The Board

[mccg 1,528]

Marina Granovskaia angry at ‘disrespectful’ treatment of Chelsea, transfer ‘doomed from the start’

http://sportwitness.co.uk/marina-granovskaia-angry-disrespectful-treatment-chelsea-transfer-doomed-start/

[Vesper 27,284]

 

 

[Fernando 6,375]

Don't know where to put this, but thought this was interesting:

English youth products outstripping Bundesliga, says Dortmund’s Zorc

• ‘It seems they overtook us’ says Borussia Dortmund chief
• Jadon Sancho’s success broadening English players’ horizons

 

Borussia Dortmund’s sporting director, Michael Zorc, has admitted English clubs have overtaken their German counterparts in terms of the quality of young players being produced in the academy system.

The former Manchester City forward Jadon Sancho has enjoyed an outstanding breakthrough season in Germany to help Dortmund establish a seven-point lead at the top the Bundelisga, with the 18-year-old’s decision to seek first-team action overseas paying dividends for both parties. Arsenal’s Emile Smith-Rowe became the latest English teenager to sign for a German side when he joined RB Leipzig on loan last month and Zorc believes that Premier League academies are leading the way in terms of producing quality young players.

“Let’s go back say five or 10 years … there was a time that English clubs signed German players,” he said. “There was a lot of discussion here: ‘It’s all about money you know, it’s too early for them to go from Germany to England.’ But, in the meantime we have the feeling that, yes, the education and development of youth players in the English academies is quite good, to be honest. The teams don’t only spend much money on transfers or salaries but also on infrastructure. When you see these youth academies – for example Man City – you can’t compare it with the German standard. It’s much higher, much higher.”

 

Zorc added: “It seems to me that it’s something like a business model for them because even if they don’t succeed in their own teams they sell them for higher prices. I just read a figure of Man City – I think they’ve sold young players for more than 150 million within the last three or five years. You can recognise it also in results. You know the English teams are reaching under-17, under-19 [finals] compared to the German ones. It seems to me that they overtook us.”

Sancho will come face to face with another Arsenal loanee in the form of Hoffenheim’s Reiss Nelson on Saturday in the Bundesliga, before he returns to London to face Tottenham in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday. Yet Sancho, who opted against signing a lucrative deal at City in 2017 to pursue his career abroad instead, has warned that it is no guarantee of prospering.

“I feel like young players are looking to go away now, because they are seeing my success, but it’s not easy,” he said. “People think that because I am doing so well, but everyone’s journey is different.”

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/feb/07/bundesliga-michael-zorc-borussia-dortmund-jadon-sancho

 

Seems like other leagues are noticing, and it seems like it's time we also take it serious and start trusting in some of our younger players. Quality indeed has improve from the days of Bruma, Van Anholt, Manciene, etc etc. 

[Tautvix 1,321]

Let's see what board does now. Sarri absolutely embarrassed our football club. If he is not fired after today's game then the board has to be questioned too.. We still can get into top 4 but definitely not with Sarri. Give it to Zola until the end of the season.

[Milan 17,835]

The thing is Abramovic is not even allowed in the country proper circus.

[Laylabelle 9,292]

Wtf has happened to us this season. Roman out the country.. No 4-0 losses in 20 years now we've done it twice! 

Gone from 4th to possibly 6th if they get another. Can't pass! 

[Vesper 27,284]

The team needs to be sold. Roman will never sack the board. We have, quite literally, the worst board of any top 25 team in football. They will will not be sacked under the current ownership, so again, the club has to be sold.

There is a very good chance two things will happen soon. Number one, numbers of players on loan allowed will be lowered to six or eight, yet we keep ADDING to loan army, not selling, so will get caught in market flood. Number two, we will get a probable 2 year transfer ban, yet the board has done very little to bring in the large numbers of new players we desperately need, and almost no true sales of deadwood.

Those two things alone are sackable, but now I put the final death nails in the coffin.

Renewing Alonso.

Buying Drinkwater. 

 

SACK THE FUCKING BOARD OR SELL THE CLUB.

 

[OneMoSalah 8,611]

Been thinking a lot the past few seasons about this so, lets be honest. This clubs downfall is a byproduct that has been because of its success. Complacency has kicked in all across the club because weve won a lot in the years Romans been here by doing things a certain way. Everyone is partially responsible. Players, managers and the board.

In recent years the players and managers seem to drop off every 2 seasons and theres no long term vision or real method of maintaining that success while the club actually progresses. Its too easy to change the manager, spend another 200m and think only in the short term or in the next project. This is how weve achieved almost all our successes since 2012. Its at a tipping point for me now because weve almost exhausted every avenue in terms of hiring the top top managers like the Joses, Carlos, Contes. We need to look long term in a way, to look to utilise the academy players more and develop an identity. Winning trophies is great yes but the cycle this club seems to go through is win big trophies for a year or two and then at least 3 or 4 years going through huge ups and downs as well as many changes. There really cant be any other obvious explination for it other than complacency. When I look at the Barcelonas, Man Uniteds, Bayerns, Juventus' of past and present, I can sense that mindset of long term planning but its there along without losing that short term ambition. Yes we can hire Manager X, rejuvenate the squad for 6-18 months and then repeat that another year later. It will come to a point where its no longer sustainable, or perhaps it already has. 

The sort of planning and long term vision those clubs have has led to them all having hugely sustained periods of success in the last 20 years. Weve had a lot of success too yes but in the last 8 years or so weve had a lot of ups and downs. A lot down of it is down to poor planning and complacency. The top class managers now probably dont see Chelsea as being as attractive an option as they did 15 years ago because the demand is huge but theres little patience or vision.

[Superblue 6,331]

On 11/02/2019 at 10:43 PM, OneMoSalah said:

Been thinking a lot the past few seasons about this so, lets be honest. This clubs downfall is a byproduct that has been because of its success. Complacency has kicked in all across the club because weve won a lot in the years Romans been here by doing things a certain way. Everyone is partially responsible. Players, managers and the board.

In recent years the players and managers seem to drop off every 2 seasons and theres no long term vision or real method of maintaining that success while the club actually progresses. Its too easy to change the manager, spend another 200m and think only in the short term or in the next project. This is how weve achieved almost all our successes since 2012. Its at a tipping point for me now because weve almost exhausted every avenue in terms of hiring the top top managers like the Joses, Carlos, Contes. We need to look long term in a way, to look to utilise the academy players more and develop an identity. Winning trophies is great yes but the cycle this club seems to go through is win big trophies for a year or two and then at least 3 or 4 years going through huge ups and downs as well as many changes. There really cant be any other obvious explination for it other than complacency. When I look at the Barcelonas, Man Uniteds, Bayerns, Juventus' of past and present, I can sense that mindset of long term planning but its there along without losing that short term ambition. Yes we can hire Manager X, rejuvenate the squad for 6-18 months and then repeat that another year later. It will come to a point where its no longer sustainable, or perhaps it already has. 

The sort of planning and long term vision those clubs have has led to them all having hugely sustained periods of success in the last 20 years. Weve had a lot of success too yes but in the last 8 years or so weve had a lot of ups and downs. A lot down of it is down to poor planning and complacency. The top class managers now probably dont see Chelsea as being as attractive an option as they did 15 years ago because the demand is huge but theres little patience or vision.

I would actually take this a step further and question that this may well be the end of the clubs cycle. It happens to every club that has a high and sustained level of success - Leeds in the 70's, Liverpool in the 80's, United in the 90's, Arsenal in the early 00's, us in the late 00's and early 10's and now looking to be City's turn.

It's easy to put blame on the board and they are by no means blameless, there have been big mistakes made. However I don't think it's highlighted enough just how great our team was in that period. 

Cech in his prime was a top 5 keeper in the world.

Terry in his prime had a genuine argument for best centre back in the world and likely the best leader and captain around.

Carvalho wasn't far behind Terry and was at a world class level.

Ashley Cole in his prime was the best left back in the world.

Makelele even in his 30's was the best holding midfielder in the world.

Essien would have gone down as one of the greatest Chelsea and Premier League midfielders if he didn't get ruined by injury but before that had a phenomenal and dominant couple of seasons.

Ballack, although perhaps no longer in his prime had the dominant, arrogant presence in that midfield.

Lampard, at the very least stats wise, was the best goal scoring midfielder of his generation (possibly ever) and for me the greatest Chelsea player of all time.

Drogba in his prime was the best striker of his type in the world

We had all of the above AT THE SAME TIME. Add on top of this players such as Gudjohnsen, Anelka, Robben, Duff, Malouda, Joe Cole, Gallas, etc who were all very good players and all made significant impacts to add to the above.

To start this whole process we also had a manager at the peak of his powers, who will go down as one of the greatest of all time.

Replacing all of these players sufficiently is next to impossible no matter what board you have and how much money you throw at the problem.

If we were all doing a greatest ever XI for Chelsea, most if not all of us would have 4-5 of the above players minimum in that team. The same as Liverpool would have the likes of Hansen, Souness, Rush and Dalglish; United would have Schmeichel, Keane, Scholes, Cantona, etc; Arsenal would have Vieira, Pires, Henry and Bergkamp; and City will likely have Aguero, De Bruyne, Silva, etc.

Liverpool haven't won the league since their cycle, United and Arsenal the same. All under extended periods of time.

I actually think we've done pretty well to keep the success going and a couple of title wins at the back end of ours.

I have no doubts we'll come back again, but I think people also need to be realistic where we're at currently perhaps compared to someone like City. 

I can understand some having extremely short patience with the situation, a fair few on these forums have only ever seen the success. I still remember the early and mid 90's sides and my dad (and older members of the forum) remember the late 70's and 80's which was far worse. I have mates who are Liverpool fans who were too young to see their last title win. I also know Leeds supporters who were there in the 70's and look what they are going through now.

We should all strive for better and demand more, like every football fan of any club but sometimes you have to stop and simply appreciate that you've witnessed greatness and are lucky it's happened in our lifetime.

[NikkiCFC 7,567]

Chelsea chief Marina Granovskaia being questioned over decision to appoint Maurizio Sarri

 

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/02/17/chelsea-chief-marina-granovskaia-questioned-decision-appoint-maurizio-sarri-8648046/?ito=cbshare

This is ridiculous staff from journalists... I'm sure Marina didn't even knew who Sarri is or there's a football club in Naples. 

She's just doing what's been told to her. She probably doesn't know football rules or cares about it tbh... She just makes deals...

 

[Blue Armour 4,158]

51 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Chelsea chief Marina Granovskaia being questioned over decision to appoint Maurizio Sarri

 

Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2019/02/17/chelsea-chief-marina-granovskaia-questioned-decision-appoint-maurizio-sarri-8648046/?ito=cbshare

This is ridiculous staff from journalists... I'm sure Marina didn't even know who Sarri is or there's a football club in Naples. 

She just doing what's been told to her. She probably doesn't know football rules or cares about it tbh... She just makes deals...

 

This is right up there with the BS they used to come up with for Emenalo.

The media is just excited by all the flames surrounding the club...they really don't have a clue about what's going on.

[mccg 1,528]

'Marina out!': Chelsea fans turn on 'most powerful woman in football' Granovskaia amid poor form

https://www.rt.com/sport/452008-marina-granovskaia-sarri-chealsea-abramovich/

[Vesper 27,284]

2 hours ago, mccg said:

'Marina out!': Chelsea fans turn on 'most powerful woman in football' Granovskaia amid poor form

https://www.rt.com/sport/452008-marina-granovskaia-sarri-chealsea-abramovich/

Only way she is sacked is when the club is sold

[the wes 7,212]

On 20/02/2019 at 9:21 PM, Vesper said:

Only way she is sacked is when the club is sold

I agree vesper The only way we can get rid off Marina under Roman power is sing Marina out chants at games then Roman will act  she has left this club in a mess big deal she got a big sponsor deal with Nike if Peter Kenyon was in charge he would have got use a bigger deal than her with Nike 

[communicate 2,703]

On 2/18/2019 at 5:37 AM, Superblue_1986 said:

I would actually take this a step further and question that this may well be the end of the clubs cycle. It happens to every club that has a high and sustained level of success - Leeds in the 70's, Liverpool in the 80's, United in the 90's, Arsenal in the early 00's, us in the late 00's and early 10's and now looking to be City's turn.

It's easy to put blame on the board and they are by no means blameless, there have been big mistakes made. However I don't think it's highlighted enough just how great our team was in that period. 

Cech in his prime was a top 5 keeper in the world.

Terry in his prime had a genuine argument for best centre back in the world and likely the best leader and captain around.

Carvalho wasn't far behind Terry and was at a world class level.

Ashley Cole in his prime was the best left back in the world.

Makelele even in his 30's was the best holding midfielder in the world.

Essien would have gone down as one of the greatest Chelsea and Premier League midfielders if he didn't get ruined by injury but before that had a phenomenal and dominant couple of seasons.

Ballack, although perhaps no longer in his prime had the dominant, arrogant presence in that midfield.

Lampard, at the very least stats wise, was the best goal scoring midfielder of his generation (possibly ever) and for me the greatest Chelsea player of all time.

Drogba in his prime was the best striker of his type in the world

We had all of the above AT THE SAME TIME. Add on top of this players such as Gudjohnsen, Anelka, Robben, Duff, Malouda, Joe Cole, Gallas, etc who were all very good players and all made significant impacts to add to the above.

To start this whole process we also had a manager at the peak of his powers, who will go down as one of the greatest of all time.

Replacing all of these players sufficiently is next to impossible no matter what board you have and how much money you throw at the problem.

If we were all doing a greatest ever XI for Chelsea, most if not all of us would have 4-5 of the above players minimum in that team. The same as Liverpool would have the likes of Hansen, Souness, Rush and Dalglish; United would have Schmeichel, Keane, Scholes, Cantona, etc; Arsenal would have Vieira, Pires, Henry and Bergkamp; and City will likely have Aguero, De Bruyne, Silva, etc.

Liverpool haven't won the league since their cycle, United and Arsenal the same. All under extended periods of time.

I actually think we've done pretty well to keep the success going and a couple of title wins at the back end of ours.

I have no doubts we'll come back again, but I think people also need to be realistic where we're at currently perhaps compared to someone like City. 

I can understand some having extremely short patience with the situation, a fair few on these forums have only ever seen the success. I still remember the early and mid 90's sides and my dad (and older members of the forum) remember the late 70's and 80's which was far worse. I have mates who are Liverpool fans who were too young to see their last title win. I also know Leeds supporters who were there in the 70's and look what they are going through now.

We should all strive for better and demand more, like every football fan of any club but sometimes you have to stop and simply appreciate that you've witnessed greatness and are lucky it's happened in our lifetime.

This.  That era was impossible to replicate unless Abramovich suddenly decide it is time open my purse and keep sending big money every season. 

Believe me or not. The board has done well preparing us for the new era. They have signed young tons of talented player kdb, Lukaku, courtois hazard, mata, Christensen, etc. They knew they can't just keep spending big every season. 

We were struggling but hey Chelsea fans want instant success. So we hire Mourinho. A sure fire manager. Lukaku, kdb, mata gone. We won two epl. But now we are back to square one with fans complaining that the board is stupid. 

[Antonio8 736]

in the next summer things must be fixed

Cahill, luiz, zappacosta, caballero, drinkwater, kovacic, hazard, giroud, willian need to go

Zouma, Koulibaly, Karsldrop, Rakitic, douglas costa, pulisic, bats + some youth (CHO included)

[Johnnyeye 7,405]

On 2/18/2019 at 5:37 AM, Superblue_1986 said:

I would actually take this a step further and question that this may well be the end of the clubs cycle. It happens to every club that has a high and sustained level of success - Leeds in the 70's, Liverpool in the 80's, United in the 90's, Arsenal in the early 00's, us in the late 00's and early 10's and now looking to be City's turn.

It's easy to put blame on the board and they are by no means blameless, there have been big mistakes made. However I don't think it's highlighted enough just how great our team was in that period. 

Cech in his prime was a top 5 keeper in the world.

Terry in his prime had a genuine argument for best centre back in the world and likely the best leader and captain around.

Carvalho wasn't far behind Terry and was at a world class level.

Ashley Cole in his prime was the best left back in the world.

Makelele even in his 30's was the best holding midfielder in the world.

Essien would have gone down as one of the greatest Chelsea and Premier League midfielders if he didn't get ruined by injury but before that had a phenomenal and dominant couple of seasons.

Ballack, although perhaps no longer in his prime had the dominant, arrogant presence in that midfield.

Lampard, at the very least stats wise, was the best goal scoring midfielder of his generation (possibly ever) and for me the greatest Chelsea player of all time.

Drogba in his prime was the best striker of his type in the world

We had all of the above AT THE SAME TIME. Add on top of this players such as Gudjohnsen, Anelka, Robben, Duff, Malouda, Joe Cole, Gallas, etc who were all very good players and all made significant impacts to add to the above.

To start this whole process we also had a manager at the peak of his powers, who will go down as one of the greatest of all time.

Replacing all of these players sufficiently is next to impossible no matter what board you have and how much money you throw at the problem.

If we were all doing a greatest ever XI for Chelsea, most if not all of us would have 4-5 of the above players minimum in that team. The same as Liverpool would have the likes of Hansen, Souness, Rush and Dalglish; United would have Schmeichel, Keane, Scholes, Cantona, etc; Arsenal would have Vieira, Pires, Henry and Bergkamp; and City will likely have Aguero, De Bruyne, Silva, etc.

Liverpool haven't won the league since their cycle, United and Arsenal the same. All under extended periods of time.

I actually think we've done pretty well to keep the success going and a couple of title wins at the back end of ours.

I have no doubts we'll come back again, but I think people also need to be realistic where we're at currently perhaps compared to someone like City. 

I can understand some having extremely short patience with the situation, a fair few on these forums have only ever seen the success. I still remember the early and mid 90's sides and my dad (and older members of the forum) remember the late 70's and 80's which was far worse. I have mates who are Liverpool fans who were too young to see their last title win. I also know Leeds supporters who were there in the 70's and look what they are going through now.

We should all strive for better and demand more, like every football fan of any club but sometimes you have to stop and simply appreciate that you've witnessed greatness and are lucky it's happened in our lifetime.

🔝

[Vesper 27,284]

Truly have to laugh at people who call critics of Roman and his puppet SIBNEFT board 'plastic' fans.

We had zero to do with multiyear rule breaking over underage players that now will earn us a 2 window ban on transfers (unless overturned, which looks unlikely)

We never put into place a ridiculous loan army that gives instant cover to incredibly poor footballing buys, and when loan limits come into play, will cause us to have to sell off damn near 40 players at market-saturated sell prices, as we have not bee future-forward thinking winding the scheme down.

We have been calling for well over year for a proper DoF, whilst Roman keeps in place his inept puppet Marina, who has compounded problems by renewing absolute dregs like Alonso and getting led around like a dog on a leash by numerous clubs we attempt to buy players from (hello Italy!).

We never refused to back truly WC managers like Conte and Ancelotti.

We didn't make our wealth off the corrupt privatisation of Russian state assets for pennies on the pound, turning us instantly into oligarchs and then backing a dictatorial tyrant, thus,down the road, (and plainly predictable for anyone with a comprehensive love term view of global power politics) putting the club into a perilous position as the anti-Putin geo-political theatre inevitably plays itself out. That shit was a GIVEN it would bow up someday, and well, now the chickens are coming home to roost.

But what do we know, we are just plastic fans.