OhForAGreavsie

Campeonas, campeonas, ole ole ole! The women secured their third straight WSL title with a 4-2 win over Man Utd in front of over 4,300 fans and Todd Boehly*. Kingsmeadow's biggest crowd of the season saw the girls trail one-nil and then two-one before coming back to claim the three points to finish one point ahead of second placed Arsenal. Now it's on to Wembley next weekend where CFCW will try to retain The FA Cup by beating Man City women. Easier said than done however because City are in blistering form. Since the turn of the year they have been the best team in the country. It's going to be a cracker. Tickets for the final are available here: https://www.chelseafc.com/en/tickets---membership/buy-tickets?pageTab=WOMEN'S FIXTURES *I didn't spot Boehly myself but I've been assured that he was there.

Two tight wins; over Spurs at Kingsmeadow on 28th April ...and At St Andrews against Birmingham on 1st May ...leave the women at the top of the table, 1 point ahead of Arsenal, going into the last day of the league season. Arsenal have the better goal difference though so we have to match or better their result to secure our third straight title. We host 4th placed United on Sunday at a sold out Kingsmeadow while Arsenal visit West Ham. United need to beat us and hope City, currently 3rd, loose at Reading. If that happens then United claim a place in next season's Champions League. If United fail to win, or City avoid defeat then the last of the three CL places for next season will go to the blue half of Manchester. All games kick off at 12:00pm on Sunday with coverage of the Arsenal game on BBC2 (in the UK) and of our game on Sky Football.

Ah, that's not something I had heard. Good info.

Well yes. Responding to Rom's comment during the summer that he had, "Unfinished business", with Chelsea I said that I didn't believe him and that I felt it was rather the case that someone in Chelsea's hierarchy had unfinished business with Rom. I wrote that whoever it was probably hoped to prove that they had been right to sign ROM in the first place all those years ago.

I reckon the club probably feels that Rice was one that got away.

A very interesting speculation though and with an air of plausibility.

A battling, comeback win at Spurs on Sunday saw ten woman Chelsea maintain their 1 point lead at the top of the table.

You mean Billy could serve as a squad player until the Jan '23 transfer window if need be? Possible I suppose although I'd like to see more from him to qualify even for that role.

Has Billy done enough to earn a place in the squad?

After watching YouTube vids of Jesus when he was being rumoured join City as Aguero's replacement I posted to say that I'd be delighted if that happened because I didn't believe he was in Kun's league. For the same reason I'll be pleased if he moves to North London this summer. P.S. Given the arithmetic you point out Arsenal should see it as something of a warning if City accept the bid. By accepting an offer of that size City would be accepting that his value has fallen. I'd say this reflects a better assessment of his level than the hype which accompanied his move to Manchester. If, despite this, Arsenal would aim to use Jesus as their main striker that would be a risk in my opinion.

Tick.

I think anyone who wasn't previously aware of it now knows that Chelsea fans love what Roman has done for our club and that we are very loyal to him as a result. We are not blind however and what you say here, if read the right way, shows why we should all be massively optimistic about the change of ownership. Roman has done brilliantly for us but his stewardship has featured many, many poor decisions and some poor policies. Despite the fact that we have been the most successful English side during his time in charge there is a lot of room to do things even better. There is no guarantee that the new owners will do things better, but the opportunity is there so there's plenty of room for the optimism I mentioned above. If the new owners can draw on their experience of running major sports businesses then there are many things they can improve which would make a positive impact on our team and save money at the same time. For this reason I prefer the Pagliuca and Boehly bids. It's fairly certain that the new owners won't throw in more and more cash to cover for mistakes in the way Roman has done but they shouldn't need to. Do it right and the new people can play Jesus to Roman's John The Baptist. The rest of the Premier League had a tough time outperforming Chelsea during the Roman era. Things could be about to get even worse for them. That's the positive take anyway.

The Blues face a trip to Spurs in the WSL today. With four games remaining we sit top of the league, a point clear of Arsenal and with a superior goal difference. Arsenal are massive favourites to win all of their remaining matches so we will have to do the same to retain our title. https://www.chelseafc.com/en/videos/v/2022/04/22/-we-have-to-win-every-game-now----emma-hayes-press-conference-kVGhfxMA

Chelsea Women will play Manchester City Women in this season's FA Cup Final at Wembley the day after the men meet Liverpool in their Final. This will be the fourth time that both Chelsea Men and Chelsea Women have reached the FA Cup Final in the same season, and second year in succession after both made the season's finale in 2021. Unlike the men however, the women won last season's cup so will be looking to retain it next month. It won't be an easy task though. City have been the form side in the WSL for the last two or three months and have already beaten us in the League Cup Final this term. If you've never been to a Women's game, or even even if you have, why not get down to Wembley and support the girls? Tickets are available here: - https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2022/04/22/women-s-fa-cup-final-ticket-details

Astounding work from all concerned at FC Barcelona. Off the pitch they set a new world record attendance for a women's game when 91,648 turned up to watch the first leg of their Champions League semi-final vs Wolfsburg. On the pitch they thrashed the team which eliminated Chelsea from this year's tournament and look on course to retain the trophy they won by defeating us in last season's final. My hope is that CFCW will one day become the first team to beat Barca Women at Camp Nou but I don't see that being next season. These are seriously good. In fact Barca president Juan Laporte said a couple of weeks ago that it is the women's team, not the men, who are currently driving the club's standards forward. See what you think.

The girls beat Arsenal last weekend to reach a fourth successive domestic cup final. (Two League Cups and two FA Cups.) We will face Man City at Wembley on 15th May in a repeat of last month's League Cup Final which City won 3-1.

Nothing to do with these coincidences but I'm ok with both of these bids. Curious that it's wall to wall Americans in the running to buy the club.

It's a shame for us that Premier League football isn't suited to Malang. Somewhere like France or Portugal would see the best of him.

Who knows what the new owners' stance will be on existing transfer targets but surely the current regime has already made decisions on Nkunku having taken TT's opinion into account.

The transfer budget can be smaller and, effectively, larger at the same time. Just cut out the enormous waste of the Roman era. Spend less get more. If the incoming regime can't do better in the transfer market for CFC than has been done in the past 20 years then we are selling to the wrong people. I used to laugh when people held up Ferguson and Wenger as examples that clubs did not need Directors of Football because both of those men were perfect examples of exactly the opposite. I don't know what their actual job titles were but, in reality, each was the director of football in their club. They had the final say in all football matters barring, I suppose, the budget, and even that would have been influenced by them. I make this point because I feel that TT can become that person for CFC and I would not like to see someone parachuted in who then blocks TT's natural development into the rule.

Had a great day yesterday. Borehamwood for the women's semi-final at Arsenal. Celebrated with the players afterwards, a quick McDonalds then to Wembley for the men's game. The girls now face Manchester City in the final looking to avenge their League Cup final loss against City back in March. Interesting how that exactly matches the situation the men are in viz Liverpool in the men's Cup Final.

Agreed.

He would be a difference maker for PSG. For them he could be the missing piece of the jigsaw but at Chelsea he's a piece that wound up in the wrong box. He's a piece of the puzzle ok but just not the one Thomas Tuchel is trying to put together.

And needs them. No uneducated and underinformed people, no Donald Trump in politics. This is not to say that educated people do not support Trump. Some do but this is because they see him as useful to their aims, not because they are taken in by any of his lies, money grabbing cons, or his shallow thinking.

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