The Official Thread of Chelsea FC

[gawa316]

gawa you are nearly a bigger contributor now than me  despite your spin doctoring.

Sorry thought it was big news. I'm at a first aid course all weekend and i checked my phone for messages and the internet had a come on, the top story was what I mentioned. So is there any truth in it?

[Norf Tyrone]

I think basically he said that if they don't perform they all can go.

[charlie stubbs]

cole out for season,terry injured in the warm up as well

[Carmen Stateside]

Stoke 1 up!!

[Carmen Stateside]

omg 2-1 Chelsea
Lampard great strike!

[Norf Tyrone]

What a game! Firstly Stoke were excellent. Defending was really disciplined and organised, as Pullis identified that Chelsea have very little threat from wide so tucked his fiull backs into the corner of the box, and the Chelsea attack was strangled. However Chelsea managed to have something like 25 shots at goal!! Sorenson was fantastic too, one save from Ashley Cole was world class. In the first Chelsea pummelled them. However Chelsea completely lost their way in the second half and sloppy play from Cole and Carvalho allowed Delap in for a neatly taken goal.

Eventually.... Scolari made some meanigful changes. Belletti, Di Santo and Stoch coming on. Stoch hugged the touchline and opened up a wee bit of space centrally. First goal Di Santo's good header finds Belletti, and the second is created by a good Stoch cross which Lampard eventually rifles home. All three subs having an impact. Coincidentally Lampard's drive actually goes in off Ballack's back! However SFL deserves the goal.

The celebration with Scolari and the players maybe indicates that the media's 'spirit' issue that Chelsea have is maybe a myth.

[Norf Tyrone]

STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF OWNER

Defamation proceedings will be commenced tomorrow (Monday) in London by Roman Abramovich against the publishers of The Sunday Times.

This follows the publication by them of false claims that he wants to sell his interest in Chelsea FC. Mr Abramovich has already made quite clear, through the directors of Chelsea, that he has no intention of doing so and that neither he nor any of his appointed representatives has been pursuing any such course of action.

[Doogie Browser]

Norf did you catch the show last night on SS1, it was Jeff Stelling talking to three Chelsea legends (Bonetti, Webb & Harris), they have done Spurs also so I am sure there are more to go on other teams.  It will be repeated loads of times.
Is a decent enough show though particularly to hear them talk about how physical the game was in the 60's & 70's compared to now.  For example Bonetti was saying how hard Johnny Giles was and that Big Jack was a mouse in comparison! 

[Declan]

Interesting stuff

By Dominic Kennedy in London
Saturday July 05 2008
ROMAN Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea Football Club, has admitted agreeing to pay billions of dollars for political favours and protection fees to get his hands on the former Soviet Union's mineral wealth.
The puzzle of how the penniless street trader rose to amass a €14.4bn fortune is explained for the first time in his own words in court papers seen by an English newspaper.
Mr Abramovich paid older oligarchs so that he could obtain a big share of Russia's oil and aluminium assets and to escape unscathed from the deadly postcommunist carve-up. He famously emerged triumphant after the "aluminium wars", in which more than 100 people were believed to have been killed in gangland feuds over control of the lucrative smelters. He avoided the fate of a rival oligarch who annoyed the Kremlin and ended up being transported to jail in Siberia for 10 years.
Refugee
Mr Abramovich (41) has been forced to tell his story because he is being sued for $4bn (€2.54bn) by his mentor Boris Berezovsky (62) a refugee in Britain, at the London Commercial Court.
The exile claims that Mr Abramovich became an enforcer-type figure for Vladimir Putin, passing on alleged threats of confiscation to pressure him into selling shares in former state assets cheaply. Mr Abramovich has retorted with a 53-page defence that accuses Mr Berezovsky and a Georgian oligarch of demanding huge sums for helping him to rise from obscurity.
The man from Georgia, Arkady "Badri" Patarkatsishvili, emerges as the key intermediary, passing messages between the former friends.
Mr Patarkatsishvili was offered $500m (€318.5m) by Mr Abramovich, the defence papers admit, for protecting him in the aluminium wars.
The Georgian was found dead in the bedroom of his country house in Leatherhead, Surrey, southern England, five months ago. Tests showed that he had advanced heart disease. He was 52.
Mr Abramovich launches his defence with an icy riposte to his old pal. Mr Berezovsky's signed particulars of claim state that the football boss was formerly his "trusted friend and close business associate".
Mr Abramovich is loath to accept that there was any trust. "Save that it is admitted that the defendant and Mr Berezovsky were friends, no admissions are made," he states.
Mr Abramovich's vast wealth is founded on the Siberian oil company Sibneft, which was privatised by President Yeltsin in 1995 in an auction that some experts suspect of having been rigged.
The Chelsea owner now admits paying Mr Berezovsky, then nicknamed "Godfather of the Kremlin" because of his influence over President Yeltsin, to secure the oil business.
The Chelsea owner's next target was the aluminium industry. After privatisation, smelter managers, metals traders and journalists were reported to have been killed as groups battled for control.
Mr Abramovich now admits that he owed his success to the late Georgian oligarch.
"Mr Patarkatsishvili did ... provide assistance to the defendant in the defendant's acquisition of assets in the Russian aluminium industry," he states. (© The Times, London)

[Norf Tyrone]

Interesting stuff

Is it interesting? I am not very up to speed in political, court dealings but I found it boring. I am also not sure of the article's relevance as it's from July 2008. Am I missing something?

[Declan]

I thought it was interesting as regards Abramovich and how he became so rich - that's all. No agenda 

[Norf Tyrone]

I see Jon Obi Mikel let himself down a bagful on Saturday morning. Arsehole.

Carlo Cudicini now confirmed as a Spurs player. A fantastic keeper, who showed great loyalty to Chelsea, and rewarded with a free transfer.

[Minder]

I see Jon Obi Mikel let himself down a bagful on Saturday morning. Arsehole.

Carlo Cudicini now confirmed as a Spurs player. A fantastic keeper, who showed great loyalty to Chelsea, and rewarded with a free transfer.

What did he do?

[Mayo4Sam]

Mikel charged with drink-driving
SOCCER : John Obi Mikel has been charged with suspected drink-driving, hours before Chelsea's FA Cup match against Ipswich.

The 21-year-old was stopped by police at 5.30am on Saturday after being seen driving his Range Rover "erratically" near his club's ground in London's Fulham Road.

Later the same day, Chelsea beat Ipswich 3-1 in the fourth round - although Mikel was not part of the squad.

The Nigerian midfielder has since been charged and will appear in court on April 3rd.

He faces a year's driving ban or a jail term if the offence is deemed exceptionally serious.

A Chelsea spokesman said: "We are aware (Mikel) was arrested and charged. We want to establish the facts before we comment."

[Stalin]