Good news that he has brought his own experienced team.

His no.2 has experience of defensive set piece coaching. I wonder if he might expand into attacking set piece coaching and or the deepest defensive coaching of all - goalkeeping coaching.

Another of his assistants obtained pro licence qualifications at a very young age. Might be able to advise the existing blue co. junior staff how to proceed.

The fitness coach will hopefully man mark the imbeciles in our medical department.

A good start and he doesnt even start until July 1st.

Edited May 18May 18 by OTL

1 hour ago, WhiteWall said:

and yet every silver lining seems to have a cloud

I suspect the Sporting directors are clinging to their old cronnies in the dugout. I doubt all of these fellas will last long. Alonso probably has to be seen to assess them before cheerioing them and to do that he probably has to wait till at least July 1st. All positive stuff.

2 minutes ago, OTL said:

I suspect the Sporting directors are clinging to their old cronnies in the dugout. I doubt all of these fellas will last long. Alonso probably has to be seen to assess them before cheerioing them and to do that he probably has to wait till at least July 1st. All positive stuff.

Just watch any one of our matches and then meet with Bernard Cueva and ask, "so Bernard, what other corner routines have you worked out in your years of being here, for, like, when Reece James isn't playing." Then we can fck him off and get a proper set piece coach in

I honestly didn't believe we were serious about getting Alonso. So at least fair play for moving quickly on this one . Time will tell if at last this one works, probably their best appointment so far.

To be honest, its worrying.

• Why are they there? Alonso brought his defensive set piece coach, so what's the point of Cueva?

• Calum McFarlane has as much experience as I do before he was appointed in terms of being part of the 1st team staff.

• Ben Roberts has statistically made Sanchez worse and encourages Sanchez to play out from the back, a methodology that completely contradicts Alonso's vertical style of play.

You think Alonso's staff who have decades of experience at Real Madrid and Barcelona are going to listen to these work experience clowns?

1 minute ago, WhiteWall said:

Just watch any one of our matches and then meet with Bernard Cueva and ask, "so Bernard, what other corner routines have you worked out in your years of being here, for, like, when Reece James isn't playing." Then we can fck him off and get a proper set piece coach in

yes please.

Just now, Sconnie Blue said:

To be honest, its worrying.

• Why are they there? Alonso brought his defensive set piece coach, so what's the point of Cueva?

• Calum McFarlane has as much experience as I do before he was appointed in terms of being part of the 1st team staff.

• Ben Roberts has statistically made Sanchez worse and encourages Sanchez to play out from the back, a methodology that completely contradicts Alonso's vertical style of play.

You think Alonso's staff who have decades of experience at Real Madrid and Barcelona are going to listen to these work experience clowns?

beautifully put😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

Edited May 18May 18 by OTL
i laughed so much i nearly bought a drink.

29 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

To be honest, its worrying.

• Why are they there? Alonso brought his defensive set piece coach, so what's the point of Cueva?

• Calum McFarlane has as much experience as I do before he was appointed in terms of being part of the 1st team staff.

• Ben Roberts has statistically made Sanchez worse and encourages Sanchez to play out from the back, a methodology that completely contradicts Alonso's vertical style of play.

You think Alonso's staff who have decades of experience at Real Madrid and Barcelona are going to listen to these work experience clowns?

To be fair I would have been surprised if they all had been binned off, there needs to be a transition and I doubt any new manager comes in completely clean ever. I also dont expect them to be there long term if Alonso isnt happy with them, It looks like he has been given a lot more control.

Already had 3 of the current staff forced in to his team.

As sconnie has pointed out he has his own people to do the jobs of those 3. So why are they staying on?

Has not even officially began his job here and yet BlueCo are already interfering.

They are not going to chnage.

I think Alonso will keep the SDs busy shifting the excess players once he has had a good look see. That coupled with sourcing his targets -he has already got his eye on the Sunderland keeper, that they will bearly have time to interfere with his activities. Its so nice to read of our manager wanting particular players rather than a voice in the wilderness asking for "a CB" or "a Striker".

Im also reading he had total control at Leverkusen and we know what happened there. It could be worse.

Edited May 18May 18 by OTL

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

To be honest, its worrying.

• Why are they there? Alonso brought his defensive set piece coach, so what's the point of Cueva?

• Calum McFarlane has as much experience as I do before he was appointed in terms of being part of the 1st team staff.

• Ben Roberts has statistically made Sanchez worse and encourages Sanchez to play out from the back, a methodology that completely contradicts Alonso's vertical style of play.

You think Alonso's staff who have decades of experience at Real Madrid and Barcelona are going to listen to these work experience clowns?

I agree. None of them should be anywhere near Alonso's team. I think McFarlane has handled himself well since taking over, but that doesn't change the fact that he is underqualified. He shouldn't be part of the first team. Ben Roberts should be let go, he's done an awful job.

1 hour ago, axman2526 said:

Already had 3 of the current staff forced in to his team.

As sconnie has pointed out he has his own people to do the jobs of those 3. So why are they staying on?

Has not even officially began his job here and yet BlueCo are already interfering.

They are not going to chnage.

2 hours ago, 2211 said:

You just know we will now be playing either Liverpool, Arsenal or Man City within the first couple of fixtures of the new season when the fixtures are released in June 😁

Liverpool, first game of the season for sure. Or, they will leave it until the Christmas period.

51 minutes ago, WhiteWall said:

So long as BlueCo remain our owners, we are indeed.

Still wild to see that Xabi Alonso has been named manager of this club

UTC!

1 hour ago, BKLYNProdigy said:

Still wild to see that Xabi Alonso has been named manager of this club

UTC!

Even better Maresca is all but confirmed as City’s manager next season.

I wonder what their fans will make of that? 😂

Mcfarlane being forced on Alonso takes the shine off for me, like having a ‘spy’ in the camp reporting back to his cronies, they’ve already been doing it so nothing new, but it just stinks.

“He doesn’t rate Tosin does he.. wants to start Josh.. we’ll see about that”

Edited May 18May 18 by Term_X

I wonder what Alonso thought about his first 3 signigns, Emegha, Barco and Quenda, all being signed up long before he was even a thought for the owners.

One of the PR briefs was they would have around 3 or so new players for him for the summer window. That's 3 and not ones to help us move forward

7 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

I wonder what Alonso thought about his first 3 signigns, Emegha, Barco and Quenda, all being signed up long before he was even a thought for the owners.

One of the PR briefs was they would have around 3 or so new players for him for the summer window. That's 3 and not ones to help us move forward

That's why I was always suspicious of their supposed self reflection and will to buy more experienced players. Business for next season is pretty much done.

Penders, Quenda, Barco, Emegha and Sarr, who had to come earlier.

How much money did all these players already cost? How much more can we spend given the financial mess we're in and the lack of CL football next season?

Going to be an intresting summer.

Like I said when Alonso was appointed, that is only half the battle.

26 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Going to be an intresting summer.

Like I said when Alonso was appointed, that is only half the battle.

We've Been told the sporting directors are not going anywhere so that side of the battle remains lost.

42 minutes ago, yaz said:

That's why I was always suspicious of their supposed self reflection and will to buy more experienced players. Business for next season is pretty much done.

Penders, Quenda, Barco, Emegha and Sarr, who had to come earlier.

How much money did all these players already cost? How much more can we spend given the financial mess we're in and the lack of CL football next season?

Quenda - up to 44 million (pre agreement, not loaned back)

Penders - 17 million (though officially signed and loaned back in 2024).

Sarr - 12 million ( though bought forward so was a hit on this seasons books).

Emegha - 20 million

Barco - 8.7 million.

Given BlueCo own Strasbourg they can arrange whatever fees they see fit.

Still the 3 that are actually new Chelsea signings, and not just new arrivals having been on loans, set us back 72.7mill based on what is currently reported.

Now if those 3 actually help us move forward and become key squad players then great, that seems rather unlikely for next season though, wouldn't you say?

Quenda still only 18 and missed a large chunk of this season through injury.

Emegha early 20s and, based off what I have read on this forum, is a prima diva like Vini jnr with not even Delaps "talent".

Barco could not cut it at Brighton.

Add to that Sarr clearly is not ready for this step yet and most say neither is Penders so how would these 5 help Alonso?

At a bare minimum I have to believe even our most optimistic supporter would see Alonso needs:

1. A world class keeper.

2. A world class centerback to partner Levi.

3. A left sided attacker suited to Alonsos pressing game who also knows how to read the game, score and assist.

4. A world class striker to compete with Joao Pedro.

Like I said that is a minimum. I also think he needs a second class centerback, a midfielder in the Matic mold to partner Caicedo and another attacking who can play left, right or through the middle.

The minimum 4 though if BlueCo don't deliver Alonso that he goes the way of all their other appointments. And none of us want that.

54 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

Quenda - up to 44 million (pre agreement, not loaned back)

Penders - 17 million (though officially signed and loaned back in 2024).

Sarr - 12 million ( though bought forward so was a hit on this seasons books).

Emegha - 20 million

Barco - 8.7 million.

Given BlueCo own Strasbourg they can arrange whatever fees they see fit.

Still the 3 that are actually new Chelsea signings, and not just new arrivals having been on loans, set us back 72.7mill based on what is currently reported.

Now if those 3 actually help us move forward and become key squad players then great, that seems rather unlikely for next season though, wouldn't you say?

Quenda still only 18 and missed a large chunk of this season through injury.

Emegha early 20s and, based off what I have read on this forum, is a prima diva like Vini jnr with not even Delaps "talent".

Barco could not cut it at Brighton.

Add to that Sarr clearly is not ready for this step yet and most say neither is Penders so how would these 5 help Alonso?

At a bare minimum I have to believe even our most optimistic supporter would see Alonso needs:

1. A world class keeper.

2. A world class centerback to partner Levi.

3. A left sided attacker suited to Alonsos pressing game who also knows how to read the game, score and assist.

4. A world class striker to compete with Joao Pedro.

Like I said that is a minimum. I also think he needs a second class centerback, a midfielder in the Matic mold to partner Caicedo and another attacking who can play left, right or through the middle.

The minimum 4 though if BlueCo don't deliver Alonso that he goes the way of all their other appointments. And none of us want that.

It all depend on what formation that Alonso want to play.

Back 5 then cb is no longer a need, wb is more important.

1 hour ago, yaz said:

That's why I was always suspicious of their supposed self reflection and will to buy more experienced players. Business for next season is pretty much done.

Penders, Quenda, Barco, Emegha and Sarr, who had to come earlier.

How much money did all these players already cost? How much more can we spend given the financial mess we're in and the lack of CL football next season?

The 'mess' is being overstated. We are not in financial trouble nor are we in danger from the regulators. It was a conscious, deliberate ploy to essentially dump all the big losses on to last season's accounts. The stakeholders in BlueCo probably need to have a long and honest conversation about where they are getting their individual financing from, but that is of little consequence to the club because BlueCo is limited by PSR/FFP rules in how much money in can put into the club, and the independent directors and make up of the board at Chelsea (in theory) restricts how much any individual BlueCo stakeholder can take out of the club to pay his own debts.

This season's (25/26) accounts will reflect the bulk of the CWC windfall, on top of decent CL revenue. We will take a hit thanks to the league position, the repeated failure to secure a shirt sponsor and the payout of Raheem Sterling. Any revenue from player sales would round out the pot nicely.

In theory, we could raise a lot of money from player sales but the players we want to sell are unlikely to attract the fees we need or want. Last season, the club at least had decent demand for Madueke, Dewsbury-Hall, Petrovic, Broja, Chukwumeka and Ugochukwu, and the sales of Nkunku and Felix were a cherry on top of that cake that took us over 300m raised in sales. Ideally, we are able to sell Fernandez, Neto, Fofana, Gusto etc but interest is limited and that caps prices hard - we are unlikely to get more than 200m for that lot, and with Saudi reining in its spending there are no once-in-a-lifetime windfalls remaining either.

Edited May 19May 19 by SydneyChelsea

59 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

The 'mess' is being overstated. We are not in financial trouble nor are we in danger from the regulators. It was a conscious, deliberate ploy to essentially dump all the big losses on to last season's accounts. The stakeholders in BlueCo probably need to have a long and honest conversation about where they are getting their individual financing from, but that is of little consequence to the club because BlueCo is limited by PSR/FFP rules in how much money in can put into the club, and the independent directors and make up of the board at Chelsea (in theory) restricts how much any individual BlueCo stakeholder can take out of the club to pay his own debts.

This season's (25/26) accounts will reflect the bulk of the CWC windfall, on top of decent CL revenue. We will take a hit thanks to the league position, the repeated failure to secure a shirt sponsor and the payout of Raheem Sterling. Any revenue from player sales would round out the pot nicely.

In theory, we could raise a lot of money from player sales but the players we want to sell are unlikely to attract the fees we need or want. Last season, the club at least had decent demand for Madueke, Dewsbury-Hall, Petrovic, Broja, Chukwumeka and Ugochukwu, and the sales of Nkunku and Felix were a cherry on top of that cake that took us over 300m raised in sales. Ideally, we are able to sell Fernandez, Neto, Fofana, Gusto etc but interest is limited and that caps prices hard - we are unlikely to get more than 200m for that lot, and with Saudi reining in its spending there are no once-in-a-lifetime windfalls remaining either.

So we should be able to spend what is needed to back Alonso with 3 or 4 world class players then?