1 minute ago, Cockyroach said:

I guarantee you would then have people moaning the directors/owners are putting financial probity above winning trophies, they don't care about the club etc etc etc. The genie was let out of the bottle 2 decades ago here and it will never go back in. The real issue is we're just not a big club without the use of financial steroids. People need to accept that.

A front of shirt sponsor is a pretty standard thing in football, so why would anybody think they are putting finances ahead of winning trophies because of that alone? Roman managed to do it pretty quickly and we had a good deal with Samsung for many years. We are a much bigger football club than when Roman took over so there is no acceptable excuse to go 3 seasons without a long term front of shirt sponsor.

I also don't buy into the nonsense that we are not a big club without money either. Money helped us greatly to get us where we are, but every big club needs money. I'm not deluded enough to believe we are on the same levels as United, Liverpool, Barcelona or Real Madrid, but in terms of stature, we are definitely in the bracket below those teams.

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

A front of shirt sponsor is a pretty standard thing in football, so why would anybody think they are putting finances ahead of winning trophies because of that alone? Roman managed to do it pretty quickly and we had a good deal with Samsung for many years. We are a much bigger football club than when Roman took over so there is no acceptable excuse to go 3 seasons without a long term front of shirt sponsor.

I also don't buy into the nonsense that we are not a big club without money either. Money helped us greatly to get us where we are, but every big club needs money. I'm not deluded enough to believe we are on the same levels as United, Liverpool, Barcelona or Real Madrid, but in terms of stature, we are definitely in the bracket below those teams.

I wasn't giving the lack of shirt sponsorship as an example of financial probity, it's quite the opposite as it brings in revenue. I was making a general point that you can either spend mega bucks and win titles (in theory) and potentially then go tits up when the owner gets bored/indicted/becomes an international pariah, or play it safe and incur the wrath of fans. That's the situation we find ourselves in because we've deluded ourselves that we're one of the big boys and it's our birth right to be always at least in contention for the league/winning silverware. See the 'Wenger Out' Gooners as an even better example of this.

You think we are a much bigger football club than we were in the Roman/JM era? Not a chance. We were punching far above our weight for years, almost decades really. Arguably we are back to our natural level, but without the good times and lets be honest, enjoyment of the 70's or 90's Italian connection. I certainly don't remember any of this identity crisis angst back then.

I would venture there are about 6-7 PL clubs that could easily be considered bigger than us now.

Edited December 9, 2025Dec 9 by Cockyroach

17 minutes ago, Cockyroach said:

I wasn't giving the lack of shirt sponsorship as an example of financial probity, it's quite the opposite as it brings in revenue. I was making a general point that you can either spend mega bucks and win titles (in theory) and potentially then go tits up when the owner gets bored/indicted/becomes an international pariah, or play it safe and incur the wrath of fans. That's the situation we find ourselves in because we've deluded ourselves that we're one of the big boys and it's our birth right to be always at least in contention for the league/winning silverware. See the 'Wenger Out' Gooners as an even better example of this.

You think we are a much bigger football club than we were in the Roman/JM era? Not a chance. We were punching far above our weight for years, almost decades really. Arguably we are back to our natural level, but without the good times and lets be honest, enjoyment of the 70's or 90's Italian connection. I certainly don't remember any of this identity crisis angst back then.

I would venture there are about 6-7 PL clubs that could easily be considered bigger than us now.

Bigger stadium does not mean bigger club. Only Utd, Liverpool and arguably Arsenal are bigger than us. Spurs, West Ham, Everton etc all have big new stadiums but bigger than us they are not.

28 minutes ago, Cockyroach said:

I wasn't giving the lack of shirt sponsorship as an example of financial probity, it's quite the opposite as it brings in revenue. I was making a general point that you can either spend mega bucks and win titles (in theory) and potentially then go tits up when the owner gets bored/indicted/becomes an international pariah, or play it safe and incur the wrath of fans. That's the situation we find ourselves in because we've deluded ourselves that we're one of the big boys and it's our birth right to be always at least in contention for the league/winning silverware. See the 'Wenger Out' Gooners as an even better example of this.

You think we are a much bigger football club than we were in the Roman/JM era? Not a chance. We were punching far above our weight for years, almost decades really. Arguably we are back to our natural level, but without the good times and lets be honest, enjoyment of the 70's or 90's Italian connection. I certainly don't remember any of this identity crisis angst back then.

I would venture there are about 6-7 PL clubs that could easily be considered bigger than us now.

So many Chelsea fans have gained an inferiority complex since the new owners came in.

2 minutes ago, KonaKai Blue said:

Bigger stadium does not mean bigger club. Only Utd, Liverpool and arguably Arsenal are bigger than us. Spurs, West Ham, Everton etc all have big new stadiums but bigger than us they are not.

United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Newcastle Utd, Spurs. That's 6 right off the bat that are certainly bigger than us in terms of support, revenue, financial backing and as you've said, stadiums.

West Ham and Everton also potentially have claims to be bigger (although less than the above), especially when income generation is taken into account (West Ham especially - for reasons which seem a bit - hmmmm).

The last aspect which marked us as a 'big club' was international visibility/marketing but that's been on the wane for years now. And far more clubs not just in La Liga but the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 growing on the international stage now.

Realistically we are simply a (bit) bigger than an average domestic top flight club now.

3 minutes ago, Cockyroach said:

United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Newcastle Utd, Spurs. That's 6 right off the bat that are certainly bigger than us in terms of support, revenue, financial backing and as you've said, stadiums.

West Ham and Everton also potentially have claims to be bigger (although less than the above), especially when income generation is taken into account (West Ham especially - for reasons which seem a bit - hmmmm).

The last aspect which marked us as a 'big club' was international visibility/marketing but that's been on the wane for years now. And far more clubs not just in La Liga but the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 growing on the international stage now.

Realistically we are simply a (bit) bigger than an average domestic top flight club now.

You're not a Chelsea fan. No Chelsea fan is saying Tottenham is bigger than Chelsea. You're on a wind up.

Can only really blame this lot again.

Had 2 opportunities to get a decent manager and we havent took either.

Made about 60 signings, and we have holes all through the squad, and we dont have any key players that can play 50/60 games a season, it seems most struggle to play half of that.

We will be anywhere between 4th and 10th this season. Then more awful signings to come in the summer.

Sick of the club from top to bottom.

6 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

So many Chelsea fans have gained an inferiority complex since the new owners came in.

I just want to go back to enjoying watching us play and not have all this absolute baggage weighting the club down.

3 hours ago, Cockyroach said:

Just to be clear though, you couldn't pay me enough (LOL) to return to the 2000's RA/JM era either. Trophies aside, a style of play which quite literally left me sedated at times.

Is this a joke? Era 1 Mourinho with Duff and Robben was incredible.

Glory to Roman and may he live a lifetime of happiness.

Just now, Cockyroach said:

I just want to go back to enjoying watching us play and not have all this absolute baggage weighting the club down.

The main thing that is weighing us down right now are the clowns in charge. Everything you see now was created by them. Dumb and dumber bought about 50 players and put a sh*t manager in charge that is way out of his depth.

11 minutes ago, Cockyroach said:

United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Newcastle Utd, Spurs. That's 6 right off the bat that are certainly bigger than us in terms of support, revenue, financial backing and as you've said, stadiums.

West Ham and Everton also potentially have claims to be bigger (although less than the above), especially when income generation is taken into account (West Ham especially - for reasons which seem a bit - hmmmm).

The last aspect which marked us as a 'big club' was international visibility/marketing but that's been on the wane for years now. And far more clubs not just in La Liga but the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 growing on the international stage now.

Realistically we are simply a (bit) bigger than an average domestic top flight club now.

Newcastle haha okay so this is a troll account then

4 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

You're not a Chelsea fan. No Chelsea fan is saying Tottenham is bigger than Chelsea. You're on a wind up.

Nope, just measuring things objectively at the moment. This is about Directors/owners/finance.

If the ownership/SDs are happy to lose players like Palmer, Caicedo, Estevao, etc... to other clubs, then by all means keep the manager.

If they'd like to keep them as part of their "project", then he's got to go.

3 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Newcastle haha okay so this is a troll account then

What do you consider makes a big club? Stadia, financial clout, attendance, income, silverware? We are talking recently here, NOT historically.

10 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Is this a joke? Era 1 Mourinho with Duff and Robben was incredible.

Glory to Roman and may he live a lifetime of happiness.

It was a masterclass of sorts, in how to win ugly on a weekly basis. You can't say we played with flair back then though.

3 minutes ago, Cockyroach said:

What do you consider makes a big club? Stadia, financial clout, attendance, income, silverware? We are talking recently here, NOT historically.

So you think Newcastle are a big club just because they got bought by Saudi?

Just now, Cockyroach said:

It was a masterclass of sorts, in how to win ugly on a weekly basis. You can't say we played with flair back then though.

I’ll just assume you’re a new era fan that didn’t actually watch us back then saying this.

6 minutes ago, Zeta said:

If the ownership/SDs are happy to lose players like Palmer, Caicedo, Estevao, etc... to other clubs, then by all means keep the manager.

If they'd like to keep them as part of their "project", then he's got to go.

Their project involves making money when they sell these players on. So if it isn't Maresca, it will be something similar e.g. Rosenior. They won't want a bigger personality who might challenge them.

Just now, GarnachoCheese said:

So you think Newcastle are a big club just because they got bought by Saudi?

What do you consider constitutes a 'big club'? Financial resources, stadia, size of fan base, silverware etc.

What's your main criteria for it?

Just now, Cockyroach said:

What do you consider makes a big club? Stadia, financial clout, attendance, income, silverware? We are talking recently here, NOT historically.

Okay, based on the criteria you made, yes Tottenham Hotspur are much, much bigger than us.

Let’s forget the fact that they’ve won two trophies in the past 20 years, compared to 17 trophies for us.

Clown.

4 minutes ago, GarnachoCheese said:

I’ll just assume you’re a new era fan that didn’t actually watch us back then saying this.

New era - Ha! Quite the opposite. However, I suppose you are right to a certain extent. I enjoyed 2003-04 with Claudio (apart from Monaco), remember the one before Monaco through? 2nd leg at Highbury, needed 2 to win. That was one for the ages. Then well, 2004-05, 2005-06 great years (on paper) and yet I found myself ever more listless watching the style of play that developed under JM.

Also, a massive issue arose back then. One which we ALL used to take the piss out of Man U for. Weekend Warrior 'fans', the f**king prawn sandwich brigade as that twat Keane put it. They began to appear almost overnight. You sure you're not one of them?

6 minutes ago, dansubrosa said:

Okay, based on the criteria you made, yes Tottenham Hotspur are much, much bigger than us.

Let’s forget the fact that they’ve won two trophies in the past 20 years, compared to 17 trophies for us.

Clown.

From 1979-1990 Nottingham Forest were second only to Liverpool in terms of trophies won. I can't remember them being thought of as one of the big clubs back then, despite all the success they had under Clough.

Interesting point of debate though - what is the criteria for being a 'big club'

I've tried to stay relatively logical and fair about this ownership, but especially the recruitment, but it's getting on my nerves now. We are they so insistent on young players and not going after any experience whatsoever? Apparently we are a season ahead of schedule is what we were told last season, so what is this season then?

1 hour ago, Cockyroach said:

I just want to go back to enjoying watching us play and not have all this absolute baggage weighting the club down.

We wish you would as well troll. I don't understand how people can still post here once they've been banned.

Anyway, Ignore list for you.