11 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Very well argued mate 👍

It's not well agued though - trying to force a choice between a player who is not in our squad or 4 players who he has selected for some arbitary reason (I assume because he thinks they are not very good).

The fact is that the choice is not limited to Jackson or 1 of Garnacho, Guiu, Delap ,Gittens. And therefore the entire point and question is moot.

11 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Jim. You keep going on about some imaginary question that you claim everyone is asking. . While I would have wanted anyone but Jacko last season, there were long periods when he clearly was the only and best option. . So, that would have been my answer at the time to the question ( who is the player at the current time, best for us to play ) .

unfortunately it was true, and your continuing failure to provide an alternative, I think, demonstrated it. I hated his attitude, but he was clearly better than Delap.

You in Vietnam Nam Mate??

1) he clearly was the only and best option. No he wasnt. As he proved in getting multipel red cards for silly challenges, letting the team down at key moments. Any other player would have been better.

2)... but he was clearly better than Delap. Delap has played equivilent of 11 premier league games for us. Moving to a new club at a considerable step up, getting injured and playing for a team that generally has struggled to score. There is no clear evidence.

3)You in Vietnam Nam Mate?? No - the trip will be during the Eid break at the end of May, when the UAE shuts down for most of the week.... not actually booked as waiting for my lads new passport. Looking like we will now go to Phuket instead - more to do for kids. I lost the battle.

15 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

Hey Syd, wrong thread I know, but do you know why the club borrowed from Ares at such high rates of interest ? I thought only those with dodgy credit ratings were forced to go down that route?

Olympic Lyonnais got into a big mess after their loan from Ares racked up insane amounts of interest on the loan

I'll write more about it in the BlueCo thread, but Lyon's issue wasn't the amounts owing or the interest rates themselves, it was that Textor's group was performing so poorly that Ares and Michelle Kang used the financial distress essentially to wrest control of the group so they can manage it themselves or sell to someone more competent.

The money BlueCo owe to Ares isn't due until 2033, and they have listed a preference for equity, which means that if unpaid it will convert to roughly a 30% stake in the club for Ares. So it's actually in Area's best interests for BlueCo to get their sh*t together, but not pay them out.

13 hours ago, nonotnowjim said:

1) he clearly was the only and best option. No he wasnt. As he proved in getting multipel red cards for silly challenges, letting the team down at key moments. Any other player would have been better.

2)... but he was clearly better than Delap. Delap has played equivilent of 11 premier league games for us. Moving to a new club at a considerable step up, getting injured and playing for a team that generally has struggled to score. There is no clear evidence.

3)You in Vietnam Nam Mate?? No - the trip will be during the Eid break at the end of May, when the UAE shuts down for most of the week.... not actually booked as waiting for my lads new passport. Looking like we will now go to Phuket instead - more to do for kids. I lost the battle.

I didn't realise you were in the UAE at the moment.

You must be so glad that the war only lasted a few days. Trump declaring victory must have come as a relief back then. Hope you and the family are safe 👍

8 hours ago, The Rising Sun said:

I didn't realise you were in the UAE at the moment.

You must be so glad that the war only lasted a few days. Trump declaring victory must have come as a relief back then. Hope you and the family are safe 👍

Cheers mate. It has been a messy couple of months. Initially 3 weeks of war, with the family evacuated, schools closed etc. Wife and kids got back 3 weeks ago, and it has been calm since, but there were more missiles on Monday. Lets see....

Nico on loan to Juventus is the latest rumour. He might do well in Italy, he might not. lol

2 hours ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Nico on loan to Juventus is the latest rumour. He might do well in Italy, he might not. lol

He will do well here in a moribund league.

21 hours ago, dermott said:

He will do well here in a moribund league.

Yep. He will dye his hair white with stripes. il tasso. they will love him. But after the loan will they pay for him?

45 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Yep. He will dye his hair white with stripes. il tasso. they will love him. But after the loan will they pay for him?

With the loan fee from BM, his book value is down to about £22m. Another loan fee reduces that to a figure even Italian clubs can afford.

Coming back to Chelsea.

I hope a year of the gormless prick Liam Delap has been sufficient punishment for everyone. Can't wait to have Jackson back.

Kind of hoping that the Juventus links resurface and we can get some sort of deal as part payment against a move for Yildiz

On 06/05/2026 at 09:46, nonotnowjim said:

1) he clearly was the only and best option. No he wasnt. As he proved in getting multipel red cards for silly challenges, letting the team down at key moments. Any other player would have been better.

2)... but he was clearly better than Delap. Delap has played equivilent of 11 premier league games for us. Moving to a new club at a considerable step up, getting injured and playing for a team that generally has struggled to score. There is no clear evidence.

3)You in Vietnam Nam Mate?? No - the trip will be during the Eid break at the end of May, when the UAE shuts down for most of the week.... not actually booked as waiting for my lads new passport. Looking like we will now go to Phuket instead - more to do for kids. I lost the battle.

I would avoid Phuket - was there last week - terribly hot and rainy. do vietnam every day of the week.

I hope that Alonso has a say on whether he stays or goes. I, personally, don’t want him back and would go into the market for someone with more quality, but Alonso may want to work with him and might be able to sort his petulance out. Whatever happens, I hope that it is done with Alonso’s ok.

Im hoping he crashes into Alonso's car first day back, hes then immediately sold.

35 minutes ago, RMH said:

I hope that Alonso has a say on whether he stays or goes. I, personally, don’t want him back and would go into the market for someone with more quality, but Alonso may want to work with him and might be able to sort his petulance out. Whatever happens, I hope that it is done with Alonso’s ok.

Alonso has 2 systems.. one in which the striker tries to create space for his 10s making runs of the ball and one where the striker links upas his 10s run beyond to try to finish.. With CFC i wouldnt be surprised if does the one where his striker is a center forward so which means of the 3 contracted Delap is more likely to go since Jackson is decent at link up.

1 hour ago, Jangz said:

I would avoid Phuket - was there last week - terribly hot and rainy. do vietnam every day of the week.

Changed again - but now all booked. Off to Sri Lanka.

I like him already....

He has come out and made it plain he doesn't want to return. He wants to go to West Ham.

On 17/05/2026 at 08:32, nonotnowjim said:

I like him already....

f**k sake 😆

On 17/05/2026 at 12:25, dkw said:

Im hoping he crashes into Alonso's car first day back, hes then immediately sold.

Alonso is quite capable of crashing his own car.

Oh wait, you were talking about Xabi, my bad

30 minutes ago, timetowaste said:

Club thinks he is worth the £60m they wanted last summer based on his double winning season at Bayern. Will be interesting how they fit Pedro, Jackson, Delap, Emegha & Guiu with no European football.

We are already tasked in getting rid of a lot of thick imbeciles from the squad.

As talented as Jackson is relative to the bench attacking options we have, seems counter intuitive we are trying to get rid of Fofana and Gusto whilst allowing Jackson back.