average midfielder defensively. 

There is no magic solution. With Chilwell, Reece and Kante our for a while, we simply has way too many weaknesses and very little strength. 

 

Even if Potter was to go today you still have the biggest problem that we cannot shift, the man who hired Potter to a 12mill a year 5 year deal when he has done nothing at the top level to merit that, the same man that destroyed our wage structure handing out huge, long term contracts to average players like Cucurella and Sterling, and past it ones like Auba and Koulibaly. The same man that put 300mill debt on us completely wasting money to suit his own vanity.

That same man would then pick Potters replacement, probably handing out a 15mill a year 5 year deal to Bruce Arena...

36 minutes ago, Valerie said:

Well, I guess this is where we part ways.

I dont understand why having expectations is like a sin to some of you guys. How far should our standard drop before we say it is not acceptable and ask for some change?

Just like those United fans that invaded Old Trafford, I fail to see them anything other than die hard fans that would run through a brick wall and die on the pitch for their team, but that doesnt mean they can accept the team getting worse every season. 

As a fan you support the team through highs and lows, but that doesnt mean we have to sit there pretending everything is going to be fine and rosy despite everything is telling us the other way

9 hours ago, Dean said:

I went on a bit of a rant out of nowhere about the petrodollar thing and kind of off-topic (apologies to all) on the match thread. When we look at us under Roman, Man City, and Newcastle…. I mean there’s a line of acceptability somewhere, right? So the question is where does one draw that line?

Obviously I’m biased so I’m going to say Roman buying us didn’t cross the line. But if I were a neutral….no further comment.

In my view, Man City being owned by the UAE crosses that line. Not only can they spend half a billion on a player, but they can effectively buy their way out of any trouble regarding financial fair play etc thanks to the corruption in the governing bodies (UEFA in this case).

Saudis buying Newcastle - absolutely no doubt in my mind. This is not cool. It’s a massive wake up call. To anyone who thinks this doesn’t cross the line, I have to ask - what would?
 

Tying this all together and also this fkin World Cup that was effectively bought by yet another resource-rich state and has to be held (WTAF??) in fkin November…

Let’s just say something is rotten in the state of Denmark..massive overhaul is needed. 

Spot on Dean, but I fear we all climbed into the hand basket some time ago. The conclusion appears to be inevitable. 

The laughable thing is that it's not even about football any more. The product is woeful and becoming more plastic each year. Your comment about City's spending power is a good example. How long did it take in prize money to warrant the quarter of a billion Guardiola spent on a new defence after bombing off Joe Hart replacing him with someone worse and installing a rapist (allegedly) at left back.

It's nothing to do with football any more.

9 hours ago, Dean said:

I agree it was a terrible decision to get rid of Tuchel in, what, week 3?4?. I was a big fan and I was very optimistic… until Ukraine kicked off and Roman was gone. Some cracks had started to appear perhaps independently of that (personality issues maybe? Is he an impact manager that can get a lot out of teams in the short term but not over the long haul? Are ALL managers like that now because of the pressures of the modern game? Klopp?)

regardless, i was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt and it was idiotic to sack him when they did.
 

But I do think something bigger is afoot . I’m not sure Tuchel would have worked in the current set-up and I’m not sure there is another manager out there who would. 

Dean you should blog. Agree with this as well