Stamford Bridge is falling down

[Dan]

PS is shaggy still a mod?

Yep Just not a very good one*




























joke

[Tom]

Hideously under-qualified coach Avram Grant is tipped to be on his way out of Chelsea before Christmas (News of the World). A senior player is said to have revealed that Grant's training ground work is 'amateurish'. The player (wouldn’t you just love to know who's spilled the beans?) said: "Under Mourinho, training was exciting and inspirational, it was different every day. But since he left, training has been amateurish. In one session this week we were asked to get the ball and just dribble round a cone. Some of the players said they hadn't been asked to do that since they were 14 years old. There's no way Avram can last – he'll be gone by Christmas because the players just aren't having him at all."

[Shaggy]

Dribble round a cone! I last did that on one of those Bobby Charlton :whatever: Soccer Schools

[carlton]

Does anyone know what modern training methods consist off? How much time do players spend on sharpening their skills? Some of the passing against wigan was atrocious especially under no pressure.

[AFII]

Where is a mod when you need one can the 2 threads about chelsea be merged

IU have just posted in the other thread that we almost bought Essien for 3 million under Houllier

We had agreed the deal but he didn't get a work permit.

[Morten_nogamst_Pedersen]

I love Chelsea and Abramovich! No other club, bar Liverpool, could make me this happy!

It is hilarious, but it would be at least one thousand times better if it were the mancs.

[El Jefecito]

It gets better, now the chairman is turning on the fans. Accusing them of racism and anti-semitism.

Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck has accused some of the clubs fans of sending abuse bordering on racism after Avram Grant replaced Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8695_2766761,00.html

[Roboklopp]

****ing horrible *******s. Combat18 n all that. Wouldnt put it past em at all.

[Tom]

Famous for it. Millwall with money.

[Howard_lfc]

We had agreed the deal but he didn't get a work permit.

I thought we'd agreed a £4m deal but Ged wanted to loan him straight back out as he wasn't ready for premiership football. The board refused to give Ged the money on those grounds.

[The Glove]

They are in the **** right now but it wont last. Roman will soon see the error of his wys and get someone decent in.

[willa1975]

The recent events surrounding Chelsea have been fascinating...a lesson in how not to run a football club...

If anything, it's a major reality check for Abramovich. I think he sees himself as the face of Chelsea FC, and he's trying to turn them into an English version of the Galactico-era Real Madrid. However, they appear to be entering a fall similar to that Real Madrid side, who seemed to have lost the plot after Del Bosque was sacked after winning the Liga and going out of the CL at the semifinal stage. Unfortunately for Chelsea, they don't have the massive fan base, stadium or tradition of a club like Real Madrid.

I'll give Mourinho credit where it's due...despite all the money that Abramovich pumped into the club, their recent run of results seems to underscore the role Mourinho had in their success. And it probably isn't a coincidence that their slide began last year when Abramovich, to the apparent objection of his manager, made the "galactico"-style signings of Ballack and Shevchenko, and the relationship between owner and manager began to deteriorate when Mourinho didn't play the team Abramovich wanted him to.

Let's face it, Chelsea have no tradition, no mystique associated with the club itself. I believe that Mourinho was the main factor behind Stamford Bridge becoming an intimidating ground to visit. It seems now that opposing sides are no longer intimidated by Chelsea now that the "Special One" has been replaced by Abramovich's yes-man Avram Grant. I must say, though, that it's sad when they are playing at home in the Champions' League in a half-full stadium. If Chelsea supporters really want their club to be held in the same esteem as us, United, Arsenal and the big guns on the continent, they at least need to fill the stadium on European nights.

Chelsea supporters had better hope, for their club's sake, that Roman doesn't grow frustrated and decide to focus his energies on a new toy. Their current level of spending is simply unsustainable without Roman's billions propping them up. Of course, if Roman develops some common sense, brings in another top-class manager and lets him build the side he wants, they'll be back in contention eventually...but for now, let's all laugh at Chelsea

[AFII]

No quick fix in sight for Avram Grant's plight
By Alan Hansen

It is perfectly possible to follow a charismatic manager with an internal appointee who is comparatively shy and little-known outside the club. When Bill Shankly retired, Liverpool replaced him with Bob Paisley and enjoyed the greatest success in their history.

You would bet against Avram Grant leading Chelsea to three European Cups. Paisley succeeded because he already knew the team, because the dressing room at Anfield, which was already full of phenomenal players, was united and because Shankly was not sacked. Crucially, Liverpool's supporters backed Paisley in a way that Chelsea's have not backed Grant.

There is intense speculation that things are not right in the dressing room at Stamford Bridge and that some players are unhappy with Grant as manager. A football dressing room can be the best place in the world because of the camaraderie, the team spirit and the shared experiences but it can also be one of the worst places in the world because, if things are not going well, resentment festers very quickly.

Whether it is Liverpool, Chelsea or Leyton Orient, footballers tend to be fickle people who look for any excuse to justify their own performances. Although Grant was portrayed as an internal appointment, you have to wonder how well he knew Chelsea's players in his role as director of football.

If you are a clever manager — and Jose Mourinho is a supremely intelligent man — you are not going to let a director of football anywhere near your players. The only voice you want them to hear is your own.

Where do Chelsea go from here? Well, tomorrow they fly to Valencia and, looking at the way they played defensively against Fulham on Saturday, the confidence has ebbed out of them completely.

Their situation is not disastrous because with the players they have, a manager who commands the support of a united dressing room could still win the championship. Their position is recoverable but you cannot see where that resurgence will come from or what might spark it off. Chelsea can only survive by sticking together but right now Stamford Bridge does not seem like a haven of togetherness.

In the short term, it is not going to get better. One, Chelsea are not playing with self-belief. Two, they appear not to have any confidence in their own manager. Three, they have some very big-name players out. It is a horrific combination that would be guaranteed to make any football club seize up.

The only way the situation can be turned around is by results, but Chelsea have gone a month without victory, they have lost their captain, John Terry, and have just seen their main source of goals, Didier Drogba, sent off.

Outside the club, people are looking on in astonishment. It is the kind of turnaround that deserves to be made into a movie, and I doubt very much if there will be any happy ending. Unity is the only option for them. Terry is the kind of man who might inspire the kind of backs-against-the-wall, us-against-the-world mentality that Chelsea desperately require. He has apparently already made one big dressing-room speech about the need to stick together and to lose him now with a fractured cheekbone is a blow delivered at the worst possible time.

The concept of togetherness extends to the stands. Roman Abramovich may be responsible for the short-term mess that Chelsea find themselves in. He has ignored the basic principle that the moment the owner tries to interfere in the dressing room, the club becomes unmanageable.

But for the fans to turn on him and boo him as they did at Stamford Bridge on Saturday is utter folly. There are a lot of new Chelsea supporters, those who became attracted to the club only when it became fashionable, and they should remember that Chelsea's history stretches back more than four years.

Outside the club, there are many who have always hated the money that surrounds Stamford Bridge and who would argue it is not a proper football club, like an Arsenal or a Liverpool. They will be relishing these times.

Those tempted to boo the players or howl at Abramovich should ask themselves where their club was before he arrived and began shovelling the money in. They have won five trophies in four years under Abramovich.

In their entire history before his arrival, Chelsea had only ever won eight pieces of silverware. If he goes, there will be nothing left and but for him the great adventure under Mourinho would never have taken place.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mai.../sfnhan101.xml

[tsb]

Racist Chelsea fans? Well I never....

Racist abuse of Grant must stop warn Chelsea


Chairman Buck reveals anti-semitic fan mail
Clarke to quit as assistant as turmoil continues

David Hytner
Monday October 1, 2007
The Guardian


The Chelsea chairman, Bruce Buck, has attacked a minority element of the club's support for anti-semitic abuse of the new manager, Avram Grant.
The Israeli's appointment after Jose Mourinho's departure from Stamford Bridge has provoked strong feeling but Buck said some of the comment which the club had received crossed the boundaries of acceptability.

"We welcome all constructive points of view," Buck wrote in Saturday's match programme for the visit of Fulham. "But there have been a few which could be viewed as racist and anti-semitic and that must stop immediately. This is one thing we will not tolerate whether in written correspondence, on the chat pages, on posters or banners or through singing and chanting. And it unfairly smears the reputation of the vast majority of Chelsea fans who rightly do not want to be associated with such activity."

Grant, the former Israel coach, who arrived at Chelsea over the summer as director of football, will not allow any slurs to deflect him from his purpose. He faces a huge test on Wednesday night in the Champions League at Valencia and already, after only three games, the problems are mounting.

He lost his first match 2-0 at Manchester United and although his team won 4-0 at Hull City in the Carling Cup, Saturday's 0-0 draw against Fulham extended an alarming sequence. Chelsea have gone four Premier League matches without a goal, have made their worst start in seven years - the season when Gianluca Vialli was sacked in September - and are seven points behind the leaders, Arsenal.

There is dissent, too, from within the ranks. Grant's appointment has not been met with universal approval from the players, many of whom do not respect his achievements or enjoy his training, and Steve Clarke, the assistant manager, is poised to quit.

Clarke, who was Mourinho's right-hand man, was upset by the manner of the Portuguese's departure. He has been considering his position and, mindful that Grant intends to bring in his own backroom staff during the international break, which begins next week, is ready to call time on his lengthy association with the club after Sunday's trip to Bolton. Clarke and Grant appeared to be working at cross purposes during the Fulham game.

Grant needs time and suggested the problems within the team, particularly in front of goal, had set in under Mourinho. "I would be worried if the problems started last week but if you remember before, against Rosenborg [in the Champions League], Blackburn and Aston Villa [in the Premier League], we didn't even create many chances," he said.

"I'm happy that we're at least creating more chances than in those games. It was a problem that was here before but I see that the players want to be positive. We have some problems but it's part of team life. We need to fix it.

"It's a long time until January, I will be with the players a lot more and I will get to know them better. In January, we will decide [about transfer activity]. If there are no injuries in the squad, I'm happy with it. I like the players' attitude."

Grant was publicly backed by the captain, John Terry. "The most important thing is that everyone - the fans, the players and the staff - give him their full support," he said. "As players, we will."

[Pacman]

I must admit watching sky over the weekend and seeing how those Chav ****s are now turning on their club and their sugar daddy made me laugh out loud. I can't stand those arrogant, ****, clueless fans who now think they are some world super power. The fact remains they are a small club with **** fans and now it is all blowing up in their ****y faces. What comes around goes around you chav pricks....aint life a bitch.