OhForAGreavsie

No I certainly will not put you on ignore and I'll be disappointed if you have carried out your threat to ignore me. That of course is beyond my control however. As for the great Jimmy, he would walk into our current starting line up but that's because he is one of the greatest players who ever lived, not because he's a Chelsea youth product. And speaking of Jimmy, all the very best to him. I really, really hope he pulls through this stroke and recovers as well as possible. I wish him many more happy, and relatively healthy, years.

Yes I remember Jose saying that but it's not quite that he'll take the league by storm. Not as I read Jose's statement anyway, especially when taken in context with the comments that amounted to RLC would be a part of the squad and no promises beyond that.

I love Gary Neville the pundit and also loved him as a player. Not the greatest player but a great leader and, in my opinion, a massive part of United's dominant sides. There is something missing in the comments he makes in that video however. The why. Why is it important that the youngsters must be brought through? I think I watch as much youth coverage as most people and more than many. Like almost all of us I'd love to see some of the kids come through and I have hopes that one or two of them might but, I ask again, why must this happen? It is not, not, not an end in itself. The end is to have a strong squad, offering Jose many solutions with quality cover in all areas. Where those players come from is surely less important isn't it? Yes, home grown players are desirable and I could offer some arguments on why they are important. One or two of you might even be able to offer some I may not have thought of but I simply do not accept that the promotion of youth is an essential task for Jose. Or perhaps I should say that it should not be seen as such by Roman. It's natural that the owner would want to see a return on the investment and if he watches the development squads then he will surely have formed positive opinions on some of the junior squad. What is essential however is that Jose keeps the club challenging for the big three trophies and that he continues to improve our ability to sustain a pleasing style of play. That's the real goal and let's not lose sight of it.

I don't remember Jose saying that.

Based on what Jose said yesterday about the integrity of the league and the races two of our three remaining opponents are involved in, I'd guess West Brom is the best hope of seeing some youngsters. On the other hand, he'd probably prefer to give fringe players game time at home wouldn't he? Who knows, but a little experience could only help the lads perform if and when their real chance comes so I hope Jose will try to make that happen.

Torres was 100% Carlo's fault. Along with turning down the chance to sign Aguero. Jose says we shouldn't blame him for saying no to the City striker . Well you can not blame him if you want to. As for the rest, mainly luck.

My guess was that it was part of the Cuadrado deal and I wasn't too happy about it.

Like many people, I don't put a lot of store by statistics. Sometimes however, you have to take note of them and admit that they are a part of the calculation. I'm in shock about that David Silva number; stunned. The story of City's season right there.

Butch Wilkins has confirmed that it was Carlo, not Roman, who instigated the Torres deal. I see no reason to call Butch a liar, so Carlo is the man to blame for that £100m disaster. Torres was never the greatest striker in the world by the way. Had I been the owner and Carlo walked in telling me he wanted to spend £100m on Torres, I'd have sacked him on the spot and tried to find someone who put more effort into their work. I refuse to believe that Carlo would have failed to notice how poor Torres was if he'd actually watched him as carefully as would have been required to justify such a huge deal. I'd have had to conclude therefore that Carlo was being lazy and had not done his homework so I'd have sacked him. I'm serious.

Fabregas is magic He wears a magic hat mask He could've would've signed for Arsenal But he said, "No, fuck that" the idiots didn't ask He passes with his left foot And He passes with his right And when we he helps us win the league We will We'll sing his song all night. Oh...

12:00pm May 25th.

Oh dear, I said I'd bite my tongue but here I am... What you've said is right but perhaps most people wouldn't describe that as hold up play.

Sad but true. I don't really agree that Didier was ever a great hold up player. That is not to say he hasn't produced some great examples of hold up play but in general, for me, he has been below par for a top level centre-forward in this regard. Still I know this isn't an argument I could possibly win around here so I'll bite my tongue and leave it there.

Thanks for the link. Interesting indeed. Sounds like AVB is learning. Good on him.

I wish more people, on forums or real life, had this kind of integrity. Well played.

Exactly. Our Aussie fans have been waiting 40 odd years for this and they'll be paying good money for tickets and travel. On top of that, the sponsors will be forking out a huge sum of money to the club. Fortunately that sponsorship agreement is virtually certain to stipulate that the top players must appear and surely that's exactly what the club would want to serve up any way. Why go all that way only to let people down? That said, I certainly hope that there will be seats on the plane, and some minutes on the pitch, for a number of youngsters. How beautiful is that stadium by the way?

He-he ha-ha-ha...

Yes but not in the parade. Meanwhile, I didn't even see the FA Cup in 2012, only that other one. Noticed it on telly afterwards though.

He'd be a big improvement on the lad who played up top in the second half today. And the one from the first half come to that!

No he won't. A player needs to reach his 10th yellow by the second Sunday in April in order to suffer a suspension and Cesc only reached that number yesterday. The next checkpoint is 15 yellows by the end of the season.

At least Claridge makes me laugh for being such a footballer, constantly butchering the English language. I've never heard a man so dedicated to crowbarring the word misnomer into the conversation as many times as possible, and always without having the first clue what it means. To be fair I did hear him use it correctly once but that was an obvious fluke and normal service was soon resumed.

Many people share your opinion, including most of our squad perhaps, so the importance of what you say cannot be denied. For me however the main aim next season, and every season till the end of time, will be to win the domestic league we're in.

Well said, and it's not just the money. As we all know, these clubs have an attraction that others can't match. While Roman was once free to pay whatever fees and salaries he wanted, any player with the opportunity to join one of the Spanish giants would virtually always take it. Throw in a cultural preference for Spain among the best Latin players, FFP, the once very favourable Spanish tax system, plus UK work permit regulations and our clubs are not competing on a level playing field. It is a simple truth that truly great teams are based on the talents of great players. When the majority of such players prefer to play for the same sides, the notion that other clubs can outmatch them over a sustained period is unrealistic.

Well then you must be right about the RFU being interested. Have to say I'm shocked; they know there will be a huge backlash from many Rugby fans and local residents. Still this many meetings suggests not only that the two parties are interested, but that they believe there is a way to make this happen despite the expected objections.

Yes, one could say that Jose might lie. I wouldn't however. For example, what Jose carelessly said about Nate Chalobah's first team chances at the end of the 2013/14 pre-season was not borne out. It could therefore be described as a lie but I don't see it that way. I felt Jose was trying to navigate the usual minefield of competing priorities and simply got his line wrong. I watched a fair bit of Nate at Watford and was certain that he had received more praise for his efforts with them than he deserved. I also knew Jose had been at Wembley to watch Nate produce an absolute stinker for The Hornets in the play-off final. I would put it as strongly as to say I knew there was no chance of Nate making the Chelsea squad in the foreseeable future. Jose must have known this too but he clearly wanted to encourage the lad and to avoid discouraging the rest of the academy. What he did say can be seen as a lie but it can also be seen as an attempt to be minimise Nate's disappointment at being sent out on loan again. In trying to do that Jose's comments went too far but, to be fair, he has learned from that episode and has spoken less forthrightly about academy prospects since. Yes, he's tried to encourage Nathan, Ruben and others, but none has been promised game time. I have one more point to make, and for me it's the most important one. I wonder if you agree... I would love Chelsea to win the league, the FA Cup and The Champions' League on a regular basis. If Jose can accomplish that with a squad made up entirely of academy graduates then good, but if he does it using no academy graduates at all then what's the problem? People talk as if promoting lads from the development squads is an end in itself. It is not. The aim is to win, who plays in those wins is not of paramount importance.