5 hours ago, bluelightening said:

Genuinely thought they had super imposed Pep at the end of this video...

this trophy should be used to prop open the entrance to the trophy room.

The FIFA Club World Cup has land...

The FIFA Club World Cup has landed at Stamford Bridge! |...

The FIFA Club World Cup has landed at Stamford Bridge! 🏆   The brand-new golden trophy has made the transatlantic journey from the States to Stamford Bridge and is now taking pride of place in the...

The Home of Trophies made me chuckle... okay, it made me gloat!

18 hours ago, Clown Lake said:

From what I am seeing, yes I do believe so. Their way was unorthodox, however we have won a World Cup and a European trophy already. Do we forget how much bashing we received when Roman initially arrived? He was called scatter gun and incompetent. Do we have a lack of memory on here?!?!

Todd & Co bought us under duress, they obviously did not know what they were doing initially. However, unlike the Floridian Swamp at Old Trafford, our owners actually care and are trying their absolute best in making us a powerhouse in world football. We could have had leeches like the Glazer's family, instead we have Todd who wants an empire and a hyperactive Eghbali who wants the best team in the world for the next 10+ years. Sure, unorthodox method of getting there initially but as long as the plan is blossoming we should be happy. We could have been MUCH WORSE OFF.

Roman " incompetent" when he first arrived?

Unlike the present owners he didn't sack everyone and appoint himself sporting director. he left the manager in charge until the end of the season , and bought players on Ranieri's suggestions.

In his first season as owner went went from 4th ( the same position we had finished when Todd/ClearLake bought us ) and jumped to 2nd . ( Behind Arsenal's "invincibles) We reached the CL semi finals.. Under this lot we went from 4th to ....where ?? 😂😂😂

In his second season as owner ...well, everyone knows about that . This lots second season in charge ??😂😂😂

btw.World Club Champions ? Won that season before we were sold

18 hours ago, Clown Lake said:

From what I am seeing, yes I do believe so. Their way was unorthodox, however we have won a World Cup and a European trophy already. Do we forget how much bashing we received when Roman initially arrived? He was called scatter gun and incompetent. Do we have a lack of memory on here?!?!

Todd & Co bought us under duress, they obviously did not know what they were doing initially. However, unlike the Floridian Swamp at Old Trafford, our owners actually care and are trying their absolute best in making us a powerhouse in world football. We could have had leeches like the Glazer's family, instead we have Todd who wants an empire and a hyperactive Eghbali who wants the best team in the world for the next 10+ years. Sure, unorthodox method of getting there initially but as long as the plan is blossoming we should be happy. We could have been MUCH WORSE OFF.

Edited July 22, 2025Jul 22 by The Rising Sun
Information

On 21/07/2025 at 19:23, Valerie said:

Not with our 2024/25 team and coach. Although I'm extremely happy we won the CWC and with how we got the better of PSG, it was a bit of a fluke how we got into the better part of the draw (with hindsight) by losing a group stage match.

I don't want to take anything away from the end result, mind you 🙂

Agreed Val. Wow! England's women ! !

20 hours ago, Clown Lake said:

It From what I am seeing, yes I do believe so. Their way was unorthodox, however we have won a World Cup and a European trophy already. Do we forget how much bashing we received when Roman initially arrived? He was called scatter gun and incompetent. Do we have a lack of memory on here?!?!

Todd & Co bought us under duress, they obviously did not know what they were doing initially. However, unlike the Floridian Swamp at Old Trafford, our owners actually care and are trying their absolute best in making us a powerhouse in world football. We could have had leeches like the Glazer's family, instead we have Todd who wants an empire and a hyperactive Eghbali who wants the best team in the world for the next 10+ years. Sure, unorthodox method of getting there initially but as long as the plan is blossoming we should be happy. We could have been MUCH WORSE OFF.

Todd bought us under "duress" ? It was a far far better club than the one Roman bought.

Roman bought a club that had won just one league title ever. . that was in 1955. We shared our training ground at Harlington with a university. ( I believe) ..Roman improved us instantly. His 2nd season we were League Champions and League Cup winners. He went on to build Cobham.

Todd and Co bought an elite football club that had won titles and trophies with no debt and instantly made us worse. They destroyed the club they bought, Roman built the club he bought and turned us into something magnificent.

Anyway mate, we won't agree, but that's all part of being a fan of our great club.

Take care 👍🏆🏆🏆🏆👍

34 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

Agreed Val. Wow! England's women ! !

Wow England women again!!

The Lionesses have been really poor and lucky to make the final from the easier side of the draw.

Maybe they’ll hammer the Spanish (likely opponents in the final) 3-0 before half time?

Really impressed by their attitude. They don’t give up.

5 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Roman " incompetent" when he first arrived?

Unlike the present owners he didn't sack everyone and appoint himself sporting director. he left the manager in charge until the end of the season , and bought players on Ranieri's suggestions.

In his first season as owner went went from 4th ( the same position we had finished when Todd/ClearLake bought us ) and jumped to 2nd . ( Behind Arsenal's "invincibles) We reached the CL semi finals.. Under this lot we went from 4th to ....where ?? 😂😂😂

In his second season as owner ...well, everyone knows about that . This lots second season in charge ??😂😂😂

btw.World Club Champions ? Won that season before we were sold

3 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Todd bought us under "duress" ? It was a far far better club than the one Roman bought.

Roman bought a club that had won just one league title ever. . that was in 1955. We shared our training ground at Harlington with a university. ( I believe) ..Roman improved us instantly. His 2nd season we were League Champions and League Cup winners. He went on to build Cobham.

Todd and Co bought an elite football club that had won titles and trophies with no debt and instantly made us worse. They destroyed the club they bought, Roman built the club he bought and turned us into something magnificent.

Anyway mate, we won't agree, but that's all part of being a fan of our great club.

Take care 👍🏆🏆🏆🏆👍

Unsure what you’re on about, you have responded multiple times. Forget to switch accounts or something?

Media were on Roman the same way as they have been against our current owners. Yes, we were under duress because Chelsea FC was seized from Roman. We were a seized asset. Boehly and Clearlake did not have time to learn from the past owner or the team who were there (removed members due to worries to Russian ties and England sanctioning us again for those ties still at Chelsea who were under Roman). We had to force a complete reset due to the geopolitical situation.

As I said, we could have landed with leeches like the Glazers and Rickett family. Instead we have Boehly and Eghbali who are looking to make us competitive.

6 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Todd bought us under "duress" ? It was a far far better club than the one Roman bought.

Roman bought a club that had won just one league title ever. . that was in 1955. We shared our training ground at Harlington with a university. ( I believe) ..Roman improved us instantly. His 2nd season we were League Champions and League Cup winners. He went on to build Cobham.

Todd and Co bought an elite football club that had won titles and trophies with no debt and instantly made us worse. They destroyed the club they bought, Roman built the club he bought and turned us into something magnificent.

Anyway mate, we won't agree, but that's all part of being a fan of our great club.

Take care 👍🏆🏆🏆🏆👍

Roman bought Chelsea for his side quest/hobby.

Clearlake is here to make money.

5 hours ago, Clown Lake said:

Media were on Roman the same way as they have been against our current owners.

No they were not

5 hours ago, Clown Lake said:

removed members due to worries to Russian ties and England sanctioning us again for those ties still at Chelsea who were under Roman).

No they did not

11 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Roman " incompetent" when he first arrived?

Unlike the present owners he didn't sack everyone and appoint himself sporting director. he left the manager in charge until the end of the season , and bought players on Ranieri's suggestions.

In his first season as owner went went from 4th ( the same position we had finished when Todd/ClearLake bought us ) and jumped to 2nd . ( Behind Arsenal's "invincibles) We reached the CL semi finals.. Under this lot we went from 4th to ....where ?? 😂😂😂

In his second season as owner ...well, everyone knows about that . This lots second season in charge ??😂😂😂

btw.World Club Champions ? Won that season before we were sold

Its best to skip past Clownlake's posts when you see them, he clearly wasn't a Chelsea fan when Roman took over.

6 hours ago, Clown Lake said:

Unsure what you’re on about, you have responded multiple times. Forget to switch accounts or something?

Media were on Roman the same way as they have been against our current owners. Yes, we were under duress because Chelsea FC was seized from Roman. We were a seized asset. Boehly and Clearlake did not have time to learn from the past owner or the team who were there (removed members due to worries to Russian ties and England sanctioning us again for those ties still at Chelsea who were under Roman). We had to force a complete reset due to the geopolitical situation.

As I said, we could have landed with leeches like the Glazers and Rickett family. Instead we have Boehly and Eghbali who are looking to make us competitive.

69 posts, still waiting for a worthwhile one...

complete and utter waffle.

Hes just making sh*t up now, terrible poster. If he isnt bluehaze then somehow hes managed to be worse than him, which I though was impossible...

8 hours ago, Clown Lake said:

Unsure what you’re on about, you have responded multiple times. Forget to switch accounts or something?

Media were on Roman the same way as they have been against our current owners. Yes, we were under duress because Chelsea FC was seized from Roman. We were a seized asset. Boehly and Clearlake did not have time to learn from the past owner or the team who were there (removed members due to worries to Russian ties and England sanctioning us again for those ties still at Chelsea who were under Roman). We had to force a complete reset due to the geopolitical situation.

As I said, we could have landed with leeches like the Glazers and Rickett family. Instead we have Boehly and Eghbali who are looking to make us competitive.

I get what you're trying to say but I hope you're not purposely rewriting history.

The club wasn't under duress, Roman was forced to sell. The chance of us being liquidated wasn't zero but a 2Bn asset wasn't going to just be destroyed by the government.

I am grateful that we were bought by people who are not(at this time) using us as their passive income. I am glad that they did not take money out of the club for their own foolish endeavors like what the KSE does nor did they underinvest like FSG/INEOS did/are doing.

That being said, they bought a 2Bn asset complete with a conveyor belt of talent and money, a fanbase that supports the club through thick and thin, a club loaded with trophies and staff that stayed when sh't hit the fan. They didn't have to fire anyone because those involved with Roman willingly stepped down thus leaving a vacuum at the top that can be filled with BlueCo's own people(which they themselves bungled). Todd should've left football matters to the football people.

It's not a complete reset. The owners just needed to install directors that have a vision for where they wanted to go and a solid gameplan to get us there but as a whole, the structure of the club didn't require any micromanagement. We really only needed a Director/s that can run the footballing aspect of the club and a system/structure that realigns the vision of the manager , players and higher ups. The first and parts of the 2nd year was a disaster.

2bn was a lot of money that could have been better spent on better players or used only be used when needed. We shouldn't be saddled with new debt and a roster of players not fit for the first team. These are key mistakes in my opinion that could have been mitigated if BlueCo wasn't so adamant on making their own stamp on the club too fast too soon.

1 hour ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

69 posts, still waiting for a worthwhile one...

complete and utter waffle.

Sorry but what he said isn’t waffle its a view that has merit albeit many that disagree won’t have smelt the coffee !

1) If you had been keeping your eye on many press articles going back over the years you would have seen an agenda from journalist such as Matthew Syed

https://www.sportbible.com/football/journalists-damning-rant-about-roman-abramovich-in-2013-20220311

Or what about this type of article

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/10/football-ignored-the-truth-about-roman-abramovichs-oligarch-money-for-too-long

Or maybe the agenda that was spouted by Chris Bryant behind the protection of parliamentary immunity?

2) There is a book that has just been published called Sanctioned

This book details the seizure and sale . It seems that had the sale not completed on the day it did the club was going into administration something that wouldn’t have afforded the opportunity to arrange a pre packed deal and almost certainly would have led to expulsion from the PL and quite possibly entry to the EFL would have been denied. In effect that would more than likely led to full blow Compulsory Winding Up.

The Rayne group weren’t given any additional time whatsoever to extend the special license and BlueCo had no choice but to hit the ground running and as we know wing it.

There simply wasn’t the opportunity to appoint senior staff . Bank accounts were frozen, season planning had to be halted in March, there were no lines of credit, strategic individuals at Chelsea such as director Eugene Tenenbaum was himself sanctioned a month after RA and by association it meant that other powerful individuals such as David Davidovich were likewise under sanctions or those that remained in post such as Marina and Buck in particular could not act on RAs instructions or indeed could they be associated with. Ironically Marina and Buck stuck around for a while indeed the likes of Buck was still director until 30/6/ a month after takeover the same date all the other members of the consortium were appointed onto the board. Bohley had been appointed on 1/6

The first window that Bohley operated as SD he did indeed make the deals( who else could ?)

Edited July 23, 2025Jul 23 by terraloon

9 hours ago, Clown Lake said:

.." removed membersnUnsure what you’re on about, you have responded multiple times. Forget to switch accounts or something?

Media were on Roman the same way as they have been against our current owners. Yes, we were under duress because Chelsea FC was seized from Roman. We were a seized asset. Boehly and Clearlake did not have time to learn from the past owner or the team who were there (removed members due to worries to Russian ties and England sanctioning us again for those ties still at Chelsea who were under Roman). We had to force a complete reset due to the geopolitical situation.

As I said, we could have landed with leeches like the Glazers and Rickett family. Instead we have Boehly and Eghbali who are looking to make us competitive.

Roman didn't "need time to learn from the previous owners" , which is your excuse for our present owners. We went from not ever winning the PL title to lifting it in his second season as owner.

We had no sanctions when we changed ownership. A ready made , elite football club with no debt . What a f**king gift.. How on earth could anyone destroy it while racking up a mountain of debt into the bargain..

That bit in your brackets " removed members etc etc" is incomprehensible I'm afraid..

Btw, I've got just the one account mate. .

As I said previously, we won't agree, that's ok .

Take care 👍

2 minutes ago, terraloon said:

Sorry but what he said isn’t waffle its a view that has merit albeit many that disagree won’t have smelt the coffee !

1) If you had been keeping your eye on many press articles going back over the years you would have seen an agenda from journalist such as Matthew Syed

https://www.sportbible.com/football/journalists-damning-rant-about-roman-abramovich-in-2013-20220311

Or what about this type of article

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/10/football-ignored-the-truth-about-roman-abramovichs-oligarch-money-for-too-long

Or maybe the agenda that was spouted by Chris Bryant behind the protection of parliamentary immunity?

2) There is a book that has just been published called Sanctioned

This book details the seizure and sale . It seems that had the sale not completed on the day it did the club was going into administration something that wouldn’t have afforded the opportunity to arrange a pre packed deal and almost certainly would have led to expulsion from the PL and quite possibly entry to the EFL would have been denied. In effect that would more than likely led to full blow Compulsory Winding Up.

The Rayne group weren’t given any additional time whatsoever to extend the special license and BlueCo had no choice but to hit the ground running and as we know wing it.

There simply wasn’t the opportunity to appoint senior staff . Bank accounts were frozen, season planning had to be halted in March, there were no lines of credit, strategic individuals at Chelsea such as director Eugene Tenenbaum was himself sanctioned a month after RA and by association it meant that other powerful individuals such as David Davidovich were likewise under sanctions or those that remained in post such as Marina and Buck in particular could not act on RAs instructions or indeed could they

The first window that Bohley operated as SD he did indeed make the deals( who else could ?)

Its complete bo**ocks, as outlined by every other poster that has replied to him. I assume you're going to follow up with a rant at DKW next?

He said the media was on Roman from day one when he took over, what relevance does you sharing news articles from 2022 referencing rants from 2013 have to do with 2003?

Yes, if you pop over to the 'what book am i reading?' thread, you'll see i read that the day it came out. Once again, not really sure the relevance here? Nowhere within the book does it say he had to fire every member of staff and create a fire sale of players and jump into transfers ASAP and plummet the squad to mid table for multiple years.

Perhaps read back the thread a few comments and read what EVERYONE is disagreeing with him about rather than just trying to disagree with me on every thread, its tiresome. Stick to talking about amortisation and any opportunity.

Peace.

27 minutes ago, Deino said:

I get what you're trying to say but I hope you're not purposely rewriting history.

The club wasn't under duress, Roman was forced to sell. The chance of us being liquidated wasn't zero but a 2Bn asset wasn't going to just be destroyed by the government.

I am grateful that we were bought by people who are not(at this time) using us as their passive income. I am glad that they did not take money out of the club for their own foolish endeavors like what the KSE does nor did they underinvest like FSG/INEOS did/are doing.

That being said, they bought a 2Bn asset complete with a conveyor belt of talent and money, a fanbase that supports the club through thick and thin, a club loaded with trophies and staff that stayed when sh't hit the fan. They didn't have to fire anyone because those involved with Roman willingly stepped down thus leaving a vacuum at the top that can be filled with BlueCo's own people(which they themselves bungled). Todd should've left football matters to the football people.

It's not a complete reset. The owners just needed to install directors that have a vision for where they wanted to go and a solid gameplan to get us there but as a whole, the structure of the club didn't require any micromanagement. We really only needed a Director/s that can run the footballing aspect of the club and a system/structure that realigns the vision of the manager , players and higher ups. The first and parts of the 2nd year was a disaster.

2bn was a lot of money that could have been better spent on better players or used only be used when needed. We shouldn't be saddled with new debt and a roster of players not fit for the first team. These are key mistakes in my opinion that could have been mitigated if BlueCo wasn't so adamant on making their own stamp on the club too fast too soon.

When they took over the club really was under threat. It was operating under a license that would not have been renewed post 1/6 of that year. There wasn’t any money in bank accounts that had all been frozen indeed RA had to inject capital past his sanction date.

As for it not being under duress I think that is where so many haven’t worked through the consequences because it really was under threat and as for assets the club had effectively become an asset of HM Government who because of the anti RA rhetoric would have had no issues about allowing the club to be would up after all none of the proceeds of sale or indeed distribution from insolvency would have ended up in the public purse.

But when people say the club was under ‘duress’ it wasn’t because of how it was being run it was the governments sanctions that put us in that mess.

Acting like this mob came into a sinking ship and saved it isn’t right.

They could have done nothing for 2yrs and I doubt we’d have dropped off like we did.

It could have been a lot worse granted, at least they are investing in players but they wasn’t supposed to put us in debt when they did it.

We are under more duress now than at anytime under RA, personally I don’t care about the debt. As long as they want us to compete for trophies the debt is theirs and any new owners problem.

I just want to see good players playing good football competing for trophies. I never wondered where Ken Bates got the money to buy Wisey or Townsend….i was just happy he did.

Edited July 23, 2025Jul 23 by C3blue

5 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Its complete bo**ocks, as outlined by every other poster that has replied to him. I assume you're going to follow up with a rant at DKW next?

He said the media was on Roman from day one when he took over, what relevance does you sharing news articles from 2022 referencing rants from 2013 have to do with 2003?

Yes, if you pop over to the 'what book am i reading?' thread, you'll see i read that the day it came out. Once again, not really sure the relevance here? Nowhere within the book does it say he had to fire every member of staff and create a fire sale of players and jump into transfers ASAP and plummet the squad to mid table for multiple years.

Perhaps read back the thread a few comments and read what EVERYONE is disagreeing with him about rather than just trying to disagree with me on every thread, its tiresome. Stick to talking about amortisation and any opportunity.

Peace.

Where does he say that the press were on RA from day one ? Again something you have made up.

Most I agree share your view that doesn’t mean it is right not does it mean it’s reality and that’s the point. You have a view that you aren’t even prepared to accept may just differ to others and in particular yours.

You clearly can’t remember the attempt by RA to put the club under the stewardship of trustees prior to the sanctions . As to why Buck, Marina and others resigned they you clearly don’t see accusations or claims that guilt by association would inevitably have followed.

Irrespective if you had ever had any involvement with any business or organisation that brings in new owners or the very senior of managers then you surely realise that change is inevitable but and here’s the point even when RA arrived he left a couple of the senior heiracy in post but very quickly such as Ken Bates become a major obstacle .

As an aside I certainly don’t disagree with you on every thread the tiresome bit is the way that in every response you make to any one whose views don’t align with yours is the way that you immediately become aggressive.

1 minute ago, C3blue said:

But when people say the club was under ‘duress’ it wasn’t because of how it was being run it was the governments sanctions that put us in that mess.

Acting like this mob came into a sinking ship and saved it isn’t right.

They could have done nothing for 2yrs and I doubt we’d have dropped off like we did.

It could have been a lot worse granted, at least they are investing in players but they wasn’t supposed to put us in debt when they did it.

We are under more duress now than at anytime under RA, personally I don’t care about the debt. As long as they want us to compete for trophies the debt is theirs and any new owners problem.

When I say duress it’s exactly because of the sanctions not because of how things were under RA.

As to what would have been the consequences of doing nothing for a couple of years that becomes subjective but they were always in a hurry. Maybe it’s just the way they operate but had they just let things roll on we simply have no idea as to what would have happened

Just as paying for the club it would have been obvious to the Rayne group and indeed RA where funds would come from. If they didn’t realise that then certainly Rayne should be out of business by now.

In time much of the debt will be converted to equity there is absolutely no way that Chelsea FC will ever generate surplus cash to pay down the debt.

Are the club under duress ? BlueCo have an appreciating asset in their hands, Under RA the asset value grew from circa £150 million to £2.5 billion in what 20 years.

Edited July 23, 2025Jul 23 by terraloon

2 minutes ago, terraloon said:

Where does he say that the press were on RA from day one ? Again something you have made up.

Most I agree share your view that doesn’t mean it is right not does it mean it’s reality and that’s the point. You have a view that you aren’t even prepared to accept may just differ to others and in particular yours.

You clearly can’t remember the attempt by RA to put the club under the stewardship of trustees prior to the sanctions . As to why Buck, Marina and others resigned they you clearly don’t see accusations or claims that guilt by association would inevitably have followed.

Irrespective if you had ever had any involvement with any business or organisation that brings in new owners or the very senior of managers then you surely realise that change is inevitable but and here’s the point even when RA arrived he left a couple of the senior heiracy in post but very quickly such as Ken Bates become a major obstacle .

As an aside I certainly don’t disagree with you on every thread the tiresome bit is the way that in every response you make to any one whose views don’t align with yours is the way that you immediately become aggressive.

On his original post:

This is where reading the thread is important to understand the discourse.

here is a definition of the word 'initially'.

Yes, other people are often wrong. i agree.

Why was Petr Cech forced out?

Yes, change is inevitable. Uprooting the entire backroom, the manager and every single player that wasn't Reece James wasn't needed. Plungung us into mid-table turmoil for multiple seasons wasn't needed. Once again, please go back and read the thread. His argument is things were just as bad under Roman in 2003, every single poster is trying to tell him that's not the case. The likelihood is he's a young lad that doesn't remember the take over or likely wasn't a fan back then but to come in with such certainty and blatantly lie about what we all saw is bizarre.

I'm not aggressive, i'm merely tired of stupidity.

8 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

On his original post:

This is where reading the thread is important to understand the discourse.

here is a definition of the word 'initially'.

Yes, other people are often wrong. i agree.

Why was Petr Cech forced out?

Yes, change is inevitable. Uprooting the entire backroom, the manager and every single player that wasn't Reece James wasn't needed. Plungung us into mid-table turmoil for multiple seasons wasn't needed. Once again, please go back and read the thread. His argument is things were just as bad under Roman in 2003, every single poster is trying to tell him that's not the case. The likelihood is he's a young lad that doesn't remember the take over or likely wasn't a fan back then but to come in with such certainty and blatantly lie about what we all saw is bizarre.

I'm not aggressive, i'm merely tired of stupidity.

It is indeed so point me in the direction where he said “ press” in that post.

3 minutes ago, terraloon said:

It is indeed so point me in the direction where he said “ press” in that post.

Who do you think he was talking about? And the fact he then followed it up in the next post carrying on the conversation about the media.

Look, you know you look silly for jumping the gun without reading the context, don't play silly buggers now to try to save face.

I do t think they are under duress, debt isn’t real anyway just CR’s and DB’s on a computer. Neither is money in general, it’s all an illusion. One giant house of cards.

That’s why it doesn’t bother me.

The Rayne group and the Government do have a lot to answer for and are crazy to think our great club is in better or safer hands with this mob than RA. Political point scoring.

He wasn’t in it for the money, they are. There ain’t going to be another RA.Now in a perfect world they make money and we win trophies but let’s not rewrite history.

And that wasn’t a dig at you but I’ve noticed a bit of RA bashing online which I don’t like and most of which isn’t true.

The club was run badly, RA had lost interest etc etc. Rubbish.

The plans were in place to build a stunning new stadium until the government starting mocking about with visas. Now we have to wait 20 yrs WTF.

We had just had 20yrs of sustained success on the pitch. I ain’t having it because it’s not true.