WTF!!! rumor is that Jose left CFC? London Strutters confirm?
wow. later dude...
Yep, got the sack apparently, his summer acquisitions were part of the reason i hear... Hope (for Arsenal's sake) they plummet down the table and Abramovich fucks off so that the board start to realise that pumping in crazy amounts of money isn't always good for long term success...
WTF? While it was obvious that the restructuring of the club was leading to this kind of resolution I am amazed he's left at this point in the season. For all his faults the premiership will be a duller place without him.
Apparently not. Looks like current Blues staffer Avram Grant will get the nod.
"The current director of football at Chelsea, Grant previously managed the Israeli national team. After spending a season at Portsmouth as the club's technical director, he moved to Stamford Bridge in the summer.
Tellingly, he is described as a 'close friend' of Blues owner Roman Abramovich. "
A good "Yes" man, in other words. Just what Roman needs.
Apparently not. Looks like current Blues staffer Avram Grant will get the nod.
"The current director of football at Chelsea, Grant previously managed the Israeli national team. After spending a season at Portsmouth as the club's technical director, he moved to Stamford Bridge in the summer.
Tellingly, he is described as a 'close friend' of Blues owner Roman Abramovich. "
A good "Yes" man, in other words. Just what Roman needs.
Aha, it all fits into place. I guess we're going to see a lot more 90 minutes from Schevchenko over the rest of the season then.
The team is fitting into the Real Madrid template quite nicely at last.
I guess we're going to see a lot more 90 minutes from Schevchenko over the rest of the season then.
The team is fitting into the Real Madrid template[/b] quite nicely at last.
LOL, you mean pure madness?
Chelsea fans have been moaning that the team is boring to watch (Roman too), but things off the pitch have always been interesting with the Special One in charge... ah well, don't know whether this is pathos or bathos. Glad I don't have any Chelsea players on my team - I suspect the Man U game at the weekend will be the making or the breaking of their title hopes.
Will Lampard follow Mourinho to another club? Will Scolari swap jobs with Mourinho? Will Roman push Avram Grant out the second Chelsea fail to score a goal in 90 minutes? Will the FA appoint Mourinho should Second Choice Steve fail to qualify for the Euros?
I guess we're going to see a lot more 90 minutes from Schevchenko over the rest of the season then.
The team is fitting into the Real Madrid template[/b] quite nicely at last.
LOL, you mean pure madness?
Chelsea fans have been moaning that the team is boring to watch (Roman too), but things off the pitch have always been interesting with the Special One in charge... ah well, don't know whether this is pathos or bathos. Glad I don't have any Chelsea players on my team - I suspect the Man U game at the weekend will be the making or the breaking of their title hopes.
Will Lampard follow Mourinho to another club? Will Scolari swap jobs with Mourinho? Will Roman push Avram Grant out the second Chelsea fail to score a goal in 90 minutes? Will the FA appoint Mourinho should Second Choice Steve fail to qualify for the Euros?[/b]
Ha ha, I wonder what odds you'd get on that?
Yeah with Real I was referring to the whole "the manager has the team decided for him by the board" approach to running a club. There's always been the danger of this since Shevchenko joined and failed to perform and it seems likely that, among other things, this was a major reason for Jose leaving.
Real should have never sold Makelele. They ended up far too attack-balanced, like the old Newcastle teams under Kevin Keegan. They may get by in Spain (They won the league this year IIRC) but they seemed to be undone when it got to the Champion's League - the opposition on this stage are good enough to exploit any shortcomings.
I can't see Jose staying in the UK even though he loves the Premiership (so he says). The only job opportunity in a club anywhere near the size he would touch is Spurs, and I can't see Spurs being able to afford him / him wanting the gig.
The England job would be great. But would he have his "Untouchables" there too, just like Sven was criticised for? And McLaren has strung some results together so there are obviously no problems there any more
The bottom line with England is that we simply don't have enough talent or desire, whoever is managing the club. The Premiership is so lucrative that you have to be doing something wrong not to be a millionaire at 20 years old. I imagine 20 year-old millionaires are difficult to motivate.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
THEY FIRED THE SPECIAL ONE??
Maybe Spurs can get him
Hahaha! Somehow I don't see Mourinho exchanging one club where the owner and Director of Football exercise an undue degree of influence over team affairs for another. Spurs would need to get rid of Damien Commoli to have a chance of landing Mourinho.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
Apparently not. Looks like current Blues staffer Avram Grant will get the nod.
"The current director of football at Chelsea, Grant previously managed the Israeli national team. After spending a season at Portsmouth as the club's technical director, he moved to Stamford Bridge in the summer.
Tellingly, he is described as a 'close friend' of Blues owner Roman Abramovich. "
A good "Yes" man, in other words. Just what Roman needs.
Aha, it all fits into place. I guess we're going to see a lot more 90 minutes from Schevchenko over the rest of the season then.
The team is fitting into the Real Madrid template quite nicely at last.
It's like Fantasy League football, only with real money.
One very telling aspect this far has been the appearance of the words "by mutual consent" in the club's official statement.
"We've just sacked the man who brought us our first league championship in 50 years, took us to two CL semis, and won a fistful of domestic trophies as well. However, we can't say we've sacked him, otherwise we'll look like a bunch of idiots who don't know what they're doing".
It's beginning to look like a modern day medieval court at Stamford Bridge, with the likes of Grant, Buck, Zahavi, Kenyon, Arnesen, etc., all jostling for position to whisper in Roman's ear.
I don't know why, but Jose leaving Chelsea, and in all likelihood English football, makes me pine for another departed manager. Successful, arrogant, and opinionated, if not always loved, then at least respected by his friends and enemies alike. I refer to Brian Clough, and the two have often been compared, so let's see how their best quotes fair head-to-head:
Jose Mourinho[/b]: "Please don't call me arrogant, but I'm European champion and I think I'm a special one"
"There are only two ways for me to leave Chelsea. One way is in June 2010 when I finish my contract and if the club doesn't give me a new one. It is the end of my contract and I am out. The second way is for Chelsea to sack me. The way of the manager leaving the club by deciding to walk away, no chance! I will never do this to Chelsea supporters" - when asked if success in the Carling Cup final might mean the last trophy he would win for Chelsea.
"We have top players and, sorry if I'm arrogant, we have a top manager"
"If I wanted to have an easy job...I would have stayed at Porto - beautiful blue chair, the UEFA Champions League trophy, God, and after God, me"
"As we say in Portugal, they brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal" - after a 0-0 draw with Tottenham Hotspur
"If he helped me out in training we would be bottom of the league and if I had to work in his world of big business, we would be bankrupt" - on Chelsea F.C. owner Roman Abramovich
"I saw their players and manager go for a lap of honour after losing to us in their last home game. In Portugal if you do this, they throw bottles at you" - on Manchester United
"Pressure? What pressure? Pressure is poor people in the world trying to feed their families. Working from dawn till dust just to feed their young. There is no pressure in football" - speaking in a post-match interview
"Everybody wants Chelsea to lose a game. When they do they should declare a public holiday" - Speaking in a press conference about Chelsea's leading Premiership start in the 2005-06 season
"We are on top at the moment but not because of the club's financial power. We are in contention for a lot of trophies because of my hard work"
"You have to wonder why they did that penalty. Because they have so many penalties in the season, that's why. They have to do something special and different" - on Arsenal's penalty mix-up in October 2005
"I think he is one of these people who is a voyeur. He likes to watch other people. There are some guys who, when they are at home, have a big telescope to see what happens in other families. He speaks, speaks, speaks about Chelsea" - on Ars??ne Wenger
"I am more scared of bird flu than football. What is football compared with life? I have to buy some masks and stuff - maybe for my team as well" - Speaking soon after H5N1 spread to Britain, and when Chelsea's league lead over Manchester United had slipped to 7 points
"It's not the Premiership, it's not the FA cup, it's not the Champions League but its still a cup and we must respect it" - speaking about the Carling Cup
"Pavel Nedvěd, Paul Scholes, Lu??s Figo have all retired from international football. With the Czechs, England and Portugal it is ok, but France? They don't have liberty. It is unbelievable. Mak??l??l?? is not a footballer, he is a slave. He has no human rights, no right to choice or liberty, so he is a slave. But the rules are there, so what can we do?" - criticizing France coach Raymond Domenech for calling up Claude Mak??l??l?? for Euro 2008 qualifiers, after Mak??l??l?? announced his retirement from international football after the 2006 FIFA World Cup. However, rules by FIFA state that players who refuse a selection on their national team could be suspended from their professional clubs. The use of "slave" in Mourinho's press release was criticized by Domenech and France captain Patrick Vieira
"There are only two ways for me to leave Chelsea. One way is in June 2010 when I finish my contract and if the club doesn't give me a new one. It is the end of my contract and I am out. The second way is for Chelsea to sack me. The way of the manager leaving the club by deciding to walk away, no chance! I will never do this to Chelsea supporters" - on the possibility of him leaving of his own choice during the 06/07 season
"Look, we're not entertaining? I don't care; we win" - on Chelsea's performance at the start of the 2006-07 season
"The circumstances are difficult for us with the new football rules that we have to face. It is not possible to have a penalty against Manchester United and it is not possible to have penalties in favour of Chelsea. It is not a conspiracy, it is fact. I speak facts. If not, I need big glasses" - commenting after Chelsea had a penalty appeal turned down during a game against Newcastle, a day after Middlesbrough had a controversial penalty turned down against Manchester United.
"Young players are a little bit like melons. Only when you open and taste the melon are you 100 percent sure that the melon is good.Sometimes you have beautiful melons but they don't taste very good and some other melons are a bit ugly and when you open them, the taste is fantastic" - Mourinho's melon metaphor on young players, 9 Jun 2007
"Omelette, eggs. No eggs, no omelettes. It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have eggs, class one, class two, class three. Some are more expensive than others, and some give you better omelettes. When the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem" - Mourinho on his Chelsea squad, three days before he parted company with the team, 17 September 2007
Brian Clough[/b]: "I certainly wouldn't say I'm the best manager in the business, but I'm in the top one."
"Get in there - that's what I pay you for!" - to Derby County players at a training session.
"As far as I'm concerned you can throw all those medals you've won in the bin, because you won them all by cheating" - to the Leeds United players on his first day as manager.
" This is a terrible day.....for Leeds United" - exiting Elland Road after being sacked after 44 days as manager.
"If a chairman sacks a manager that he initially appointed, then he should go as well."
"John Robertson was a very unattractive young man. If, one day, I was feeling a bit off colour, I would sit next to him. I was bloody Errol Flynn compared to him, but give him a yard of grass and he was an artist. The Picasso of our game"
"If God had intended for us to play football in the clouds he wouldn't have put grass on the ground." - referring to the long ball game.
"If a player had said to Bill Shankly 'I've got to speak to my agent', Bill would have hit him. And I would have held him while he hit him."
"It was like a morgue in the dressing room after the game, and it's still like a morgue now. If that's what defeat feels like, we don't want to go through it again - oh, it's rotten" - interview with ITV after defeat for Forest in the 1980 League Cup final.
"I'm a Derby man. Derby County were here a long time before Robert Maxwell" - on agreeing with a protest by Derby fans against Maxwell's ownership of the club.
"They thought I was going to change it lock, stock and barrel. They were shrewd because that's exactly what I would have done" - on why he was rejected by the FA for the England job.
"I'd ask him how he thinks it should be done, have a chat about it for twenty minutes and then decide I was right" - on dealing with players disagreeing with his methods.
"I like my women to be feminine and not rolling around in mud" on what he thought of women's football.
"Don't send me flowers when I'm dead, send them to me now if you like me."
"I want no epitaphs of profound history or a
ll that kind of thing. I contributed, I hope they would say that and I hope that somebody liked me."
"For all his horses, knighthoods and championships, he hasn't got two of what I've got. And I don't mean balls." - on Sir Alex Ferguson's failure to match his record of two European Cup wins.
"Who thought Derby County could be turned into League champions; that any manager could bounce back from getting the bullet after 44 days with a great club and go on to prove himself among the best managers of all time; that what was done at Derby could be repeated at Forest; that after winning one European Cup, we could retain it; that a brash, self-opinionated young footballer, cut down by injury in his prime, would go on to achieve more impressive fame as a brash, highly successful manager?"
"It only takes a second to score a goal."
"They say Rome wasn't built in a day... well, I wasn't on that particular job"
as boring as Chelsea was on the pitch, Mourinho more than made up for it with his off field antics. EPL lost one of their brightest stars today, even as a man poo fan I am saddened. Now let's see if Shevy can deliver with more playing time, I reckon not as he is already too old.
Damn, back down to third place. Shears, I see Adebayor got you points - who'd a thunk it? Pre-season it was all about Van Percy... I may be making some changes to my squad too. Arsenal looked great Saturday, but I won't get carried away until they score like that against a top team. Still, Diaby opened things with a screamer!
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
Interesting article on the events leading up to Mourinho's departure from Chelski from this Sunday's Observer. Basically, they're fucked.
Jose Mourinho's reign at Chelsea ended emotionally, with warm dressing-room embraces for 23 of his players - and a cold handshake for Andriy Shevchenko and skipper John Terry. His departure, though, was a long time coming. Duncan Castles reports
Sunday September 23, 2007 The Observer
Tuesday, 10pm, home dressing room, Stamford Bridge. Andriy Shevchenko is taking Michael Essien to task on his performance in the night's embarrassing 1-1 draw with Rosenborg. The former European footballer of the year tells Africa's finest midfielder that he tried to make too many passes through the centre of the Norwegians' formation where '70 percent of their players were'. Essien learns he should have been passing to the wings 'where they only had 30 percent of their men'.
Not the most insightful of tactical advice, but then these are not the thoughts of a Ukraine international, they are those of a Russian billionaire. Standing beside Shevchenko, tactics board in hand, Roman Abramovich is the man telling Essien how to play football. Shevchenko is merely there to translate. In another room, attending to the press, Mourinho is utterly unaware of his employer's actions.
Tuesday, 7:11pm, the home dressing room. Chelsea's squad of 18 are called out for their pre-match warm up. All the players step out for the carefully prepared drill - except one. John Terry remains sitting where he is. One of Jose Mourinho's assistants urges Terry out. Chelsea's captain refuses, swears, and, according to an eye witness, says he is upset and has 'things on my mind'. Terry is said to be furious after finding out that Mourinho had been asking in Chelsea's treatment room whether there was a medical reason for his perceived loss of form over recent weeks. The stand-off continues until a team-mate cajoles his friend out on to the pitch.
The game starts, Chelsea quickly lose a goal at a free kick as Miika Koppinen stretches ahead of Terry to turn in a near-post cross. Chelsea go in at half time 1-0 down and Jose Mourinho takes his captain to task, blaming the defender for the deficit. Terry says nothing but all his team-mates can see the anger on his face.
The pair had once been the closest of footballing allies, but within 24 hours Mourinho is no longer Terry's manager as Chelsea agree to a ??10.5million pay-off to rid themselves of a man they describe as 'the most successful manager the club has known'.
'The relationship broke down not because of one detail or because of something that happened at a certain moment. It broke down over a period of time.' - Jose Mourinho, 21 September 2007.
To understand how the winner of two Premier League titles, two League Cups and one FA Cup, a man who averaged an unprecedented 2.33 points from his 120 Premiership games in just over three seasons, steadily became persona non grata at the club he made great, it is necessary to return to the summer of 2005.
'In Jose's first season everything was fine,' said a Chelsea employee who suffered the Abramovich guillotine long before the Portuguese. 'He came in, he won the title by miles, almost made the Champions League final, everyone was happy. But then it all began to go wrong. Peter Kenyon started thinking it was his genius as a chief executive that was important. Abramovich's mates were telling him his money had done it and any half-decent coach would win the league with those resources. They forgot that the most important man at any club is the manager.'
That summer, Chelsea poached Tottenham Hotspur's sporting director Frank Arnesen at a cost of ??5m. Ostensibly recruited to revolutionise the club's sub-standard youth ranks, the Dane was actually brought in on the recommendation of Piet de Visser, a well-known Dutch talent scout who had advised Abramovich on football matters from his first months as Chelsea owner.
Arnesen and De Visser, friends and allies from their time together at Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, steadily worked to influence Abramovich's thinking on the first team, and, most importantly, player recruitment. Along with the agents Soren Lerby, Vlado Lemeic and Pini Zahavi they sought to steer Abramovich towards the purchase of certain footballers. Their objective, according to one source, was 'to get to Abramovich's money. To do that they needed power at the club, needed a manager who would do what they wanted. Mourinho was not that manager.'
Thus emerged a power struggle in which Arnesen and others seemed to undermine Mourinho by questioning him at every opportunity. When Mourinho went to war with Uefa over the actions of referees they told Abramovich his coach was embarrassing the club. When Mourinho's team dourly won key matches by a goal to nil, they told the owner a better coach would win by more goals and bring him far more flamboyant football. When a Mourinho signing failed to perform on the pitch, they told Abramovich that better players could be found elsewhere.
Within a year, and despite Mourinho's success in claiming a second successive Premiership, the manager had lost control of transfers. In the 2006 summer window, Mourinho asked the board to buy Samuel Eto'o; they spent a UK record ??30m on Shevchenko. Chelsea sold William Gallas to Arsenal against Mourinho's wishes, and forced the ??7m Khalid Boulahrouz upon him, while Arnesen compounded the error of allowing Chelsea's most effective defender to leave the club by pulling the plug on the ??5m purchase of Micah Richards. Inside a season Richards was a full England international, while Boulahrouz was stinking out the reserves until Chelsea paid Sevilla to take him off their hands.
At least Mourinho could easily leave the Dutch defender out of the first team. A personal friend of Abramovich's, Shevchenko played regardless of his performances, and those were usually awful. In his first 26 appearances for Chelsea, the Ukrainian striker scored five goals. His coaches and team-mates often felt as though Chelsea were playing with 10 men and Mourinho was faced with a problem - should he leave out the owner's pal or lose the faith of the rest of the team?
As January approached, Mourinho asked to be allowed to sign a new striker. The board refused. Mourinho asked for a centre-back to cover for Terry, then sidelined with a serious back problem. The board offered him a choice between Alex, a Brazilian bought via De Visser and 'parked' at PSV for two seasons, and Tal Ben Haim, a Zahavi client. Mourinho wanted neither.
Worse still, Chelsea's manager was instructed to sack one of his assistants and add the Israeli Avram Grant to his coaching staff. When he refused, the club descended into open warfare.
Mourinho dropped Shevchenko from his first team, leaking the story to a national newspaper in an open challenge to Abramovich to sack him. On an emotional afternoon at Stamford Bridge the manager first rallied his team around him, then sent them out to overrun Wigan 4-0. Long before kick-off the Chelsea supporters were chanting 'Stand up for the Special One' through standing ovation after standing ovation.
An infuriated Abramovich ceased attending games and instructed his advisors to find a replacement coach. Mourinho let it be known that he would leave, but only on payment of the outstanding value of his contract - about ??28m comprising ??5.2m per annum for three-and-a-half years and up to ??10m in bonuses. In the meantime he kept winning matches, pushing his injury-hit squad to within a few games of a remarkable quadruple.
Ultimately Chelsea won the League Cup and the FA Cup, forcing Abramovich to reconcile with his manager. A consciously 'mellow' Mourinho promised to avoid c
onflict with opposing managers and football authorities, accepted restrictions on his transfer budget, and reshaped his team in a more flamboyant 4-4-2 formation. Fatefully, he also acceded to the appointment of Grant as Chelsea's director of football.
Though some in Mourinho's camp had Grant pinned as a 'Mossad Spy' from the off, the manager attempted to work with him, holding long meetings with him during the club's staggeringly positive pre-season US tour and letting it be known that he welcomed his arrival as a buffer against Arnesen and route to Abramovich. The early-season optimism, however, swiftly evaporated.
Grant began calling individual players aside to ask them questions.
'You look sad, why?' 'How do you feel in this position?' 'Is this the best place for you to play?' 'Are we using your abilities well?' Because many of them complained about this to Mourinho, the manager decided to cut back radically on team meetings, the only one this season having been arranged for the Jewish New Year when Grant had returned to Israel.
While Grant looked on at training, Shevchenko treated it with disdain. A morose, lonely figure around the camp, he seemed to show more interest in improving his golf swing than his shooting. As the first team prepared for their final pre-season friendly against Danish side Brondby, Shevchenko declared himself unfit with a back problem. A 2-0 victory ensured the ??121,000-a-week striker was not missed, but Mourinho was bemused to discover that Shevchenko's bad back had not prevented him from enjoying a round of golf at Sunningdale that day.
The board, though, were not interested and the club's descent continued. Other players began to realise what was happening, that the summer's peace was a false one, that their manager had no support from the top. 'The mentality became weaker and weaker,' said one insider. 'You could feel the team's strength sapping away.'
Mourinho knew his time at Chelsea was coming to an end. At Uefa's forum for elite coaches in Geneva a fortnight ago he allowed Premier League rivals an insight into his thinking. 'Mourinho said he loved Chelsea and he loved English football, but thought he would not stay for long,' said one coach. 'One of us asked him why. He wouldn't answer, but it was obvious something was seriously wrong.'
His next Champions League match brought the end. On Wednesday afternoon the board asked Mourinho to resign, citing his handling of Shevchenko, his attitude to authority and, crucially, his relationship with Terry as reasons why he should go. Mourinho refused to walk, and fought only to maximise his pay-off as Chelsea apparently threatened to call club employees to testify against him at any employment tribunal.
A ??10.5m pay-off was agreed and the following morning Mourinho made a final trip to the training centre at Cobham to pick up his possessions and say goodbye to his squad. There was a message in each farewell. For most there was a Latin embrace and warm words of thanks. For Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard the emotions were so strong that both men were reduced to tears, Lampard retreating to the shower room in an attempt to hide his. For Shevchenko and Terry there was nothing but a handshake that, in the words of one observer, could have 'frozen a mug of tea'. No one was in any doubt about who he considered the true captains of his team.
Out with the old, in with the new. Furious at Mourinho's dismissal, senior players describe Grant's appointment as 'a disgrace'. Some at Cobham call him 'an idiot' and describe his coaching techniques as '25 years behind the times'. Abramovich pushes the Israeli around 'without a hint of respect'.
Former academy coach Brendan Rogers has been drafted in to help out with the first team, a promotion that may not be unconnected to the one-on-one training sessions he gave Abramovich's son. Only in Steve Clarke is there the level of football knowledge to deal with a squad full of international superstars. As the sole survivor of Mourinho's cadre of four assistant managers, the Scotsman has an unenviable task.
But then neither he nor Grant will be picking the team. As Michael Essien discovered on Tuesday night, the new manager of Chelsea is also the owner.
With the whole agents/bungs inquiry never coming to any real conclusion (arrests!), I can completely believe that transfers were made to line agent's pockets rather than to help the team. Jose's last couple of post-match interviews were quite interesting really. He looked forlorn and a little exasperated, but worst of all (for Chelsea fans), he looked resigned. Usually when he complains bitterly, and blames referees, it's because he wants to win so bad he just can't take losing, and won't admit that what he or his team did wasn't good enough. Last couple of games, the fire wasn't in his belly.
Terry is a delueded nutter. Droggers, Lamps, Carvalho (all the way back to their Porto days) and a few other senior names will probably be ready to follow Jose where ever he goes. Personally, I don't think Jose will go to a really big club, but would be content to prove himself with a club small enought that he would be guaranteed control. So that would rule out teams like Barca (Cruyff) or Milan (Berlesconi). Bundesliga?
Damn, back down to third place. Shears, I see Adebayor got you points - who'd a thunk it? Pre-season it was all about Van Percy... I may be making some changes to my squad too. Arsenal looked great Saturday, but I won't get carried away until they score like that against a top team. Still, Diaby opened things with a screamer!
Haha, i only put Adebayor in at the last minute because i knew the Gunners would get a load of goals...
Re: Jimster - Real should never have sold Makalele, well, yeah, I think that has long since passed into the accepted consensus as the begining of the Galactico Implosion at the Bernabau. I think the most telling thing that happened at Chelsea, and I'd like to see a timeline that shows where the appointment of Grant & Arnesen fits in, was selling Gudjohnson, Geremi & to a lesser extent Duff. Duff and Robben both went to Chelsea as amazing attacking wingers (like SWP) who failed to flourish under Mourinho's system that required them to work hard defensively. Duff lost form and his spirit, and left for first-team football. Robben stuck it out, probably convinved of his own worth, until his primadonna antics had Jose leaving him on the bench as much to teach him a lesson as about injuries and drop in form. SWP managed to simply stick it, and there seems to be some evidence that he's getting back towards the form he was in at City. Geremi was a very good squad player for Chelsea, who, in big games against teams like Man U, wouldn't dive in with two feet and get sent off. While putting him in at rightback never looked convincing, I would have him on the pitch ahead of Obi Mikel any time; he has experience and a dangerous free-kick, and on Sunday Chelsea looked toothless in attack. Gudjohnson was the big mistake. A talented striker, very intelligent on the pitch, able to drop into midfield and play in the hole, but unlike many flair players in that position, he has the physique to put himself about a bit, and knuckle in with some hard tackles you'll never see Del Piero, Ronaldinho or Henrik Larsen doing. He has good off the ball movement, can do one-touch passes into space, is great in the air, and was one of the few modern footballers to have a bit of a gut; the last tubby footballer in the top flight maybe? The belly factor made him difficult to dislodge from the ball, but perhaps not easy enough on the eye to make him un-droppable from the team. Would have picked him to partner Drogba ahead of the equally rotund, but slow and useless Crespo that Chelsea had for a seaon, ahead of the totally disinterested Ballack at the tip of a midfield diamond, ahead of the inexperienced Soloman Kalou, and way ahead of the feckless Shevchenko.
And while I'm at it, for a team that made good buying Makalele from Real, what in god's name made them sell Diarra to their rivals Arsenal? Lassana Diarra looks like Makalele, plays like Makalele, probably is the 'next' Makalele, so why sell him? Grant & Arnesen again?
Oh, and I don't think there's a chance of Jose staying in England. Rumours are floating around that part of the 'mutual agreement' involved Jose not[/b] managing another Prem team for at least two years.
But then neither he nor Grant will be picking the team. As Michael Essien discovered on Tuesday night, the new manager of Chelsea is also the owner.
do any of you guys feel like Abramovich would sell CFC in the event they take a downward spiral? Football may be a passion of his, but does he really care about CFC when all is said and done.
Here in the states, we have owners who tend to spend too much time acting like managers/coaches (Steinbrenner & Jerry Jones), but no one doubts that they would also go down with the ship too. Does Abramovich have that type of fortitude?
btw, Chelsea played like schitt yesterday. And Abramovich's fanboyish behavior for Schevchenko is just kinda creepy.
And every game i see Ashely Cole play, the more i realize how better the gunners are for severing ties with that fuck.
do any of you guys feel like Abramovich would sell CFC in the event they take a downward spiral?
Why not? Depends how downward. Failure to qualify for champions league, and failure to win anything this season, yeah, I could see him selling up and he'd consider buying a different club that plays 'sexy football'. He already owns stock in another football team (Ukrainian I think), so a team like Spurs maybe, possibly take Fulham off Fayed's hands... it would be in London if in England at all, or he'd go to Spain or Italy. But I'm worried he might be looking jealously across London at the Emirates. Unfortunately Arsenal may become victims of their own success; they've just unveiled figures that make them the richest club in England (second richest in the world?), they play the most attractive brand of football in England and their squad comprises of young starlets in the making - everything about them says 'growth potential', and there seems to be a nebulous war going on between businessmen trying to gain a controlling stake of the club.
Personally, I can't wait for Jose to get back into management, and peverse as it would be, I'd enjoy watching him hand Chelsea's arse to them on a plate, wave to Roman in the exec box, and give JT a sly wink as his new team of defensive pragmatists grind-out a 1-0 win over two legs in the Champions league.
We were running round Old Trafford with our willys hanging out We were running round Old Trafford with our willys hanging out Singing "I've got a bigger one than you" Singing "I've got a bigger one than you"
If that Essien/Shevva dialogue did actually take place, then I can't see how Roman Abramovich can attract the best managerial or playing talent whilst he insists on this approach. Apart from the money, the environment would suck. If he can't get his own way, he may sell up. Alisher Usmanov is eager to invest in the premiership - and he's Russian. From one Russian to another would be easy.
However, if the money is right, greed will help override the indignity of a former street seller of rubber ducks telling you how best to go about the craft you have practiced since you could walk. Only the greediest or most desperate would take the dosh. And such folk tend not to be team players.
It always amazes me to see the squad of the manager who gets the highest score every week - sometimes you think they work for a Phone-In competition company...
Comments
Yep, got the sack apparently, his summer acquisitions were part of the reason i hear...
Hope (for Arsenal's sake) they plummet down the table and Abramovich fucks off so that the board start to realise that pumping in crazy amounts of money isn't always good for long term success...
Maybe Spurs can get him
I assume Hiddink is favourite for the position?
"The current director of football at Chelsea, Grant previously managed the Israeli national team. After spending a season at Portsmouth as the club's technical director, he moved to Stamford Bridge in the summer.
Tellingly, he is described as a 'close friend' of Blues owner Roman Abramovich. "
A good "Yes" man, in other words. Just what Roman needs.
Aha, it all fits into place. I guess we're going to see a lot more 90 minutes from Schevchenko over the rest of the season then.
The team is fitting into the Real Madrid template quite nicely at last.
LOL, you mean pure madness?
Chelsea fans have been moaning that the team is boring to watch (Roman too), but things off the pitch have always been interesting with the Special One in charge... ah well, don't know whether this is pathos or bathos. Glad I don't have any Chelsea players on my team - I suspect the Man U game at the weekend will be the making or the breaking of their title hopes.
Will Lampard follow Mourinho to another club?
Will Scolari swap jobs with Mourinho?
Will Roman push Avram Grant out the second Chelsea fail to score a goal in 90 minutes?
Will the FA appoint Mourinho should Second Choice Steve fail to qualify for the Euros?
Ha ha, I wonder what odds you'd get on that?
Yeah with Real I was referring to the whole "the manager has the team decided for him by the board" approach to running a club. There's always been the danger of this since Shevchenko joined and failed to perform and it seems likely that, among other things, this was a major reason for Jose leaving.
I can't see Jose staying in the UK even though he loves the Premiership (so he says). The only job opportunity in a club anywhere near the size he would touch is Spurs, and I can't see Spurs being able to afford him / him wanting the gig.
The England job would be great. But would he have his "Untouchables" there too, just like Sven was criticised for? And McLaren has strung some results together so there are obviously no problems there any more
The bottom line with England is that we simply don't have enough talent or desire, whoever is managing the club. The Premiership is so lucrative that you have to be doing something wrong not to be a millionaire at 20 years old. I imagine 20 year-old millionaires are difficult to motivate.
Hahaha! Somehow I don't see Mourinho exchanging one club where the owner and Director of Football exercise an undue degree of influence over team affairs for another. Spurs would need to get rid of Damien Commoli to have a chance of landing Mourinho.
It's like Fantasy League football, only with real money.
One very telling aspect this far has been the appearance of the words "by mutual consent" in the club's official statement.
"We've just sacked the man who brought us our first league championship in 50 years, took us to two CL semis, and won a fistful of domestic trophies as well. However, we can't say we've sacked him, otherwise we'll look like a bunch of idiots who don't know what they're doing".
It's beginning to look like a modern day medieval court at Stamford Bridge, with the likes of Grant, Buck, Zahavi, Kenyon, Arnesen, etc., all jostling for position to whisper in Roman's ear.
I don't know why, but Jose leaving Chelsea, and in all likelihood English football, makes me pine for another departed manager. Successful, arrogant, and opinionated, if not always loved, then at least respected by his friends and enemies alike. I refer to Brian Clough, and the two have often been compared, so let's see how their best quotes fair head-to-head:
Jose Mourinho[/b]:
"Please don't call me arrogant, but I'm European champion and I think I'm a special one"
"There are only two ways for me to leave Chelsea. One way is in June 2010 when I finish my contract and if the club doesn't give me a new one. It is the end of my contract and I am out. The second way is for Chelsea to sack me. The way of the manager leaving the club by deciding to walk away, no chance! I will never do this to Chelsea supporters" - when asked if success in the Carling Cup final might mean the last trophy he would win for Chelsea.
"We have top players and, sorry if I'm arrogant, we have a top manager"
"If I wanted to have an easy job...I would have stayed at Porto - beautiful blue chair, the UEFA Champions League trophy, God, and after God, me"
"As we say in Portugal, they brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal" - after a 0-0 draw with Tottenham Hotspur
"If he helped me out in training we would be bottom of the league and if I had to work in his world of big business, we would be bankrupt" - on Chelsea F.C. owner Roman Abramovich
"I saw their players and manager go for a lap of honour after losing to us in their last home game. In Portugal if you do this, they throw bottles at you" - on Manchester United
"Pressure? What pressure? Pressure is poor people in the world trying to feed their families. Working from dawn till dust just to feed their young. There is no pressure in football" - speaking in a post-match interview
"Everybody wants Chelsea to lose a game. When they do they should declare a public holiday" - Speaking in a press conference about Chelsea's leading Premiership start in the 2005-06 season
"We are on top at the moment but not because of the club's financial power. We are in contention for a lot of trophies because of my hard work"
"You have to wonder why they did that penalty. Because they have so many penalties in the season, that's why. They have to do something special and different" - on Arsenal's penalty mix-up in October 2005
"I think he is one of these people who is a voyeur. He likes to watch other people. There are some guys who, when they are at home, have a big telescope to see what happens in other families. He speaks, speaks, speaks about Chelsea" - on Ars??ne Wenger
"I am more scared of bird flu than football. What is football compared with life? I have to buy some masks and stuff - maybe for my team as well" - Speaking soon after H5N1 spread to Britain, and when Chelsea's league lead over Manchester United had slipped to 7 points
"It's not the Premiership, it's not the FA cup, it's not the Champions League but its still a cup and we must respect it" - speaking about the Carling Cup
"Pavel Nedvěd, Paul Scholes, Lu??s Figo have all retired from international football. With the Czechs, England and Portugal it is ok, but France? They don't have liberty. It is unbelievable. Mak??l??l?? is not a footballer, he is a slave. He has no human rights, no right to choice or liberty, so he is a slave. But the rules are there, so what can we do?" - criticizing France coach Raymond Domenech for calling up Claude Mak??l??l?? for Euro 2008 qualifiers, after Mak??l??l?? announced his retirement from international football after the 2006 FIFA World Cup. However, rules by FIFA state that players who refuse a selection on their national team could be suspended from their professional clubs. The use of "slave" in Mourinho's press release was criticized by Domenech and France captain Patrick Vieira
"There are only two ways for me to leave Chelsea. One way is in June 2010 when I finish my contract and if the club doesn't give me a new one. It is the end of my contract and I am out. The second way is for Chelsea to sack me. The way of the manager leaving the club by deciding to walk away, no chance! I will never do this to Chelsea supporters" - on the possibility of him leaving of his own choice during the 06/07 season
"Look, we're not entertaining? I don't care; we win" - on Chelsea's performance at the start of the 2006-07 season
"The circumstances are difficult for us with the new football rules that we have to face. It is not possible to have a penalty against Manchester United and it is not possible to have penalties in favour of Chelsea. It is not a conspiracy, it is fact. I speak facts. If not, I need big glasses" - commenting after Chelsea had a penalty appeal turned down during a game against Newcastle, a day after Middlesbrough had a controversial penalty turned down against Manchester United.
"Young players are a little bit like melons. Only when you open and taste the melon are you 100 percent sure that the melon is good.Sometimes you have beautiful melons but they don't taste very good and some other melons are a bit ugly and when you open them, the taste is fantastic" - Mourinho's melon metaphor on young players, 9 Jun 2007
"Omelette, eggs. No eggs, no omelettes. It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have eggs, class one, class two, class three. Some are more expensive than others, and some give you better omelettes. When the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem" - Mourinho on his Chelsea squad, three days before he parted company with the team, 17 September 2007
Brian Clough[/b]:
"I certainly wouldn't say I'm the best manager in the business, but I'm in the top one."
"Get in there - that's what I pay you for!" - to Derby County players at a training session.
"As far as I'm concerned you can throw all those medals you've won in the bin, because you won them all by cheating" - to the Leeds United players on his first day as manager.
" This is a terrible day.....for Leeds United" - exiting Elland Road after being sacked after 44 days as manager.
"If a chairman sacks a manager that he initially appointed, then he should go as well."
"John Robertson was a very unattractive young man. If, one day, I was feeling a bit off colour, I would sit next to him. I was bloody Errol Flynn compared to him, but give him a yard of grass and he was an artist. The Picasso of our game"
"If God had intended for us to play football in the clouds he wouldn't have put grass on the ground." - referring to the long ball game.
"If a player had said to Bill Shankly 'I've got to speak to my agent', Bill would have hit him. And I would have held him while he hit him."
"It was like a morgue in the dressing room after the game, and it's still like a morgue now. If that's what defeat feels like, we don't want to go through it again - oh, it's rotten" - interview with ITV after defeat for Forest in the 1980 League Cup final.
"I'm a Derby man. Derby County were here a long time before Robert Maxwell" - on agreeing with a protest by Derby fans against Maxwell's ownership of the club.
"They thought I was going to change it lock, stock and barrel. They were shrewd because that's exactly what I would have done" - on why he was rejected by the FA for the England job.
"I'd ask him how he thinks it should be done, have a chat about it for twenty minutes and then decide I was right" - on dealing with players disagreeing with his methods.
"I like my women to be feminine and not rolling around in mud" on what he thought of women's football.
"Don't send me flowers when I'm dead, send them to me now if you like me."
"I want no epitaphs of profound history or a ll that kind of thing. I contributed, I hope they would say that and I hope that somebody liked me."
"For all his horses, knighthoods and championships, he hasn't got two of what I've got. And I don't mean balls." - on Sir Alex Ferguson's failure to match his record of two European Cup wins.
"Who thought Derby County could be turned into League champions; that any manager could bounce back from getting the bullet after 44 days with a great club and go on to prove himself among the best managers of all time; that what was done at Derby could be repeated at Forest; that after winning one European Cup, we could retain it; that a brash, self-opinionated young footballer, cut down by injury in his prime, would go on to achieve more impressive fame as a brash, highly successful manager?"
"It only takes a second to score a goal."
"They say Rome wasn't built in a day... well, I wasn't on that particular job"
as boring as Chelsea was on the pitch, Mourinho more than made up for it with his off field antics. EPL lost one of their brightest stars today, even as a man poo fan I am saddened. Now let's see if Shevy can deliver with more playing time, I reckon not as he is already too old.
Damn, back down to third place. Shears, I see Adebayor got you points - who'd a thunk it? Pre-season it was all about Van Percy... I may be making some changes to my squad too. Arsenal looked great Saturday, but I won't get carried away until they score like that against a top team. Still, Diaby opened things with a screamer!
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2175177,00.html
'Tears, hugs and two icy handshakes'
Jose Mourinho's reign at Chelsea ended emotionally, with warm dressing-room embraces for 23 of his players - and a cold handshake for Andriy Shevchenko and skipper John Terry. His departure, though, was a long time coming. Duncan Castles reports
Sunday September 23, 2007
The Observer
Tuesday, 10pm, home dressing room, Stamford Bridge. Andriy Shevchenko is taking Michael Essien to task on his performance in the night's embarrassing 1-1 draw with Rosenborg. The former European footballer of the year tells Africa's finest midfielder that he tried to make too many passes through the centre of the Norwegians' formation where '70 percent of their players were'. Essien learns he should have been passing to the wings 'where they only had 30 percent of their men'.
Not the most insightful of tactical advice, but then these are not the thoughts of a Ukraine international, they are those of a Russian billionaire. Standing beside Shevchenko, tactics board in hand, Roman Abramovich is the man telling Essien how to play football. Shevchenko is merely there to translate. In another room, attending to the press, Mourinho is utterly unaware of his employer's actions.
Tuesday, 7:11pm, the home dressing room. Chelsea's squad of 18 are called out for their pre-match warm up. All the players step out for the carefully prepared drill - except one. John Terry remains sitting where he is. One of Jose Mourinho's assistants urges Terry out. Chelsea's captain refuses, swears, and, according to an eye witness, says he is upset and has 'things on my mind'. Terry is said to be furious after finding out that Mourinho had been asking in Chelsea's treatment room whether there was a medical reason for his perceived loss of form over recent weeks. The stand-off continues until a team-mate cajoles his friend out on to the pitch.
The game starts, Chelsea quickly lose a goal at a free kick as Miika Koppinen stretches ahead of Terry to turn in a near-post cross. Chelsea go in at half time 1-0 down and Jose Mourinho takes his captain to task, blaming the defender for the deficit. Terry says nothing but all his team-mates can see the anger on his face.
The pair had once been the closest of footballing allies, but within 24 hours Mourinho is no longer Terry's manager as Chelsea agree to a ??10.5million pay-off to rid themselves of a man they describe as 'the most successful manager the club has known'.
'The relationship broke down not because of one detail or because of something that happened at a certain moment. It broke down over a period of time.' - Jose Mourinho, 21 September 2007.
To understand how the winner of two Premier League titles, two League Cups and one FA Cup, a man who averaged an unprecedented 2.33 points from his 120 Premiership games in just over three seasons, steadily became persona non grata at the club he made great, it is necessary to return to the summer of 2005.
'In Jose's first season everything was fine,' said a Chelsea employee who suffered the Abramovich guillotine long before the Portuguese. 'He came in, he won the title by miles, almost made the Champions League final, everyone was happy. But then it all began to go wrong. Peter Kenyon started thinking it was his genius as a chief executive that was important. Abramovich's mates were telling him his money had done it and any half-decent coach would win the league with those resources. They forgot that the most important man at any club is the manager.'
That summer, Chelsea poached Tottenham Hotspur's sporting director Frank Arnesen at a cost of ??5m. Ostensibly recruited to revolutionise the club's sub-standard youth ranks, the Dane was actually brought in on the recommendation of Piet de Visser, a well-known Dutch talent scout who had advised Abramovich on football matters from his first months as Chelsea owner.
Arnesen and De Visser, friends and allies from their time together at Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, steadily worked to influence Abramovich's thinking on the first team, and, most importantly, player recruitment. Along with the agents Soren Lerby, Vlado Lemeic and Pini Zahavi they sought to steer Abramovich towards the purchase of certain footballers. Their objective, according to one source, was 'to get to Abramovich's money. To do that they needed power at the club, needed a manager who would do what they wanted. Mourinho was not that manager.'
Thus emerged a power struggle in which Arnesen and others seemed to undermine Mourinho by questioning him at every opportunity. When Mourinho went to war with Uefa over the actions of referees they told Abramovich his coach was embarrassing the club. When Mourinho's team dourly won key matches by a goal to nil, they told the owner a better coach would win by more goals and bring him far more flamboyant football. When a Mourinho signing failed to perform on the pitch, they told Abramovich that better players could be found elsewhere.
Within a year, and despite Mourinho's success in claiming a second successive Premiership, the manager had lost control of transfers. In the 2006 summer window, Mourinho asked the board to buy Samuel Eto'o; they spent a UK record ??30m on Shevchenko. Chelsea sold William Gallas to Arsenal against Mourinho's wishes, and forced the ??7m Khalid Boulahrouz upon him, while Arnesen compounded the error of allowing Chelsea's most effective defender to leave the club by pulling the plug on the ??5m purchase of Micah Richards. Inside a season Richards was a full England international, while Boulahrouz was stinking out the reserves until Chelsea paid Sevilla to take him off their hands.
At least Mourinho could easily leave the Dutch defender out of the first team. A personal friend of Abramovich's, Shevchenko played regardless of his performances, and those were usually awful. In his first 26 appearances for Chelsea, the Ukrainian striker scored five goals. His coaches and team-mates often felt as though Chelsea were playing with 10 men and Mourinho was faced with a problem - should he leave out the owner's pal or lose the faith of the rest of the team?
As January approached, Mourinho asked to be allowed to sign a new striker. The board refused. Mourinho asked for a centre-back to cover for Terry, then sidelined with a serious back problem. The board offered him a choice between Alex, a Brazilian bought via De Visser and 'parked' at PSV for two seasons, and Tal Ben Haim, a Zahavi client. Mourinho wanted neither.
Worse still, Chelsea's manager was instructed to sack one of his assistants and add the Israeli Avram Grant to his coaching staff. When he refused, the club descended into open warfare.
Mourinho dropped Shevchenko from his first team, leaking the story to a national newspaper in an open challenge to Abramovich to sack him. On an emotional afternoon at Stamford Bridge the manager first rallied his team around him, then sent them out to overrun Wigan 4-0. Long before kick-off the Chelsea supporters were chanting 'Stand up for the Special One' through standing ovation after standing ovation.
An infuriated Abramovich ceased attending games and instructed his advisors to find a replacement coach. Mourinho let it be known that he would leave, but only on payment of the outstanding value of his contract - about ??28m comprising ??5.2m per annum for three-and-a-half years and up to ??10m in bonuses. In the meantime he kept winning matches, pushing his injury-hit squad to within a few games of a remarkable quadruple.
Ultimately Chelsea won the League Cup and the FA Cup, forcing Abramovich to reconcile with his manager. A consciously 'mellow' Mourinho promised to avoid c onflict with opposing managers and football authorities, accepted restrictions on his transfer budget, and reshaped his team in a more flamboyant 4-4-2 formation. Fatefully, he also acceded to the appointment of Grant as Chelsea's director of football.
Though some in Mourinho's camp had Grant pinned as a 'Mossad Spy' from the off, the manager attempted to work with him, holding long meetings with him during the club's staggeringly positive pre-season US tour and letting it be known that he welcomed his arrival as a buffer against Arnesen and route to Abramovich. The early-season optimism, however, swiftly evaporated.
Grant began calling individual players aside to ask them questions.
'You look sad, why?' 'How do you feel in this position?' 'Is this the best place for you to play?' 'Are we using your abilities well?' Because many of them complained about this to Mourinho, the manager decided to cut back radically on team meetings, the only one this season having been arranged for the Jewish New Year when Grant had returned to Israel.
While Grant looked on at training, Shevchenko treated it with disdain. A morose, lonely figure around the camp, he seemed to show more interest in improving his golf swing than his shooting. As the first team prepared for their final pre-season friendly against Danish side Brondby, Shevchenko declared himself unfit with a back problem. A 2-0 victory ensured the ??121,000-a-week striker was not missed, but Mourinho was bemused to discover that Shevchenko's bad back had not prevented him from enjoying a round of golf at Sunningdale that day.
The board, though, were not interested and the club's descent continued. Other players began to realise what was happening, that the summer's peace was a false one, that their manager had no support from the top. 'The mentality became weaker and weaker,' said one insider. 'You could feel the team's strength sapping away.'
Mourinho knew his time at Chelsea was coming to an end. At Uefa's forum for elite coaches in Geneva a fortnight ago he allowed Premier League rivals an insight into his thinking. 'Mourinho said he loved Chelsea and he loved English football, but thought he would not stay for long,' said one coach. 'One of us asked him why. He wouldn't answer, but it was obvious something was seriously wrong.'
His next Champions League match brought the end. On Wednesday afternoon the board asked Mourinho to resign, citing his handling of Shevchenko, his attitude to authority and, crucially, his relationship with Terry as reasons why he should go. Mourinho refused to walk, and fought only to maximise his pay-off as Chelsea apparently threatened to call club employees to testify against him at any employment tribunal.
A ??10.5m pay-off was agreed and the following morning Mourinho made a final trip to the training centre at Cobham to pick up his possessions and say goodbye to his squad. There was a message in each farewell. For most there was a Latin embrace and warm words of thanks. For Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard the emotions were so strong that both men were reduced to tears, Lampard retreating to the shower room in an attempt to hide his. For Shevchenko and Terry there was nothing but a handshake that, in the words of one observer, could have 'frozen a mug of tea'. No one was in any doubt about who he considered the true captains of his team.
Out with the old, in with the new. Furious at Mourinho's dismissal, senior players describe Grant's appointment as 'a disgrace'. Some at Cobham call him 'an idiot' and describe his coaching techniques as '25 years behind the times'. Abramovich pushes the Israeli around 'without a hint of respect'.
Former academy coach Brendan Rogers has been drafted in to help out with the first team, a promotion that may not be unconnected to the one-on-one training sessions he gave Abramovich's son. Only in Steve Clarke is there the level of football knowledge to deal with a squad full of international superstars. As the sole survivor of Mourinho's cadre of four assistant managers, the Scotsman has an unenviable task.
But then neither he nor Grant will be picking the team. As Michael Essien discovered on Tuesday night, the new manager of Chelsea is also the owner.
With the whole agents/bungs inquiry never coming to any real conclusion (arrests!), I can completely believe that transfers were made to line agent's pockets rather than to help the team. Jose's last couple of post-match interviews were quite interesting really. He looked forlorn and a little exasperated, but worst of all (for Chelsea fans), he looked resigned. Usually when he complains bitterly, and blames referees, it's because he wants to win so bad he just can't take losing, and won't admit that what he or his team did wasn't good enough. Last couple of games, the fire wasn't in his belly.
Terry is a delueded nutter.
Droggers, Lamps, Carvalho (all the way back to their Porto days) and a few other senior names will probably be ready to follow Jose where ever he goes. Personally, I don't think Jose will go to a really big club, but would be content to prove himself with a club small enought that he would be guaranteed control. So that would rule out teams like Barca (Cruyff) or Milan (Berlesconi). Bundesliga?
Haha, i only put Adebayor in at the last minute because i knew the Gunners would get a load of goals...
or QPR if rumours are to be believed...
Re: Jimster - Real should never have sold Makalele, well, yeah, I think that has long since passed into the accepted consensus as the begining of the Galactico Implosion at the Bernabau. I think the most telling thing that happened at Chelsea, and I'd like to see a timeline that shows where the appointment of Grant & Arnesen fits in, was selling Gudjohnson, Geremi & to a lesser extent Duff.
Duff and Robben both went to Chelsea as amazing attacking wingers (like SWP) who failed to flourish under Mourinho's system that required them to work hard defensively. Duff lost form and his spirit, and left for first-team football. Robben stuck it out, probably convinved of his own worth, until his primadonna antics had Jose leaving him on the bench as much to teach him a lesson as about injuries and drop in form. SWP managed to simply stick it, and there seems to be some evidence that he's getting back towards the form he was in at City.
Geremi was a very good squad player for Chelsea, who, in big games against teams like Man U, wouldn't dive in with two feet and get sent off. While putting him in at rightback never looked convincing, I would have him on the pitch ahead of Obi Mikel any time; he has experience and a dangerous free-kick, and on Sunday Chelsea looked toothless in attack.
Gudjohnson was the big mistake. A talented striker, very intelligent on the pitch, able to drop into midfield and play in the hole, but unlike many flair players in that position, he has the physique to put himself about a bit, and knuckle in with some hard tackles you'll never see Del Piero, Ronaldinho or Henrik Larsen doing. He has good off the ball movement, can do one-touch passes into space, is great in the air, and was one of the few modern footballers to have a bit of a gut; the last tubby footballer in the top flight maybe? The belly factor made him difficult to dislodge from the ball, but perhaps not easy enough on the eye to make him un-droppable from the team. Would have picked him to partner Drogba ahead of the equally rotund, but slow and useless Crespo that Chelsea had for a seaon, ahead of the totally disinterested Ballack at the tip of a midfield diamond, ahead of the inexperienced Soloman Kalou, and way ahead of the feckless Shevchenko.
Oh, and I don't think there's a chance of Jose staying in England. Rumours are floating around that part of the 'mutual agreement' involved Jose not[/b] managing another Prem team for at least two years.
do any of you guys feel like Abramovich would sell CFC in the event they take a downward spiral? Football may be a passion of his, but does he really care about CFC when all is said and done.
Here in the states, we have owners who tend to spend too much time acting like managers/coaches (Steinbrenner & Jerry Jones), but no one doubts that they would also go down with the ship too. Does Abramovich have that type of fortitude?
btw,
Chelsea played like schitt yesterday. And Abramovich's fanboyish behavior for Schevchenko is just kinda creepy.
And every game i see Ashely Cole play, the more i realize how better the gunners are for severing ties with that fuck.
Word, i'd take Clichy any day over him...
a man after my own heart... although I despised him when he was at the bummers.
Why not? Depends how downward. Failure to qualify for champions league, and failure to win anything this season, yeah, I could see him selling up and he'd consider buying a different club that plays 'sexy football'. He already owns stock in another football team (Ukrainian I think), so a team like Spurs maybe, possibly take Fulham off Fayed's hands... it would be in London if in England at all, or he'd go to Spain or Italy. But I'm worried he might be looking jealously across London at the Emirates.
Unfortunately Arsenal may become victims of their own success; they've just unveiled figures that make them the richest club in England (second richest in the world?), they play the most attractive brand of football in England and their squad comprises of young starlets in the making - everything about them says 'growth potential', and there seems to be a nebulous war going on between businessmen trying to gain a controlling stake of the club.
Personally, I can't wait for Jose to get back into management, and peverse as it would be, I'd enjoy watching him hand Chelsea's arse to them on a plate, wave to Roman in the exec box, and give JT a sly wink as his new team of defensive pragmatists grind-out a 1-0 win over two legs in the Champions league.
We were running round Old Trafford with our willys hanging out
We were running round Old Trafford with our willys hanging out
Singing "I've got a bigger one than you"
Singing "I've got a bigger one than you"
Nice one Coventry.
However, if the money is right, greed will help override the indignity of a former street seller of rubber ducks telling you how best to go about the craft you have practiced since you could walk. Only the greediest or most desperate would take the dosh. And such folk tend not to be team players.
I've lost every ounce of respect I had for Terry, what a prick.
Luckily, it seems like most people had pretty slow weeks,
there certainly were a lot of low scoring games ... not
counting Portsmouth/Reading
A Keano hat trick tomorrow could help me salvage some respect
out of this weekend ... please ...