EskWeston

Honestly a loan in the Premier League is long overdue for Ruben, he needs to get out there playing games every week to move on with his development.

Love this show so much. Every season has a different feel to it which keeps it going. Last season was hard to watch at some points but it was a very good season. I watched these series back to back so they all sort of bleed into one for me but I loved when they were in the prison dealing with the Govenor. It is real quality television

The only time you can judge the board and what they have done at the very least is when the transfer window is closed. These days more than ever the transfer speculation is a mixture of actual news, reporters drawing attention to themselves and clubs and players using the media for their own agenda. For all we now we have a number of deals tied up and are waiting for any number of reasons to announce them. Personally I will decide on the boards abaility this summer once everything is done on the transfers.

As always this is a multi level question. Yes it is true that young players have a very difficult route into our first team. But that is true for pretty much every team. We have a high level of expectation because our academy is talked about a lot and it is very successful but the fact is the route is hard. There is no real competitive bridge from U18's to first team. If you look at the article on the CFC website from Neil Bath at the moment he is saying exactly this and more players will start going out on loan to get professional football experience at a younger age. Our academy is always evolving and learning from past experiences and they should be applauded for that. Bath stated that a player needs to have played at least 200 first team games "somewhere" before they can really be expected to make it in Chelsea's first team. Tammy Abraham would be the example of this new process in action he is only 19 years old and he has spent a season on loan in the Championship and is now getting a loan in the Premier League. 2 Successful years of Premier League loans and he could be ready for the first team. This is the type of route you are going to see our young players take in the future and they are still going to need to be exceptional to make that route and compete at the highest level. We will see our most loans out to Premier League clubs this year and that is a good thing. We will also see more of us selling off young players with buy back options. The thing is players like Ake and Chalobah are good enough and want to be playing first team Premier League football, have had plenty of loans already and naturally aree not ready for a regular first team starting space. We may find that this option is a cheaper option of letter our young players we have developed go out and learn for real and come back if they make the grade. Basically what I am saying is this is far from a straight forward process and we are seeing Chelsea evolve their way of allowing our players to develop. It is sad to see Chalobah and Ake depart but if they now progress quickly with their experience we can benefit from that down the line and they would not develop in the same way with us and limited game time.

When Chelsea signed up to the NextGen series they signed up for 2 years. So next year Chelsea will compete in BOTH the NextGen Series and the UEFA U19's CL. The UEFA version is only for the team qualified for the CL. 2 very different competitions and at youth level things are very different, just looking at the Semi Finals of the NextGen highlights that with both Sporting Lisbon and Aston Villa in the Semi's neither of whom will be in the CL. However it is only good for us to be playing both as it is more game time for the players and against quality opposition. Still not a solution to the bigger problem of the players above the age of 19 who are yet to break into the first team.

I like varying my reading with Fiction and non-fiction - currently going a bit deeper with my current book "The Battle For God" by Karen Armstrong - a book on the history of Fundamentalism in religion, had the book the over a year but seems a good time to sit down and read it now.....

Never read up on the theories usually, but might have to take a look..... That theory has become more and more likely as the books have gone along. So many hints at it. Seriously going to have to re-read the series very soon

Damn, and there was me thinking that i was the only one thinking along those lines....

Absolutely, has far too high an opinion of herself and what she is able to do. Just seeing the person she has raised Joffrey to be shows that she looks at the "game" all wrong.

Agree with that, the Starks in general have lost a lot their essence in the TV show..... One of my favorite characters in the book is Varys, such an intriguing character and always full of surpises. In the TV show Tyrion pretty much steals the show everytime...

Oh yes indeed i did been keeping up on the news for months. Initial trailer looks very impressive but it is going to be hard to get across a truly faithful adaptation and they have admitted as much. Love seeing my favorite books and book series turned into film and TV. Just waiting now for the adaptation of Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series which has been talked about for ages now.....

Got the first book of that on my shelf to read at some point..... Currently reading "Earth Unaware" the first book in the first formic war trilogy from the "Enders Game" series of books...

Not at all, and you definitely should read the books.

You have to think that United were either turned down by Jose or they have really taken this high minded attitude to the appointment of "our managers have to be blah blah blah blah....." Just like the guff that comes out of Arsenal (we don't win trophies but what a well run club we are) or Liverpool (look at our history, ignore all the negative stuff we are still the best team in the world)... At the end of the day its all about winning. I will be doing cartwheels if Jose is confirmed at Chelsea manager and i am pleased that Man United have taken Moyes on because it puts them in a vastly weaker position next season.

I guess with regards to Rooney the question has to be, would you be happy with him being our big name striker signing this summer? Would he be the type of striker we need to take us up a level? Pointless talking about him in any other position, the number 10 role Mata and Oscar are better and he is not going to play any deeper.