OhForAGreavsie

No you are not. You're assessing the 'information' available and, applying an actual thought process, you are asking, what, if anything, might really be going on here. I hope this approach catches on but I'm not hopeful.

I don't agree with your assessment of Malcolm but it's a breath of fresh air to read a post which shows signs of logic having been applied. Whatever happens has a reason for it. Almost always it's a reason we'd all agree with if only we knew the real situation.

Yes, but I wonder if you mean that in the same way I do.

Not a single established fact, and that's before we even attempt to understand what factors might influence the decision. None of us have any clue what, if anything, is going on yet so many know that the club is wrong and stupid and wicked. A strange thought process.

Neither.

Well, I'll give you that if this was true it would give her some leverage over him but I can't pretend I give it any credence. Why would Marina use that leverage to get, and retain, an actual job? A job her performance of which causes the business to lose millions? Would it not make more sense for her to engineer a backroom position that involved only enough work to satisfy any authorities that might take an interest in her remuneration package? Why indeed would she not negotiate a bigger pay packet in exchange for not wasting Roman's cash with stupid transfer decisions? Your speculation is fun but it does not seem to me to fit the facts. I would not object to the right new owner. Not that Roman is going to give a hoot what I think.

Thank you, and likewise. I'd be interested in your speculation on the following questions: - Why, if Marina is as bad as you say, if she is costing Roman millions of pounds as well as endless opportunities to bring success to his team, has he not sacked her? Why indeed has he, in effect, promoted her by expanding her responsibilities? You surely can't believe that Roman and all his advisors are so stupid that they don't know blindingly obvious truths that so many posters on this forum believe they understand completely.

Just because it was reported someone said it, does not make it so. Actual confirmation may emerge one day, but until then I can't get to the jump off point required to reach the same conclusions as many do. That jumping off point is a belief that Marina Granovskaia is terminally stupid. That cannot be the case; it is not the case. Believing otherwise is about people being unable to handle the fact that they don't know the truth and so they substitute guesswork and prejudice instead.

Not one of which constitute evidence. You just asked someone to get back to you when the final, or shall we say 'real', figures are in regarding recent Chelsea transfer activity. Fair enough but will you get back to us when you have actual facts about Willian & Barcelona?

Said it before in this thread so forgive me for the repeat but better to wait for Reece. I think he'll be ready for 2019/2020 but even if it takes until the season after that I still say wait.

There have already been many posts following this one (lot's of them by me ), and there will be many more I'm sure, but BL's comment says all there is to say on this subject

I know what you mean but it's not about the size of the name, it's about the quality of the player. I'm pretty sure you, me and everyone here agrees with that. Where the size of the name comes in is that the big names are the players we've heard of, and are therefore the ones we can identify as desirable targets. There is lots of proof season after season however, that there are good players out there currently flying under the radar as far as most football fans are concerned. They should not be off the radar of our club however. We have a big budget to spend on scouting and information gathering. If we don't have enough pull to attract the young, big name players. If we can't afford their price tags, even if we could persuade them to join, then we simply have to up our game in the under the radar market.

I think we'd all agree that this approach should not be plan A. In fact it's plan C at best. Competition is fierce for the top level player we need but if we want to compete with the best on the pitch, then we have to compete with them in our recruiting. Lots of clubs around Europe are consistently better than we are at identifying quality players at a stage when they are affordable and attainable. That's our challenge. Spending big on players who we know are below the quality required actually makes it harder for us ever to reach our ultimate aims.

That's exactly what I mean when I say it's about recognising the good from the shiny.

It's sad to say this about a man who grew up a Chelsea fan, but Merson knows so little about football it puts producers who keep booking him for their broadcasts to shame. His lack of knowledge is embarrassing.

Thanks UJ, I may be unusual, but I have no faith in such stories. So many interested sources to place tales, and equally many different motivations for publishing them. I don't count those as evidence. I'm not prepared to base my judgement of the performance of club officials on scant information. That's not to say that these reports are always wrong, but they are not right often enough for me to get excited about. I have a feeling that reports of Barca's interest in William were planted as a distraction. I believe that if it was as serious as suggested, Willian would have agitated until he forced it through. I think too that Barca and Malcolm's agent allowed the interest from Roma to be used as a stalking horse to establish a transfer fee minus the usual Barcelona tax. My money says Malcolm was their real target all along. As it turns out the young Brazilian can't seem to force his way into Barca's side but, if you were shopping for them last summer, who would you have targetted; Willian or Malcolm?

Then you agree that merely being better than Willian is not enough. We need players who match the profile of the footballers we need, not ones who are simply less bad than those we have now.

Let's hope this doesn't turn out to be one of those comments you later repent of at your leisure.

Yes, of course we need more than one player to revitalise this team. Although I have not seen enough from Christian to convince me that he really is a step in the right direction, lets say for the sake of argument that he is. Is that enough? Don't we need to find players who upgrade us all the way up to the level we want to reach in that player's position, not players who only take us closer to that destination? Perhaps you didn't mean 'a step in the right direction' in the way I've interpreted it. Perhaps you believe Christian is exactly the player we need in his position and that this takes the team a pace forward. If that's what you mean, I don't agree but let's hope you're correct.

That's not based on a lack of recognition that we need upgrades, but on a lack of belief that Christian is the right solution.

My mistake then. Thanks for the correction. 18 months gives us more power at the negotiation table.

People trot this out ignoring, or seemingly ignoring, the fact that anything which goes into a contract is a matter for negotiation. If Player and buying club do not agree than there's no buyback. Given that in six months time Callum will be available for a 'development' fee only, one possibly set by an independent body if the clubs don't agree, Chelsea's bargaining power is quite limited. Worse, if press stories are to be believed, Bayern keep upping their bid. That must mean that they are getting encouraging noises from Callum's camp. Worrying.

Obviously if the club intends to sign both Barella and Parades, and then register them in the various squads, they must have a plan to handle the cap question. Either enough foreign players will leave, or else one or two will not be re-registered in the squads at the end of January.

Agreed. Parades ain't that good, isn't required, and should not be signed.

I don't want to believe that the club is so stupid as to have got this wrong and left themselves open to a sanction. I don't in fact believe it and will be very surprised if we are banned.