With the party season, coming to an end on New Year’s Eve, the one question everyone wakes up with on New Years’ Day as they scramble to get their newspaper and hurriedly turn to the sports page is, ‘Who will my club sign in the January Transfer window?’ If you are a Chelsea fan, chances are you have a goofy smile on your face as you read Chelsea’s announcement that will be willing to splurge as much as £40 million to spruce up their attack in January Transfer window. Chelsea who are precariously perched on top of the table midway through the season are desperate to shore up their attacking line up as they will be without the services of their African players Michael Essien, Solomon Kalou, and most importantly Didier Drogba who is in devastating form. He has scored 14 goals in his 18 outings for Chelsea. Drogba’s influence will be missed both on and off the pitch while he competes for the Ivory Coast in Angola, and it was the forward who had addressed the huddle at the final whistle on Monday.
“Drogba is not only a very good player, he’s a very good man,” Anceloti added. “Of course, we’ll miss something with him away. He scores goals for us, and he’s also a strong personality. We will have to do more than our best to make up for his absence.”
The Daily Express reported, that Chelsea were set to try and bring Valencia super-striker David Villa to Stamford Bridge. However, the talented Spanish striker won’t come cheap. The deal would cost the current league leaders some £40 million, with Villa set to net a whopping £10 million in wages every year, making him the highest paid player in premier league history.
The desperation to sign a world class striker can probably be explained by the suspension of the FIFA-imposed ban on Chelsea to sign any new players by the Court of Arbitration for Sport until a final decision is made in case of the south-west London club inducing Gaël Kakuta to breach his contract from the French club Lens. Chelsea have also been linked to Sergio Aguero and bizarrely to Italian world-cup winning footballer Luca Toni who has recently made a 6-month loan move to Italian club cub AS Roma ending the speculation of him coming to Stamford Bridge.
The thing to ponder however is not ‘Who will Chelsea sign?’ but whether Carlo Ancelotti be running naked as he had rhetorically announced he would if Chelsea were to buy any new players in the January transfer window (did I see you raise your left eyebrow!) or whether Roman Abramovich will buy a player just to see if Ancelotti is a man of his word and whether the Italian manager will be stripped of his managerial duties if Chelsea fail to win. What ever the case, Ancelotti better make sure he’s in good shape.
PS: In case, Chelsea aren’t signing players to protect us from the ghastly sight of a naked Carlo, may be Carlo will be nice enough to delegate to Chelsea’s favourite poster boy, Michael Ballack! (wink, wink)
Carlo Ancelotti sold Gianfranco Zola to Chelsea for £4.5m in 1996 when he was managing the Italian side Parma’s. Gianfranco Zola went on to become a legend at the west-london club being voted as the best ever Chelsea player by the Chelsea fans in 2003. Carlo Ancelotti went on to become one of the world’s best football managers leading his teams to many titles including 2 Champions League titles. Ancelotti still rues the day he sold Zola over tactical disagreement with the player. Ancelotti wanted to play a 4-4-2 system but the impish Zola wanted to play in the centre as a striker. Carlo a Zola fan admits to it being one of the biggest mistakes of his career blaming his managerial inexperience at the time. He is however quick to see the silver-lining; Zola wouldn’t have had the great success that he had with Chelsea had he not sold him.
Today, the two men meet again as Zola’s former club Chelsea being managed by his former Parma manager Carlo Ancelotti go to play West Ham United which Zola currently manages to try and extend their lead and go 6 points clear of Manchester United, who were completely outplayed by Fulham last night, at the top the Premier League Table.Zola must beat the club that made him a legend if West Ham United are to climb out of the relegation spots of the Premier League Table, but may be it would be simpler for him if he thought of it as the team of the man who failed to see his potential so many years ago and sold him, even though that turned out to be the first step to his becoming the success that he became! Claudio Ranieri once famously said of Gianfranco Zola, “Gianfranco tries everything because he is a wizard and the wizard must try” but the fact that West Ham United haven’t won this East London versus West London derby since 2003 doesn’t help. Its not going to be easy, however with or without the history… beating Chelsea rarely is… easy.
The one thing the Champions League promises is great football with the best teams competing for the ultimate prize in Europe. Sometimes it can also promise that extra bit of drama which intriguing fixtures bring with them like 2 fixtures from today’s Champions League draw pitting a former ‘jilted’ manager against his old club, a super-star player returning to play against the club where he became the super-star that he is and a good old-fashioned managerial rivalry.
Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan drew Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea which means the ‘Special One’ will be returning to Stamford Bridge just 2 years after being sacked (oops! I meant after leaving the club ‘by mutual consent’). Jose Mourinho lead Chelsea to two Premier League titles and two Champions League semi-finals and surely will be warmly received by the fans at Stamford Bridge but they will also be all too aware of his strategic genius and wary of his famous mind games.
Carlo Ancelotti who is no stranger to Jose’s ways said “I’m not ready to play mind games. I never will be ready to play these games. I prefer to play football matches. I have experience of what he’ll do.”
The two managers have never really gotten along with Jose Mourinho once famously saying that the former AC Milan manger Carlo Ancelotti was ‘no friend of his’ but Ancelotti is hoping to change that. ”If we don’t have a good relationship, this game can be a good opportunity to return to a good relationship,” said Ancelotti.
Mourinho who was adored by the players and the fans alike was quite unceremoniously sacked by Chelsea after being one of their most successful managers and will definitely be looking to prove a point. Carlo Ancelotti understands this perfectly,”I think that, for him, it will be an emotional game. He did a very good job here in Chelsea so to play against Chelsea won’t be easy for him. He will do his best to win.
“Mourinho did a very good job and maintained a very good relationship with these players. That’s normal. They won things and this will be a reminder of those seasons.”
Ancelotti added “It’s difficult because I think that Inter are, at this moment, the strongest team in Italy. They are at the top of the table. It’s difficult also for them, though, to play against Chelsea.”
Another fixture that stands out from the draw is Manchester United versus AC Milan. This tie will see the return of David Beckham to Old Trafford. David Beckham is now a global superstar but was once one of ‘Fergies Fledglings’. Sir Alex Ferguson runs a tight shift and doesn’t tolerate superstars in his dressing room and his relationship with Beckham started to deteriorate as a result of Beckham’s commitments away from football. The fledgling grew up and spread his wings all the way to Real Madrid and then LA Galaxy This is the first time he will be returning to play where it all started. Also both these sides are footballing giants and have won 10 European Cups among them. The Italians triumphed in the 2007 semi-finals of this competition which was the last time that the two sides faced each other but both teams are quite changed since 2007 and without players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Paolo Maldini.
Let the games begin!
Last 16 draw
Internazionale v Chelsea
Lyon v Real Madrid
Milan v Manchester United
Olympiakos v Bordeaux
FC Porto v Arsenal
CSKA Moscow v Sevilla
Stuttgart v Barcelona
Bayern Munich v Fiorentina
The first-legs ties will be played on 16-17 February and 23-24 with the second-leg ties on 9-10 and 16-17 March.
Once upon a time, on a cold evening in London, Chelsea football club was abuzz with excitement. The fans watched expectantly as the incredibly handsome John Terry lead out his men at Stamford Bridge to play against Everton. Surely, this would be the day that the glorious CFC extened their 2 point lead to go a super 5 points ahead of Manchester United. We were gonna win. Everton fans in the stands not wanting to show fear cheered their team knowing all the while that they would need a miracle to beat Chelsea that evening. The referee (who wasn’t the t*** called Howard Webb) blew his whistle and Chelsea fans started to count the ways they could taunt their insane friends who supported Manchester United.
Alas, Chelsea lads being generous, loving and wonderful couldn’t bear the thought of taking such a clear lead of 5 points. The defense felt it was just not fair to their competition and they decided not to defend any Everton set piece whatsoever. Manchester United deserved some leeway you can’t pit work-horses against thoroughbreds! It was Christmas after all! So we gave away two points and drew 3-3 against Everton.
A good deed however always pay-off. Someone, somewhere was watching the Chelsea lads enchanting, selfless generosity and decided to reward the Blues. Title contenders (don’t you dare call them title defenders!) Manchester United took on Aston Villa in a match which everyone expected them to win to go level on points with Chelsea at the top of the table. But remember, generosity pays…. Aston Villa beat them and in the process ended their horrible record against Manchester United since the 80s! Chelsea on the day of their incredibly selfless deed of dropping 2 points, in total gained 1 point. Sigh, a wonderful heartwarming football Christmas tale for the young and old alike!!
Alright, now Chelsea are 3 points ahead of Manchester United at the top of the Premier League table… don’t blow it! Enough with the Christmas spirit, winning part of the spirit too! We play portsmouth this evening who are at the bottom of the table and c’mon Blues lets keep it that way. Manchester United have already played their game against Wolverhampton, the wimps didn’t show up! The manager Mick McCarthy made 10 changes to the side that defeated Tottenham on Saturday and then watched his team lose 3-0. I am so glad the Premier League have asked for an explanation from him. Speaking of managers, our ex-manager Avram Grant (the guy who replaced Jose) is now the manager of Portsmouth and this is his first match against us since he took over. He managed to take us to the Finals of the Champions League and well, wasn’t very pleased when the club sacked him.
“When I was sacked I was surprised,” said Grant. “I don’t know if I would have stayed had we won [in Moscow]. The chairman [Roman Abramovich] said that it was my fault that John Terry missed the penalty, and it was my fault that we hadn’t started the season so well. He forgot I was not there in the beginning.”
Although his criticisms of Chelsea hierarchy were delivered with a smile, I am sure he is looking for revenge and losing 3 points right now will hurt! Portsmouth, however will be without Kaboul who is serving a one-match ban. Steve Finnan and Kevin-Prince Boateng who both missed their last game due to viruses, could be available to return at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea on the other hand will be without the Drog, who hurt his back in training but Alex comes back and will be replacing Ricardo Carvalho in tonight’s game which if Chelsea just keep their heads looks like an easy 3 points. Cmon Chels. ktbffh.
” Why don’t you let me give you that special feelin
The kind of feelin that’ll make you feel so real and
Ooh why don’t you hit me with that special feel
The kind of feelin that’ll make me feel so real”
Frank Lampard goes completely mental about John Terry at “the Chelsea star on a Stool” event on December 3! This isn’t the best of recordings and I am sure Chelsea will be putting up this entire event on the CFC YouTube channel but I just had to share it NOW!
Frank ♥ JT, JT ♥ Frank and I ♥ ‘em both, but seriously, how can two people be so adorable?
Chelsea won! On a rain-soaked evening in London, Chelsea beat Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and boy, was it fun! It was a very crucial match and I shudder to think that we could have reduced our 5-point lead on United (the Manure sort! ) to a mere 2-points but the mighty Blues didn’t disappoint. I was pretty sure we’d win but that didn’t keep me from biting my nails and looking horrified every time Arsenal had the ball and you have got to admit they had the ball a lot of the time. The first half was scary with the Gunners really having the majority of the ball and playing their free-flowing football which on a normal day (read when they aren’t playing Chelsea/when they aren’t try to win our title) I love to watch.
What stunned me in the first half was the shout for penalty or should I say the ‘non-shout’ from our lads for the penalty. Surely, Anelka was brought down by Bacary Sagna in the box and that certainly was a penalty. I wonder why we didn’t ask for it to be given! I am guessing our brilliant Blueees were just too confident about beating Arsenal (hehe their name really cracks me up… pun intended!). I love that confident air Chelsea have got about them these days, but guys next time, just claim your penalty!
Arsenal remind me of a pretty girl sitting in front of the mirror brushing her hair, while the house is on fire. OK, I know that probably made no sense and I blame it on the excitement of the win, but I am going to try and explain it anyway… Arsenal continue to play their beautiful football even when they know that it probably isn’t working and what they should be doing is getting dirty, closing down (fire-fighting), defending … playing the Italian style. They knew they are going to get killed yet they went on nonchalantly flaunting their beautiful footballing style and losing the game.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, not one bit, and I don’t think Arsenal could have done much today, ‘coz lets face it, they were facing the ‘real’ champions tonight but in the future if they really want to be serious title contenders they need to add steel to their style.
By the end of the first half, I was starting to get a little jittery and every time the crowd booed Ashley, I wanted to beat them up and when John Terry found Ashley Cole with that wonderful pass and Ashley did his bit of magic to pass to the Drog who scored that first goal, I stopped trying to look for the calculator (yes you caught me I need the calculator for calculating all the points and stuff!). I knew we were gonna win and started appropriately singing ‘carefree where ever we may be’. Within 3 minutes, Ashely Cole did his bit of magic again (that should teach ‘em to boo you Ashley!) and the already stunned Arsenal defense didn’t know what had hit them when they saw the ball in the back of their goal yet again. Thomas Vermaelen’s own goal had put us 2 goals ahead.If truth be told, the pass from Ashely was just so good that it was impossible to defend, if Thomas hadn’t gotten his boot to it, Drogba would have; so it really isn’t the Belgian’s fault. For a long time now I have felt, Thomas Vermaelen has been one of the best buys of this EPL season and I think he is incredibly handsome… well.. after today, I think I can safely say he is purrrfect!
When Wenger brought Theo Walcott on I thought, ‘oh boy!’ However, our lads handled the pacy Theo very well. They were phenomenal and in the words of the great Carlo Ancelotti, the defense did a “fantastic job“.
Oh and Drogba is God, his free-kick from 25 yards was a stunner and something I am going to love watching replays of!
Chelsea beat Manchester United and we are now 5 points clear of them at the top (the view from the top is spectacular!). The best bit was that it was our captain fantastic John Terry who scored the all important goal in a very hard fought out game of football. I can’t believe I finally got a prediction so right! Earlier in the day someone asked me who would score for Chelsea and I had said JT! It would have been great if Chelsea had won by loads of goals but credit to Manchester United for playing very well. In fact, I think United played some of their best football of the season last evening, which probably isn’t saying much especially since their form has been no where near what it was during the sparkling win-all Cristiano Ronaldo days. However, of all the clashes with the top 3, the match I enjoy the least is when Chelsea play Manchester United and it’s not because I am scared of Chelsea losing… I mean, c’mon the last time Chelsea lost to Manchester United was in April 2002! Its because no matter how well you play against Manchester United to beat them, you are always blamed for cheating or getting lucky or both. The next days headlines are usually dominated not by the positive play of the team that won but by how poor a deal United or what Sir Alex thinks! I don’t care what Sir Alex has to say! He is the worst loser in the league. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that wanting to win every time is the mark of a champion. It shows your desire, your passion for the game and your commitment to excellence. But there is a difference between wanting to win every time and being a unsporting, blaming, bratty loser. Sir Alex has made being a bad loser something of an art. Whenever his team loses, there is almost always something wrong with the refereeing, or the referee or the weather and when United win, he shares a laugh and jokes with the same referees who have now remarkably become fit and worthy of his smiles and back-slapping!
He is a brilliant manager and one would forgive him a lot but surely he must know that his attitude is adopted by his team. They look up to the gaffer and so when thing aren’t going their way, instead of focusing on their football, they start to focus on being bratty and on trying to influence referee decision like Darren Fletcher did when he waved an imaginary card at referee Martin Atkinson in an attempt to get Carvalho dismissed for a tackle on Rooney.
If Johnny Evans’ ill-tempered tackle on Drogba was not a case of a dangerously high-challenge, I don’t know what is. His studs caught Drogba in the chest full-force leaving the Chelsea striker wincing in pain and he was quite understandably in no position to jog off the field at lightening pace. The referee showed him a yellow for staying on the field, an incomprehensible and inhuman decision. Johnny Evans who deserved a red for the assault got away scot-free.
Sir Alex has pointed out quite a few things wrong with the goal that won Chelsea the game, starting from the free-kick which he felt was unjustly awarded to Chelsea; he feels Drogba was interfering with play from an offside position and also something about the referee not being in the right position. Next, he will be complaining about the colour of the referee’s hair or perhaps the effect Carlo Ancelotti’s raised eyebrow has on Fletcher’s concentration and how the chairs at Stamford are at a strange home-team advantage angle. Stop lying to yourself and cooking up excuses and blaming everything in sight. Admit that you didn’t make the most of the chances you had and the other team did, decisions in football have a weird way of evening themselves out and are never the reason a team wins or loses a game. The bottom line is Manchester United lost and Chelsea who haven’t by the way conceded at Stamford Bridge in 872 minutes, won.
Its finally settled. Chelsea have shelved plans of moving from Stamford Bridge. Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium is a 60,000-seater and Manchester United’s Old Trafford can accommodate 75,000-plus, Liverpool will probably in the future, if ever Hicks and Gillette realise that promises are in fact supposed to be kept, move across Stanley Park to a new home and Tottenham are already boasting of how their new state-of-art-stadium will be better than both Emirates and Stamford Bridge. Despite knowing, that we with our 42,000 capacity stadium really are slipping in the stadium-size league table, I couldn’t be happier that Chelsea aren’t moving. Stamford Bridge is our club’s home. In fact, Chelsea was one of the few clubs which had a ground and the club was formed to fill the ground and football has been played there for over a century. I don’t know of many clubs that can claimto play at the same place where it all started? Its ironic how so many are quick to taunt us for our lack of history!
So I would gladly watch Tottenham bankrupt themselves building their new White Hart Lane and Liverpool slowly and steadily lose that history that they are so proud off in a bid to make more money, so Rafa can spend it on some injured but allegedly superb player!
However, our 42,000 capacity stadium does put us at a disadvantage to our rivals when it comes to financial income from home games. Arsenal earn around £3million per match at the Emirates while Chelsea’s income is, on average, £2.2million.
So Chelsea are considering selling naming rights to Stamford Bridge. Now, before you panic, remember Chelsea aren’t owned by a nutter like Mike Ashley and there is no way that Chelsea would rename the ground in similar fashion as Newcastle United. I still can’t believe that Newcastle United will be playing at sportsdirect.com@St. James’ Park until the end of the season! (Will the game be real or virtual?) Chelsea have said that the name Stamford Bridge will be retained in any deal. Ok, just a scary thought but technically isn’t St. James’ Park also kind of retained in the new Newcastle United stadium name? Well, Roman isn’t Mike Ashley (thank God!) and Ron Gourlay in his first interview since succeeding Peter Kenyon was very reassuring.
He said, “Retaining the heritage of the stadium is paramount to considering such a move but we think that is achievable, and on that basis we would enter into discussions over naming rights with the right partner for Chelsea. We understand that this is a sensitive issue for our fans and that is why we would keep the name Stamford Bridge in any deal.”
Three Barclays Premier League clubs have stadium naming rights partners: Arsenal (Emirates), Bolton Wanderers (Reebok) and Wigan (JJB) and I think as long as we don’t go down the Newcastle United way we’ll do just fine. Selling the naming rights would make up the shortfall and will help keep the club out of losses. It really does seem like a very sensible way to hold on to what is important while still continuing to evolve and grow. ktbffh.
No matter how many underwear ads he steals off of him david Becham has proved Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t know nothing about promotion yet. A painting of Becks’ footprint has sold for half a million dollars! The 21st Century Leadership Awards were held in Doha, Qatar, last Friday. The event included an auction of unique art pieces, one of which was a painting by renowned contemporary artist Sacha Jafri: ‘David Beckham – A Celebration’ . Originally valued at $1.4mn, the painting raked in the lion’s share of the total 1.26 mn raised by the event, the proceeds of which will go to various charitable programmes chosen by the celebrities involved. The painting which is a celebration of the achievements of David Beckham on and off the field is the only painting in the world featuring both his footprint and signature!
Strangely this isn’t the first time Beckham’s footprint has graced Sacha Jafri’s canvas. About three years back Sacha made ‘Celebration’ – a 6ft by 7ft painting which represented different aspects of Beck’s life featuring 12 of his many goals and 4 of his several hairstyles. The Mohican, the hairband , the swept to the side and the slick look all made it in to this incredible painting however his wifeVictoria Beckham didn’t! The painting was bought by a mystery buyer at an auction for £125,000
Besides Beckham’s footprint ‘Celebration’ also included the handprints of Rio Ferdinand, Paul Gascoigne, Paul Merson, Cesc Fabregas, (get ready for this Chelsea fans)… John Terry, Frank Lampard, Rudd Gullit and Gianfranco Zola!
Now thats what I call a peice of art!
Can you guess which ones are the Chelsea lads handprints?
Congratulations to all True Blues out there. Aren’t we having a great year so far? 8 goals in total against Bolton this week, top of the Premier League table and now we have the 5 players on the FIFA World Player Award shortlist. The 23 men (in a completely biased Chelsea first, order) who are in contention for the title of the FIFA World Player2009 are:
Chelsea
John Terry (England), Frank Lampard (England), Michael Ballack (German)
Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire) Michael Essien (Ghana)
Thierry Henry (France), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Carles Puyol (Spain),
Xavi Hernandez (Spain)
Real Madrid
Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Kaká (Brazil)
Liverpool
Fernando Torres (Spain), Steven Gerrard (England)
Juventus
Gianluigi Buffon (Italy), Diego (Brazil)
Inter Milan
Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon)
Sevilla
Luis Fabiano (Brazil)
Bayern Munich
Franck Ribéry (France)
Valencia
David Villa (Spain)
Manchester United
Wayne Rooney (England)
According to me, the FIFA World Player should go to Michael Kojo Essien and its not because he is a Chelsea player but because he is an incredible player. A player whose contribution to Chelsea’s success is often overlooked because of the presence of such superstars in the Chelsea line-up. Essien is a very talented midfielder who creates great chances for the team and is also very strong in defence. The stunner he scored in the Chelsea-Blackburn game is yet another reminder of what a powerful footballer he is, something which is somtimes overlooked by the starry-eyed fans mesmerised by the glamour of Michael Ballack, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, John Terry and Nicholas Anelka. An all-rounder and a handful for any team, Essien is the quintessential talented, hard-working, focused player who is an asset to any team that he plays for. While he might not have won the title of Chelsea’s top pin-up boy, which is proudly held by Michael Ballack, Michael Essien has definitely won the respect of all as Mr. Dependable. He is admired by opposition players and absolutely adored by his Chelsea and Ghana teammates who recognise just how important a part he plays in the team’s success. I know he probably isn’t going to win and everyone senses that this year is finally going to be Lionel Messi’s turn to win it but I think one of these year’s someone is going to have to give Essien this award. Messi is marvelous and it will be great to see him crowned the Best Player in the World but then who knows maybe FIFA will surprise us all.
ktbffh
) to a mere 2-points but the mighty Blues didn’t disappoint. I was pretty sure we’d win but that didn’t keep me from biting my nails and looking horrified every time Arsenal had the ball and you have got to admit they had the ball a lot of the time. The first half was scary with the Gunners really having the majority of the ball and playing their free-flowing football which on a normal day (read when they aren’t playing Chelsea/when they aren’t try to win our title) I love to watch.
Its finally settled. Chelsea have shelved plans of moving from Stamford Bridge. Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium is a 60,000-seater and Manchester United’s Old Trafford can accommodate 75,000-plus, Liverpool will probably in the future, if ever Hicks and Gillette realise that promises are in fact supposed to be kept, move across Stanley Park to a new home and Tottenham are already boasting of how their new state-of-art-stadium will be better than both Emirates and Stamford Bridge. Despite knowing, that we with our 42,000 capacity stadium really are slipping in the stadium-size league table, I couldn’t be happier that Chelsea aren’t moving. Stamford Bridge is our club’s home. In fact, Chelsea was one of the few clubs which had a ground and the club was formed to fill the ground and football has been played there for over a century. I don’t know of many clubs that can claimto play at the same place where it all started? Its ironic how so many are quick to taunt us for our lack of history!
