The Official Thread of Chelsea FC

[Norf Tyrone]

Never seen the game tonight as I am at work, but if there was a good time to lose a game this was it. As it stands Chelsea still top both the group, and the PL so taking the positives and all that.

In addition it might kill a wee bit of over hype too from the media. Chelsea are scoring more goals than before, but in a funny sort of way aren't as convincing.

But sure even United haven't won the 'big' games this year too (Chelsea, Lpool) so does the same theory apply AFS?

[J70]

Keep watching MOTD for a Lampard special....

Did he mean that? Or was it a cross to the back post?

ZZZzzzz. If Steven Gerard had scored it..it would've been 'goal of the decade', but because it is Lampard, it's 'Did he mean that?'

Just saw this now... it was an honest question. What has Lampard said in the meantime?

[Rav67]

Keep watching MOTD for a Lampard special....

Did he mean that? Or was it a cross to the back post?

ZZZzzzz. If Steven Gerard had scored it..it would've been 'goal of the decade', but because it is Lampard, it's 'Did he mean that?'

Just saw this now... it was an honest question. What has Lampard said in the meantime?

Lampard's been amazing this season but look at his eyes and his body shape when he hits it, he was definitely trying to cross that.

[Norf Tyrone]

Keep watching MOTD for a Lampard special....

Did he mean that? Or was it a cross to the back post?

ZZZzzzz. If Steven Gerard had scored it..it would've been 'goal of the decade', but because it is Lampard, it's 'Did he mean that?'

Just saw this now... it was an honest question. What has Lampard said in the meantime?

Fair enough. If it was an honest question I'll retract. I don't think Lampard has mentioned it to be honest. Personally I thought it was meant, and the fact that he maintains his momentum by starting to run off to celebrate supports that.

[gawa316]

I see there was violence at the game again last night. Anyone know what happened?

If it was the Roma fans surely there should be a ban similar to A.Madrids

[Norf Tyrone]

I see there was violence at the game again last night. Anyone know what happened?

If it was the Roma fans surely there should be a ban similar to A.Madrids

To be honest the reports last night where that it was very low level, but I'd say the adverse weather put the hoolies off. Maybe there was more on the news today but I haven't been near a TV yet.

If Rome step outta line at all they shiould lose the CL final.

[Norf Tyrone]

I SKY + the ITV highlights and watched them last night. There was a wee bit of trouble but nothing major.

On ITV they mentioned that any more trouble and Rome could/should lose the CL final. The host (Craig Doyle I think) stated 'ah sure there is a wee place called Croke Park that could hold it if they're stuck'. Don't think Robbie Earle knew what the feck he was on about.

[Norf Tyrone]

Some interesting stuff from Arnesen.


Some interesting disclosures imo (I haven't bothered with the boring bits)...

Firstly, Arnesen says he was limited to overseeing youth scouting and development in his first year at Chelsea. But as things developed, Roman thought it was a bit daft to limit Arnesen's scouting to U19 prospects, so Roman told him to take charge of first team scouting as well. This happened in the summer of 2006 and would explain why Jose seemed to feel threatened at the time.

Secondly, Arnesen says his move to Chelsea was 'done and dusted' before the famous yacht photo surfaced. He'd spoken to Levy extensively and they were just hashing out the final details of the switch, when Levy pounced on the yacht photo and used it to strong-arm Chelsea into paying more money. Not only that. While officially on gardening leave, Arnesen was still attending meetings and working for Tottenham right up until he started working for Chelsea.

Third: some quotes on the structural development at Chelsea:

"Today I've got about 1000 players in my database. This has happened since we started the program 2 years ago. We are improving our systems all the time and I've taken inspiration from the way they do statistics in US baseball. You have to keep developing because in modern football it's important to maintain first-mover advantage off the pitch.

"In my first year at Chelsea I didn't attend one board meeting. Because there werent any. Roman held his meetings with Mourinho or with Kenyon. But then Roman began to take an interest in the club's structure, so I asked him why on earth he wasn't holding meetings where people could share their expertise, experience and ideas? That's the kind of culture I came from in Holland and that's the kind of culture I wanted to help build up at Chelsea. So we began having meetings with specific agendas, where people were allowed to take the floor and where everybody had to follow up on what had been agreed. Only in this way could we build a dynamic and sustainable football culture that wasn't dependant on any one person (!).

"You could say we're in the process of building a new, modern Chelsea up from scratch. And it's a bit absurd that it should be as difficult as it has proven to be. Because it's quite basic knowledge that in any business culture, if you want to build something up, you have to communicate across departments to fully utilize the sum of knowledge and experience in the company. In this respect too many football clubs are years behind - even though we are talking about businesses worth hundreds of millions of pounds. But this will change. The era of autocratic football managers who don't take an interest in all the other aspects of the club will soon be history.

Fourth: the academy:

"The cohesion and history of the club are important. We sometimes have our kids eat with the first team and we hang portraits of former Chelsea stars where 100s of youngsters and their parents attend training. This is to impress on them that Chelsea has a past, a present and a future. Football may have become a big-money industry, but if your heart's not in it then it's meaningless. That's why our kids live with local families so they've got someone to come home to. We don't just park them at a college where they have to fend for themselves. We talk to them about their school, about their diet, about being young, about pressure. Because even though this is a business, we are dealing with human beings and you have to treat people right and prepare them for a future that doesn't necessarily include professional football."

Fifth: Ethics, finance and the future (condensed translation).

About Chelsea's 24 hour car service that transports players and other employees: "I get driven to matches and to the airport. That way I can work while I commute. But if my family uses the service I pay of course. Tomorrow I'm off to watch football in Rome and Florence and I'm taking the missus but Ill be paying for her myself. I've built a reputation for being a stand-up, loyal person in a business that is full of people only too happy to rake money in anyway they can. I don't do that. I've had to walk the line of course, but I try to learn from my mistakes and I tell my scouts that their integrity and the integrity of the club is all-important. We have to keep our promises so it's better to promise too little than too much. Especially when you're sitting down to talk with a young man who is dreaming of a future in football.

"Developments here at Chelsea are now such that 80% of the changes I wanted to help implement are finished and there is no way back. The structures are firmly in place and even though the financial crisis has caused Roman to pull the handbrake and he has asked us to make big spending cuts we're still at the same level as Real Madrid and Man United. And we're getting close to a time where the club can compete successfully while turning a profit."

[Norf Tyrone]

I see that the winner of football icon, Carl Magnay, has been called into NI U21 squad. A such that's two young Irish players in the Chelsea second string now. Magnay joining Dubliner Conor Clifford.

Anyone know what Magnay's NI roots are? NI Fan?

[nifan]

http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=511144

is about as much as I know about him norf tyrone.

[Norf Tyrone]

No bother nifan.

Was hoping maybe someone on OWC might uncover something.

Ta.

[nifan]

I expect ill hear a bit more about him now. Ill keep you informed if I do

[Norf Tyrone]

Bad result tonight. Its all great beating shit teams like Sunderland and Portsmouth by 5 or 6 but if you're not winning the big games you're not gonna go far.

See above for Mancs!

[AFS]

Bad result tonight. Its all great beating shit teams like Sunderland and Portsmouth by 5 or 6 but if you're not winning the big games you're not gonna go far.

See above for Mancs!

Touché   

[gawa316]

Chelsea lose on pens to burnley