7 hours ago, evissy said:

This topic was fun and accurate 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I feel lucky we did not land leech owners like the Florida hillbillies at Man United.

On 04/08/2025 at 16:43, evissy said:

This topic was fun and accurate 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

It was though. This transfer window is the first time they have had a string of success. It still doesn't change what they did before.

On 04/08/2025 at 23:43, evissy said:

This topic was fun and accurate 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

They're still diabolical, this time it's to the whole world 🤣

44 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

It was though. This transfer window is the first time they have had a string of success. It still doesn't change what they did before.

…this was the plan…we are just on the next phase now... 😪

5 minutes ago, Clown Lake said:

…this was the plan…we are just on the next phase now... 😪

Yes, the plan was to sign 50 players, have Saudi bail us out multiple times, struggle to shift the likes of Sterling, Nkunku and busts like Washington, D.D Fofana etc and get multiple fines along the way.

Have you ever thought that where we are right now could have been achieved without all of the chaos attached to it?

4 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Yes, the plan was to sign 50 players, have Saudi bail us out multiple times, struggle to shift the likes of Sterling, Nkunku and busts like Washington, D.D Fofana etc and get multiple fines along the way.

Have you ever thought that where we are right now could have been achieved without all of the chaos attached to it?

Nkunku, Sterling were definitely bought before the plan. It was during the Boehlys SD time. Matter of fact D.D Fofana might have been the same case.

d. Washington has a long contract. We do not need to sell for profit yet. We are a Super Agent club with a player portfolio, not everyone will make it. Our portfolio is what matters at end of day. Nitpicking on all transfers makes zero sense.

Saudi did not bail us, they are a customer. They need players to keep going there, especially players like Felix who has a large online impression; 12 instagram followers alone? Money on Felix is peanuts for Saudi whose objective is to attract players and strengthen their league.

What chaos? Stop reading onto failed journalists and oppo fans moaning, just hysteria in my view. We are no longer bankrolled by a billionare as a vanity project. The new project took a short period of time but we got here finally.

Took me time to realize it too, all in our own pace though.

Edited August 5, 2025Aug 5 by Clown Lake

15 minutes ago, Clown Lake said:

Nkunku, Sterling were definitely bought before the plan. It was during the Boehlys SD time. Matter of fact D.D Fofana might have been the same case.

d. Washington has a long contract. We do not need to sell for profit yet. We are a Super Agent club with a player portfolio, not everyone will make it. Our portfolio is what matters at end of day. Nitpicking on all transfers makes zero sense.

Saudi did not bail us, they are a customer. They need players to keep going there, especially players like Felix who has a large online impression; 12 instagram followers alone? Money on Felix is peanuts for Saudi whose objective is to attract players and strengthen their league.

What chaos? Stop reading onto failed journalists and oppo fans moaning, just hysteria in my view. We are no longer bankrolled by a billionare as a vanity project. The new project took a short period of time but we got here finally.

Took me time to realize it too, all in our own pace though.

We were set to send Felix to Benfica at a heavy loss. Saudi came in at the last minute. We got lucky.

Let's go over some of their worst deals. Mudryk, Badiashile, Disasi, Washington, Ugochukwu, Sanchez, Jorgensen. A lot of these early signings were dreadful. Maybe the directors are finally getting it together now, but none of this was necessary. We never had to put ourselves in such a messy situation. We were put into a position where qualifying for the Champions League and doing well in the Club World Cup was a necessity for the future of the club, and that isn't just media hysteria. You can't spend what we have spent and not have massive success on the pitch. If we didn't to do either of those two things, then our situation going into next season wouldn't look so healthy. I don't like gambling the clubs future like that. It's too high risk.

It's as simple as this for me, September 1st 2023 saved this club's future. Because if they hadn't signed Palmer, we would have been f**ked for a decade.

13 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

We were set to send Felix to Benfica at a heavy loss. Saudi came in at the last minute. We got lucky.

Let's go over some of their worst deals. Mudryk, Badiashile, Disasi, Washington, Ugochukwu, Sanchez, Jorgensen. A lot of these early signings were dreadful. Maybe the directors are finally getting it together now, but none of this was necessary. We never had to put ourselves in such a messy situation. We were put into a position where qualifying for the Champions League and doing well in the Club World Cup was a necessity for the future of the club, and that isn't just media hysteria. You can't spend what we have spent and not have massive success on the pitch. If we didn't to do either of those two things, then our situation going into next season wouldn't look so healthy. I don't like gambling the clubs future like that. It's too high risk.

It's as simple as this for me, September 1st 2023 saved this club's future. Because if they hadn't signed Palmer, we would have been f**ked for a decade.

I just don’t think we will ever see eye to eye on this topic. We can just agree to disagree on this subject and leave it there.

19 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

We were set to send Felix to Benfica at a heavy loss. Saudi came in at the last minute. We got lucky.

Let's go over some of their worst deals. Mudryk, Badiashile, Disasi, Washington, Ugochukwu, Sanchez, Jorgensen. A lot of these early signings were dreadful. Maybe the directors are finally getting it together now, but none of this was necessary. We never had to put ourselves in such a messy situation. We were put into a position where qualifying for the Champions League and doing well in the Club World Cup was a necessity for the future of the club, and that isn't just media hysteria. You can't spend what we have spent and not have massive success on the pitch. If we didn't to do either of those two things, then our situation going into next season wouldn't look so healthy. I don't like gambling the clubs future like that. It's too high risk.

It's as simple as this for me, September 1st 2023 saved this club's future. Because if they hadn't signed Palmer, we would have been f**ked for a decade.

Palmer was a back up choice pushed by Joe shields. The two main directors wanted Raphina.

41 minutes ago, Clown Lake said:

Nkunku, Sterling were definitely bought before the plan. It was during the Boehlys SD time. Matter of fact D.D Fofana might have been the same case.

d. Washington has a long contract. We do not need to sell for profit yet. We are a Super Agent club with a player portfolio, not everyone will make it. Our portfolio is what matters at end of day. Nitpicking on all transfers makes zero sense.

Saudi did not bail us, they are a customer. They need players to keep going there, especially players like Felix who has a large online impression; 12 instagram followers alone? Money on Felix is peanuts for Saudi whose objective is to attract players and strengthen their league.

What chaos? Stop reading onto failed journalists and oppo fans moaning, just hysteria in my view. We are no longer bankrolled by a billionare as a vanity project. The new project took a short period of time but we got here finally.

Took me time to realize it too, all in our own pace though.

I suppose you've forgotten about what happens when the 10 year embargo clause stipulated in the buy out is lifted ? .

Todd claimed the plan was working perfectly at the end of Poch's season after justa few end of season wins.

He said exactly the same after the club world cup win . You're saying exactly the same

If we took any notice of journalists we would actually have the same opinion that you have mate. .." The plan is working" 😂😂😂

9 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

It's as simple as this for me, September 1st 2023 saved this club's future. Because if they hadn't signed Palmer, we would have been f**ked for a decade.

😂😂😂

And this is not somekind of smart thing, this is more like hitting jackpot in slot machine.

On 14/07/2025 at 18:18, Qaz said:

That last English summer window when we signed in.....

João Félix		Atlético Madrid	€52.00m
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall		Leicester	€35.40m
Filip Jørgensen		Villarreal	€24.50m

And sold out .......

Conor Gallagher		Atlético Madrid	€42.00m
Lewis Hall		Newcastle	€33.00m

.....was indeed diabolical. I don't blame anyone for being critical of how poor we were in the transfer market this time last year.

The trading so far this English summer window has been much better and if it continues, then great.

edit: ohh and to be clear, despite me still thinking the sporting directors have alot left to prove, they have still been way more competent than stand-in director of football Bohley was (who i like his intentions, was absolutely terrible at the job)

Replying to myself, but if we turn a profit on the sales of Felix and Dewsbury-Hall.........then I need to rethink just how "diabolical" that window was and maybe owe the sporting directors and apology 😂

Since this lot took over they've reduced the seats allocated to members, home and away (including to ST holders away), making it the most difficult period to get tickets for SB; while they have increased the online ticket touting (some in the board earning money from it) and the proportion of tourists in the stands keeps increasing.

They've changed fans to "customers", and our Chelsea friends and family are now "network".

We're still playing Sanchez on goal.

And possibly ...

Yes, they are still diabolical.

16 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Palmer was a back up choice pushed by Joe shields. The two main directors wanted Raphina.

Wasnt Raphina the target when he was at Leeds in 2022 other words the year before the year before we signed Palmer ?

There was a few press reports from Spain in early 23 suggesting he would leave Barca but then there were a few reports that suggested others would be sold before him.

Sorry but don’t think he was a back up at all . As far as I can see Palmer wasn’t even on our list of potential targets until Palmer realised he wasn’t going to be much more than a squad player and that was after both the CWC and Charity sShield at the start of 23/24 season

1 hour ago, RMH said:

Since this lot took over they've reduced the seats allocated to members, home and away (including to ST holders away), making it the most difficult period to get tickets for SB; while they have increased the online ticket touting (some in the board earning money from it) and the proportion of tourists in the stands keeps increasing.

They've changed fans to "customers", and our Chelsea friends and family are now "network".

We're still playing Sanchez on goal.

And possibly ...

Yes, they are still diabolical.

Chelsea Supporters' Trust

CST Ticket Touting Update - Chelsea Supporters' Trust

Chelsea Supporters Trust (CST) did an update on ticket touting and the secondary ticketing market and asked Chelsea supporters if they had any examples where they knew or suspected  a seat had been so

7 minutes ago, terraloon said:

Wasnt Raphina the target when he was at Leeds in 2022 other words the year before the year before we signed Palmer ?

There was a few press reports from Spain in early 23 suggesting he would leave Barca but then there were a few reports that suggested others would be sold before him.

Sorry but don’t think he was a back up at all . As far as I can see Palmer wasn’t even on our list of potential targets until Palmer realised he wasn’t going to be much more than a squad player and that was after both the CWC and Charity sShield at the start of 23/24 season

Chelsea Supporters' Trust

CST Ticket Touting Update - Chelsea Supporters' Trust

Chelsea Supporters Trust (CST) did an update on ticket touting and the secondary ticketing market and asked Chelsea supporters if they had any examples where they knew or suspected  a seat had been so

I was more specifically referring to vivid seats and the involvement of our great board member. The article is all nice words but no real intent; last season, when I contacted the club about tickets disappearing from ticket exchange as soon as they were highlighted in the site, for the Aston Villa game, they told me that it was because of the high demand. This was bs, as I had the ticket exchange page open for hours during a week, refreshing often, and I'd click on appearing seats for only these not to be available (in some cases the site would take me to the paying screen only to say the seat was no longer available; in other cases, I would not be able to select the seats as soon as they were highlighted). I didn't trace those seats in the online sites, but neither did the club with their snappy reply.

IIRC it was Kudus or Palmer.

10 hours ago, Bob stark said:

😂😂😂

And this is not somekind of smart thing, this is more like hitting jackpot in slot machine.

Pretty much the point I am making. They gambled enough times, got lucky and hit the jackpot.

1 good window doesn’t erase the squad building and decision making. Still incredible we finished Top 4 after spending the 2nd half of the season with no striker basically.

Sanchez is also still our keeper….

3 hours ago, terraloon said:

Wasnt Raphina the target when he was at Leeds in 2022 other words the year before the year before we signed Palmer ?

There was a few press reports from Spain in early 23 suggesting he would leave Barca but then there were a few reports that suggested others would be sold before him.

Sorry but don’t think he was a back up at all . As far as I can see Palmer wasn’t even on our list of potential targets until Palmer realised he wasn’t going to be much more than a squad player and that was after both the CWC and Charity sShield at the start of 23/24 season

Chelsea Supporters' Trust

CST Ticket Touting Update - Chelsea Supporters' Trust

Chelsea Supporters Trust (CST) did an update on ticket touting and the secondary ticketing market and asked Chelsea supporters if they had any examples where they knew or suspected  a seat had been so

We got a lot closer to signing him in 22, in the Todd SD Era, that is true.

We did however try again in 23. Trying to take advantage of Barcas off field issues. If I remember right Raphina was not a main guy for them until the 23/24 season.

Anyway he was a main target for Todd/Tuchel in 2022, and then our main SDs followed suit in 2023. Joe Shields was well aware of Palmers situation long before it got out online. You can be sure he made sure the others kept hearing about Cole for some time before we signed him.

It is also being made public Winstanley is the one who really wants to sign Garnacho.

That speaks for itself.

Man you guys are miserable......... 🤣
(no offence intended)

I still want to challenge for titles and win champions leagues and stuff (despite knowing our budget just isn't in the same class as City, PSG and Madrid)...........but to get there, I just want see slow, grinding, consistent, reliable progress.

With the player trading (that despite my initial reservations is clearly working) and the young squad (that is growing/improving everyday), I feel like we are seeing that progress both on and off the pitch.

18 minutes ago, Qaz said:

Man you guys are miserable......... 🤣
(no offence intended)

I still want to challenge for titles and win champions leagues and stuff (despite knowing our budget just isn't in the same class as City, PSG and Madrid)...........but to get there, I just want see slow, grinding, consistent, reliable progress.

With the player trading (that despite my initial reservations is clearly working) and the young squad (that is growing/improving everyday), I feel like we are seeing that progress both on and off the pitch.

And nothing is given. You need right circumstances, right coach, right vibe, score a crucial goal, win a crucial game. Nothing is given although you pour millions of pounds on it.

I think the owners are now in the know how to operate and let the experts make the footballing decisions.

We have a coach who has brought in some steel and structure to our football who is clearly good at navigating with players, press, owners and the work in general.

We also have smart directors who have streamlined the squad to what it is today..pretty coveted setup by most top coaches I would imagine.

To the number of the players. Again a bit too much is made of it. There are so many categories they fall into. Not everyone is destined to fit the first team. I am sure they are flipping players like many clubs do. With Strasbourg and potentially other satellite clubs in the future we are able to handle a lot of players. I don't think it will hinder Cobham either. That is still an important part of the club I am sure.

I think they see just simply to be able to control promising players is better than look at other clubs promising players. I think Red Bull clubs and City are doing the same thing.

On 05/08/2025 at 17:44, Scott Harris said:

Yes, the plan was to sign 50 players, have Saudi bail us out multiple times, struggle to shift the likes of Sterling, Nkunku and busts like Washington, D.D Fofana etc and get multiple fines along the way.

Have you ever thought that where we are right now could have been achieved without all of the chaos attached to it?

I just think it could have been a lot lot lot worse.

With a different owner we could be looking at 20 years of being Tottenham

53 minutes ago, Qaz said:

(despite knowing our budget just isn't in the same class as City, PSG and Madrid).

We’ve outspent every team in world football and have the most expensive squad ever assembled in the history of the sport.

38 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

We’ve outspent every team in world football and have the most expensive squad ever assembled in the history of the sport.