OhForAGreavsie

To be fair you can put a soft piece of bread through hot butter. 😀

Forgive me for not answering your question directly, although I have answered it indirectly, many times. I've done do in other posts in other threads, in which I've written about my theory regarding transfer decision-making. Just before I give my answer once again let me restate a few things I have also said before:- That Marina handles the financial aspects of our transfer business it is not disputed. What we are disagreeing about is whether she makes the football decision. That is to say, whether she decides if player A,bB, or C is good enough and should be signed. Just because I can't disprove the claim you are making, is no evidence for the truth of that claim. It is for the person making a claim to prove it. Until I see clear evidence that Marina is making football decisions I will not believe it because the very idea is nonsensical in my opinion. For me to believe that, I would have to believe that Roman is a complete idiot and he clearly isn't. My impression, and of course I can't prove this, is that the final decision makers on transfer business are Roman and Arkaidy Abramovich.

^^Kidding couldn't resist. It seems to me we are asked to believe some very silly things at times. Like Callum would leave the club over a shirt number or that Marina makes the football decisions about which players to sign. For what possible reason would Roman reject the footballing advice of his managers, coaches and technical staff preferring to allow a person with zero experience or knowledge to make those decisions instead? The very idea is utterly, utterly stupid. Now, listening to the advice of all those people and then making the decision yourself, that's something I can understand. I understand it because if I had Roman's money I would absolutely 100-percent have tried to buy Chelsea. If I had succeeded I would absolutely 100-percent have made all of the transfer decisions myself. I would have taken lots of advice, watched lots of games anf given people plenty of opportunity to persuade me one way or the other. In the end however, the buck would have stopped with me. People reading that can immediately see the potential for disaster. Putting those decisions in the hand of an amateur is an obvious risk. Once you've made up your mind to take that risk however, why on Earth give it away to someone with even less knowledge of the game than yourself? By all means give away the boring responsibilities. Pay someone else to manage the budget and the compliance with FFP regulations. Have someone tell you what can be afforded and have them negotiate the deals for sure but give away the fun part? No chance. Someone advised the signing of Danny, but it will take incontravertable evidence to convince me that Marina was that person.

Just checking, what does two and two make?

That's because the persons who I believe have the final say on football decisions can't be fired. The same person gets stupid money for someone with a year left on their contract, so they get a pass. Iv'e never seen any evidence that Marina handles anything other than the financial aspect of player recruitment. Until I do, I just can't buy the idea that she selects the targets. That notion makes zero sense to me.

I remember saying at some point during the season before last that unfortunately for Dujon, Reece James was not only the best centre-back in the academy, he was also the best right back. That undoubtedly cost Dujon some starts but it's a different right back he'll have to be in competition with now. The plan when Reece arrived at Wigan last summer was for him to provide back up to their existing RB. It's not unlikely that Dujon is slated for the same role. Unlike Reece however, Duge has not had the benefit of a preseason with his new club and so has not had the opportunity to stake a claim. As such, it's likely he will start the season as a backup up, and will have to hope he can make a good impression when his chance comes. Best of luck to the lad. He's a good footballer. If he gets a run in the side he'll be hard to dislodge.

If Roman was watching Chelsea outclass Salzburg last night then what game were we watching? If outclassing means beating a team because, and only because, you have better players than they do then, yes, we outclassed them. Otherwise there is a lot to be unhappy about.

Some great goals among much keystone coppery. Keppa did very well, good moments from a few others but the play in our own third is shocking. We need at least another month of preseason.

Fantasy football managers: abandon Chelsea defenders. Quick. It's the ease of it that's scary.

Don't care. Didn't even read the text. I just like the gif. 🙂

Was it you who suggested earlier that because our LB is more progressive than our RB, we could get away with playing Barclay on the left of the three? Thought that was a good idea. Be interesting to see if Frank agrees with you too.

Thanks. I'm actually in that shot. Just find the most handsome bloke you can see, then keep looking and sooner or later you'll spot my mug. The weak first attempt when Charlie was in on the keeper was more indicative of his overall display than the calm finish after the ball came back to him.

Thanks. I've made my views known on the 200 song previously. It's a good idea for a song with a great rhythm that, unlike far too many Chelsea songs, sustains really well. I'm afraid I do agree however that it is a racist reference and should not be sung. At least not with that part of the lyric. Sadly it has been sung for years, and I've been unhappy about it for years. If that wasn't the offending song yesterday, what was?

Aaron Jarvis indeed. One of his little cousins was wearing his number 27 Luton shirt. The family told me that he wasn't getting games there and, although I only spoke of his positive attributes to his relatives, I'm afraid I could see why. Great attitude, lots of physicality but not enough else was on show from him to give me confidence that he'll fulfill his ambition and climb back up the pyramid. Was thrilled when I saw the lineup for our team. Absolutely every player I wanted to see started the game. I was especially excited to see Maatsen who I had never watched live before. Sadly neither he, nor any of the others, put in a display that they'll feel pleased with. Anjorin and Brown, despite his goal, were particularly disappointing for me. I have to admit that it is not the first time I've been disappointed by Tino. I hear that he's been doing well in preseason, but not on Saturday. Maybe it was the 3G pitch, or maybe it was the physical challenge posed by the part-timers, but there were only a few moments of quality from our lads.

He isn't going to be afford time over there, so he'll have to hit the ground running once the season starts. Let's hope they give up on him too soon. Just in time for our next active transfer window in fact.

It's clutching at straws I know, but I haven't given up hoping that their move for Pepe will fall through.

What did he car park attendant do? I find it hard to think of any circumstance when I'd do something like that even if the bloke pissed me off. I don't go away, haven't done for years, and never used to outside of London anyway. Even so I was considering going yesterday but didn't. Lads I know decided to go by train because they knew parking was going to be a hassle. I went to Sutton on Saturday to watch the development team instead. Had a nice time with a few Blues, with family members of a kid making his first appearance for Sutton after joining from Luton, and with some regular Sutton fans who were more knowledgeable about their team and could fill us all in on their squad. When the boy from Luton got Sutton's first goal I was genuinely pleased for his aunt and uncle. Very enjoyable day even though our youngsters didn't play well. Did you hear the chant that media were asking Frank about after the Reading game? Was it the scored 200 one?

Agreed.

lol

Someone may have to take pity on me and patiently explain what it is I fail to understand about buy back clauses because stories like this just cause me to doubt the knowledge and/or the integrity of the journalist concerned. I know they like to imagine that they could run a football business better than the people who actually do it, but surely there must be times when reality breaks through their fantasy? All things being equal, would a selling club like to include a buy back clause in a sale agreement? Of course, it's good for them. If that's not possible, would a selling club like to include a sell on clause? Of course, it's good for them. This being so, when such clauses are not included in sales agreements is this likely to be because: - a. The negotiators have never heard of such things. If they had they'd be too busy being journalists, and wouldn't have time to earn seven figure salaries running a multi billion pound business. b. The negotiators were too busy doing their how to tie my own shoelaces homework and so weren't able to look into it. c. There was in fact a perfectly sensible reason for it. As ever with multi choice tests, one of those answers is right and the others are wrong. If there are any journalists sitting near you, don't let them copy your work. Contracts are subject to negotiation. If the player moving on is positive about the club, if he'd be happy to come back one day, then fine; the club has the leverage to get a buyback clause into the agreement. The player may not feel like that however. If he does not want to accept that option, then how is the club going make him do so? Why would they even want to resign a player who is adamant he doesn't want to play for them? Much more likely to seek to include a sell on fee but that takes leverage too. Leverage and judgement. Judgement because clauses are likely to cost some up front cash since buying clubs seek to negotiate a discount if they are included. In that sense, they are a bet by the selling club; take the bigger fee now, or roll the dice? If only there was always a journalist around to ask. I'm being harsh on journos of course. They know all of this as well as we do and probably better. It's just that they have an incentive to use the excuse for writing a story.

I suppose he could praise the Real presentation without drawing the comparison with Chelsea but, honestly, I'm not fussed. Maybe he was asked a leading question, maybe he wasn't but either way he spoke the truth. I really don't care what he says or does and would be perfectly happy if this comment of mine turned out to be the last one ever posted in this thread.

Best of luck to Josh. Hope he picks up a contract at Wednesday, or a good level club somewhere. Meanwhile I'm delighted that his little brother George signed a new contract this summer because I feared he might leave. I don't mean it as a slight to Josh, but I think George has more talent and works harder too. I was happy when Maurizio put him on the bench against Vidi, but very disappointed he didn't get on, even after the result was safe. Operating as a deep playmaker, George was a key contributor to England's U17 world cup win twenty-one months ago. Check out the assist in the video below. I've tired to cue up the video to the right spot but, just in case, it comes a little before 02:10.

I read, well more like skimmed, an article making statistical comparisons between William and Zaha. These statistical charts aren't really my thing, hence the skimming, but the headline takeaway is that William beats Zaha in all but two categories. Those two are goals and expected goals. For those who take more interest than I do in these things the article is at WAGNH.

Arsenal have been playing some really slick, impressive football in pre-season. In the main they've avoided the type of clunky passages of play we've suffered in our games. (Including some against Barcelona.) They also have a young lad up top who they stole from our academy. I never saw him play for our junior sides but he's looked good, confident and composed. Could be one to watch. There's something of the Andy Cole about him. They have been closer to full strength in those games than we have but it doesn't feel to me like we can confidently expect to be better than them in the coming season.

Oops. Deleted.