Kostas

At least 10 pages of this thread are about people complaining about this taking too long. Neymar's saga isn't even half as annoying as those involving Aguero/Kaka..

At least Feroze will stop having heart attacks whenever this thread is bumped.

If any of you is interested Raymond Verheijen gave a pretty insightful interview some days ago on fitness coaching. Worth a read. [Link]

I know it's boring but shouldn't this thread be about potential managers?

Even if we assume the dip in their performances was caused by them simply not giving a damn I'm sure you'd agree it was only one season and they've got more than enough reasons to improve in 11/12.

The road for Hiddink to join is clear. Still not convinced he'll be the manager.

Short memory?

Fix'd

I doubt he'd get much playing time here anyway and 2 full seasons in one of Europe's top leagues should develop him well and give us the ability to judge him properly. All in all it's probably a good move.

Discovered this thread somewhat late but here's my view on things: Trying to find who runs the club (besides Roman) is like firing shots in the dark therefore I think it's easier to analyze some decisions and pin them down to specific people or the notorious group also know as the "Football Board". Releasing players last summer - I advocated that decision back then and I still do. Our wage bill was reduced by around 26m and the only player really important to us was Ballack, who we replaced with Ramires a Brazilian who improves game by game and is paid some measly (compared to Michael) 70k per week. Our winder transfers don't make much sense in the greater picture so I could only clasify them as moves to save a season that was falling apart and secure Champions League qualification. Wouldn't necessary attribute either Luiz or Torres to Roman as the media love to but their coming my have changed the initial plans and have certainly created new conditions like Bruma losing any hope of getting into the first team and having a 50m striker that will replace Drogba without having a team ready to move from Didier's style of play. The borderline is the club decided that CL qualification was more important to breaking even than lowering our wage bill and net spend. In my opinion our deal for Luiz was quite good and while Torres was expensive his commercial value makes up for an important amount of the 50 millions. Can't remember what their wages are but I'm sure they don't earn more than the players we released 12 months ago and the big cuts from our wage bill are still to come with Drogba and other highly paid stars leaving. Trying to sum economics up I need to point out that we're not doing really bad in our attempts to cutback our enormous wages and we need to remember that now the club cares more about a player's wages than his price which is why chasing Neymar isn't as unreasonable as it might sound. Thoroughly reading SwissRamble's analysis is a must but I'm sure those who care are already familiar with it. As for our managerial circus: Grant - I'd like to believe he was nothing more than a caretaker despite getting the contract he did. Despite being aware of the stories of him lobbying his way to the top of English football and the allegations of his hiring being attributed to Roman's Israeli connections I prefer to believe he was named manager only for a short amount of time and hope the club have learned something from how an outsider could interfere with a club. Scolari - According to most of the sources he was brought by Kenyon and was the main reason Kenyon isn't at the club now. A mistake but I'd say we got away with it without being damaged too much. He didn't spend too much on his players and hardly influenced the football structure (yeah I know what you're thinking) of the club. Ancelotti - Roman's pursuit of the man was hardly secret but I believe the media concentrated on only one of the reasons he was wanted to maintain the image of Abramovich that they have created, a man who lives and cares only about that so called "holy grail", the Champions League, an image that unfortunately even Chelsea fans believe (the latest proof being the nonsense about Torres coming here only to bring us European glory). Apart from Ancelotti's CL successes he was sought because AC Milan played some good football under him, that (quality of football) I foolishly want to believe was one of the main reasons we parted with the Jose Mourinho. I don't deny that at times with CA at helm we saw some breathtaking football and I'm sure both Roman and our "Football Board" were pleased with him. However with Chelsea taking steps back in Europe, his criminal handling of the squad available to him, his failure to use and get the best from any player that Arnesen/Academy delivered and finally the fact that our Top 4 place was in serious danger put the last nail on his CFC coffin. Arnesen's role and dismissal are quite harder to understand. At the time the club announced his "resignation" it was suggested the decision was taken because he was the man responsible for us starting the season with a squad so thin that a couple of injuries would destroy our chances or reclaiming the league, in a way he forced his star kids (Kakuta, Bruma, Pva etc) on the first team and with Ancelotti not using them it was Arnesen that would get the boot. Some said Ancelotti won a battle (similar to the Mourinho v Valdano for those keeping up with Real Madrid's news) and it would be hard to deny had he not found himself out of job as soon as the season ended. I feel those decisions could have been separate as the two men had different responsibilities and different fields of work. The most alarming thing is that after sacking our only actual "football people" in our Football Board we're left with no vision, no plan and no one qualified to evolve our team and the football it plays. Here in contrast to Zolayes (surprise!surprise!) and in a (shocking) optimistic mood I believe that Hiddink has been in contact with the heads of the club and will be announced after legal issues and details are dealt with. Chelsea will be under a new Dutch regime with much more power and hopefully coordination than the last one (Arnesen) which will hopefully define the football philosophy of this club and bring that much needed stability. With Arnesen gone our scouting will now focus on the SA markets and now that our Academy is one of the best in the country it'll be responsible for raising local talent. Feeder clubs like Vitesse, that Eastern European minor and possibly HSV will be of use for scouting, loans etc.

Cristiano forced his move and was too big to be controlled by such stuff. Nevertheless when he signed a new deal with Nike, the season before he was sold, Perez said it would cause problems with their handling of the debt created by that transfer. Neymar was snatched by the sport giants even before moving to Europe and thinking they will play a role in his future moves certainly isn't as wild an ideas as you suggest. Saying it doesn't make any sense is extreme even by your standards.

1 When will we have a new coach? Within the next 10 days. 2 Who will it be? Guus Hiddink (?) 3 When will the first "Sack him " thread start? Shortly after CA expresses his wish to manage a top club again December 2012 4 Who will be the first signing? No idea 5 When . Mid July 6 Who will be our first older player to leave? Not sure I got that one, our first current player to leave will probably be Bosingwa and Ferreira will be the first of our old-guard. 7 Who will be sent out on loan Bertrand, Cork, Bruma 8 List all our Major signings A bit too much to ask

Sure! It's not like he had a terrific starts/goals ratio here, is it?

3rd kits are used less because traditionally they're by far the worst sellers. Actually looking at the new away kit the club probably wants to do something about.

Of course, JT himself was advertising Umbro boots a few years ago. But if you look at how Nike are promoting Neymar to be their biggest Brazilian star after Ronaldo you'll see few of our players are or have the potential to be that big marketing-wise. Word had it back in the day that Ballack's move to us had much to do with him being one of Adidas' biggest European players.

Just finished reading the last 54 pages of this thread. Mostly a waste of my time but I must say I was surprised by the initial optimism. Ever since I heard about his deal with Nike I've been highly doubtful of a move to an Adidas team.

Happy birthday, CJ! Have a wonderful day and belated congratulations for your exam results.

I guess the club decided to delay the goalkeeper decision. Delac's disastrous loan and not having a manager with a clear picture of our goalies might have something to do with it.

It might have been fair as far as goals are considered but Spain's midfield pissed all over England's.

Should the results be public as long as it's open?

That would suggest Chelsea are familiar with long term planning and have something resembling a vision which lasts more than 6-12 months. Experience tells me that can't be more than wishful thinking.

What the hell is Ray on about?! Such stuff would have been absolutely infuriating and ignorant coming from any non-Chelsea fan not to mention a guy who actually worked close to the team. This puts the whole "Wilkins was CA's plan B" in perspective.

Well he looks like Kaka more than anything else..