52 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

I don't understand why many fans are unhappy with Maresca selecting Jackson. Jackson by a country mile is our best st. It is not even close.

Have you watched us much this season Bob?

1 hour ago, Bob stark said:

I don't understand why many fans are unhappy with Maresca selecting Jackson. Jackson by a country mile is our best st. It is not even close.

The more important question what kind of club has player with maybe 15 start at senior level as their nailed down st.

Come on Bob....that is a ridiculous thing to say for a tactical mind as evovled as yours.... Have you watched us? Have you seen how bad Jackson has been?

Repeat after me..... "IF JACKSON IS THE ANSWER, THEN BOB STARK AND FRAUDESCA ARE ASKING THE WRONG QUESTIONS"

Saying Jackson is our best option just because he is the only one we have tried all season, is like having chlamydia and refusing the treatment cream because “at least it’s familiar”. Sure, the treatment might sting, but there’s a decent chance it’ll actually fix the problem - unlike just sitting there hoping it clears up on its own (persisting with Jackson).

Edited May 20, 20251 yr by nonotnowjim

Lose to Forest at the weekend and chances are we finish 7th, another season of conference league and scored 14 goals less than the season before.

Where is the upgrade??

21 hours ago, evissy said:

So from our crop of owner candidates were there a better one than we now have? Who also had the financies and means to meet Roman's list of necessities? We hit the jackpot with Roman. Would be borderline insane to get another one like him.

Didn't the club also hire people who know Chelsea? They have a role in that surely.

Once again not sure what you mean by your post. We have no idea who would have bene better or worse. These owners would have been better if they had not bee so disingenuous and were committed to delivering on what they pledged. Please explain exactly what were Roman's list of necessities. If i remember rightly he was sanctioned and tried initially to recoup the money that he had bankrolled us with. He then moved to wipe out all of out debt from the sale and insisted that any new owners were committed into investing in the club. That would be all of our necessities. Again bank/finance company borrowing against the club to meet this necessity is totally disingenuous of these owners especially whilst lapping up the missplaced kudos form the press that they were heavily investing.

And no, all personnel with any association to the club and its historical hierarchy were systematically removed/replaced. From the canteen staff, physiotherapy, management, bootroom, Petr Cech, Marina, Neil Baath and the the most successful academy system for the last 25 years.

6 hours ago, evissy said:

Hopefully they are mostly unified and make bigger decisions together - as the club.

You don't really believe this stuff do you. Is it that every piece of information that you digest you file into positive = true, negative = false/made up.

So when the unified, bigger decision making around the stadium plans, including the mayor possibly offering a helping hand is then clearly clarified on a live stream by Wyss when he says that they don't even have a project plan let alone an appointed PM, this must be false and made up as it reflects badly on Boehly, Egbhali et al?

11 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

Once again not sure what you mean by your post. We have no idea who would have bene better or worse. These owners would have been better if they had not bee so disingenuous and were committed to delivering on what they pledged. Please explain exactly what were Roman's list of necessities. If i remember rightly he was sanctioned and tried initially to recoup the money that he had bankrolled us with. He then moved to wipe out all of out debt from the sale and insisted that any new owners were committed into investing in the club. That would be all of our necessities. Again bank/finance company borrowing against the club to meet this necessity is totally disingenuous of these owners especially whilst lapping up the missplaced kudos form the press that they were heavily investing.

And no, all personnel with any association to the club and its historical hierarchy were systematically removed/replaced. From the canteen staff, physiotherapy, management, bootroom, Petr Cech, Marina, Neil Baath and the the most successful academy system for the last 25 years.

Roman had a list of things to invest. Don't remember what it was in entirety. But it was to ensure continued development of the club.

They added a board member who has a history with Chelsea, Barbara Charone. Not heard anything of her.

My question is how have we gone from a team that had 2 teams to one that has no options on the bench? It's been noticeable since the start of the year we've suddenly got no options off the bench particularly attacking ones. Ok Mudryk is an uncontrollable situation but we loaned out Felix, and Chukwuemeka in January knowing we already had Sterling and the pointless striker trio of Broja, Fofana, and Washington loaned out. Nkunku what's happened there is he injured or given up? To think I thought Sancho was a waste of a loan when we need the guy just to stop the bench looking like a Goal keeping and right back convention.

Not saying any of these players are the future and most are sh*t - part of the problem of why we're in this situation - buying crap loads of players that aren't good enough and need a loan for game time. Anything to try and change the flow of the game would be at least helpful. Feels like Forest will have more attacking options to change the game on Sunday which is madness considering the money spent and how we started the season.

Mental to think if we do make CL football (a big if) we need to spend even more to make a squad that can compete in both the league and Champions League, because at the moment in my opinion we've barely got a league squad.

And honestly the amount of sh*t we have to sell every season before we can spend is frankly ridiculous. This year the list feels like the biggest yet. It shows what a waste of money and time has been lost in the short time these owners have been in charge. Can't wait to see the usual end of season post listing all the players we need to sell.

Just now, evissy said:

Roman had a list of things to invest. Don't remember what it was in entirety. But it was to ensure continued development of the club.

They added a board member who has a history with Chelsea, Barbara Charone. Not heard anything of her.

Google shows this. I am not sure anything detailed here is particularly beyond the pale. Question is when you get into the stated commitment form Clearlake against what they have actually done to date. Not seeing a great deal of development of SB and the only tangible investment i can see in the academy and women' steam is to use them as counterweights in selling the assets into the group to counter balance their profligate spending, not of their own resources, but against the club.

Barbara Charone appears to be an accommodation as part of an inclusivity initiative by the consortium, by inviting a fan from the 80's onto the board as part of the Chelsea Foundation. No voice, no rights, from what I can see but good to be able to mention it at dinner parties.

5 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

You don't really believe this stuff do you. Is it that every piece of information that you digest you file into positive = true, negative = false/made up.

So when the unified, bigger decision making around the stadium plans, including the mayor possibly offering a helping hand is then clearly clarified on a live stream by Wyss when he says that they don't even have a project plan let alone an appointed PM, this must be false and made up as it reflects badly on Boehly, Egbhali et al?

Well that is the exact opposite of what people here file under everything regarding the owners, coach and directors. Just read the forum and you'll notice that. To me for example is weird the likes of Estevao doesn't create any hype or feeling of excitement here.

What I believe is: the most money this club will generate to its owners is to make the first team one of the top clubs in the world on the football pitch. Look at Barcelona. They have absolutely no money and they are trusted to buy big name players here and there. They have the financial backing even though they are basically broke.

That is one core idea I think is true which makes me believe they (our owners) essentially want what fans want - just win. Not every fan naturally but easiest path to less aching with all parties is just to win on the football pitch.

Is it easy? No. Is it something that will happen over night? Absolutely not.

Do you have to look for competitive edge from every area of the business? Absolutely.

They went with this idea and hope it works. To believe it or not to believe it is up to you. To face every day with disbelief or expectation to fail or lose is also very much up to you. I just don't want to spend my time doing so.

Again I have to reiterate: I am not a fan of the new owners or Enzo Maresca but I'll give them credit (when due) and back them on this project. I don't think it helps the team to be successful if fans are not backing them to do well especially in the circumstances they have created to us: Young squad and first season Premier League coach.

17 minutes ago, evissy said:

Roman had a list of things to invest. Don't remember what it was in entirety. But it was to ensure continued development of the club.

They added a board member who has a history with Chelsea, Barbara Charone. Not heard anything of her.

One of them was a fantastic new stadium until he got shafted. Unlike this bunch of c**tz who are quoting many years away from this happening.

The mad thing is, as much as people rag on Man Utd. Over the past five years they've been more successful than we have. They have won an FA Cup, EFL trophy, and they have the chance to get CL qualification and win a Europa league trophy this season. Our CL win papers over the cracks of just how poor we've been for a good while now.

Edited May 20, 20251 yr by Sunspear_88

51 minutes ago, Sunspear_88 said:

The mad thing is, as much as people rag on Man Utd. Over the past five years they've been more successful than we have. They have won an FA Cup, EFL trophy, and they have the chance to get CL qualification and win a Europa league trophy this season. Our CL win papers over the cracks of just how poor we've been for a good while now.

Whats Man Utd got to do with any of the conversations going on, very odd to just suddenly bring that up.

1 hour ago, evissy said:

To me for example is weird the likes of Estevao doesn't create any hype or feeling of excitement here.

That might be because many fear he’ll either be sold, loaned out or lost somewhere at the training ground. And even if he makes into the first team squad, there’s the possibility he’ll be converted into a fullback playing one twos with Sanchez. Hard to get excited.

7 hours ago, dkw said:

Is this Central Cee coming to the board meeting? Looks exactly the same

1 hour ago, Snedger said:

That might be because many fear he’ll either be sold, loaned out or lost somewhere at the training ground. And even if he makes into the first team squad, there’s the possibility he’ll be converted into a fullback playing one twos with Sanchez. Hard to get excited.

So glass half empty then. No probs

Edited May 20, 20251 yr by evissy

6 hours ago, evissy said:

So speaks the ex Malaga, ex Man City, ex Hebei China Fortune, ex West Ham manager. 🤣

17 hours ago, Mod said:

Have you watched us much this season Bob?

Have you watched the way we play when we play Nkunku up top?

Jackson can be the worst st in the world but it doesn't matter when he is by far our best st.

It is the same thing with sanchez, it doesn't matter whether he is good enough for Chelsea when he is our best gk.

17 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

Come on Bob....that is a ridiculous thing to say for a tactical mind as evovled as yours.... Have you watched us? Have you seen how bad Jackson has been?

Repeat after me..... "IF JACKSON IS THE ANSWER, THEN BOB STARK AND FRAUDESCA ARE ASKING THE WRONG QUESTIONS"

Saying Jackson is our best option just because he is the only one we have tried all season, is like having chlamydia and refusing the treatment cream because “at least it’s familiar”. Sure, the treatment might sting, but there’s a decent chance it’ll actually fix the problem - unlike just sitting there hoping it clears up on its own (persisting with Jackson).

Nkunku is a better finisher and has better box movement than jackson but he does not run behind, he doesn't duel with CB, it is like playing with 10 man until you get to opp box.

Neto is our best alternative because he run behind. But if all you want is run behind, jackson is better than Neto.

I said last season, big team doesn't sign player who only has less than 20 career start as their starting ST. But this is our board strategy.

Last two season we have been one of the youngest team in Europe and we have been fighting for cl spot. With the pipeline of talented young players that blue Co prepared, I can see us in similar situations for years to come.

Now if you are asking how about progress, how about patching holes in the squad, that is whole another story.

On 20/05/2025 at 12:17, Ukraine Bolt said:

Lose to Forest at the weekend and chances are we finish 7th, another season of conference league and scored 14 goals less than the season before.

Where is the upgrade??

We've conceded 20 less goals as well to be fair

1 hour ago, Drogba1 said:

We've conceded 20 less goals as well to be fair

Fit RJ, fit Fofana, Cucurella carrying his form into the season.

2 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Fit RJ, fit Fofana, Cucurella carrying his form into the season.

Or is this simply Sanchez providing better goalkeeping metrics than he/Petrovic provided us last season? Our defence has continued to look pretty dodgy for me.

If Maresca fails to win the Conference League and secure a Champions League spot, then I see absolutely no reason for him be kept on as manager. I would still get rid of him either way, but how do you make any sense of sticking by a coach that would have failed at every objective, both realistic and on the ambitious side?

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

If Maresca fails to win the Conference League and secure a Champions League spot, then I see absolutely no reason for him be kept on as manager. I would still get rid of him either way, but how do you make any sense of sticking by a coach that would have failed at every objective, both realistic and on the ambitious side?

His agent paid the press to make up a story about Roma being interested in him, I’m sure blueco will fall for the bait and add an extra few years on the contract regardless of how things pan out.

6 hours ago, Term_X said:

His agent paid the press to make up a story about Roma being interested in him, I’m sure blueco will fall for the bait and add an extra few years on the contract regardless of how things pan out.

☹️

Edited May 22, 20251 yr by Kev56