LDN Blue

It's like Fergie says, though, he got lucky. Guys like Fergie, Wenger, Dalglish (to an extent) are rare in football where they control most football aspects. Okay Chelsea hasn't done that, but that's not necessary the best model, as eldo said, some managers may not want that much to do in the club. Like Grant said, there's a lot off the the field that a Chelsea manager has to deal with anyway.

That'll probably have to happen if we missed out on CL football. Blessing in disguise some could argue..

The answer is simple Badboy, money talks. Money has always and will always be the deciding factor in today's football world.

Not unless they lack complete ambition. Plus why would Modric do that now? Summer was the chance, and we blew it. That window of opportunity (pun intended) is closed now. United is the only destination for him now.

Lool, I don't understand why people don't like this day. It's a nice day for couples, and if you're single, so what? No need to be bitter

Nope we'd just stick him in reserves for 3 years, sell him to a Championship squad where he'll shine and we'll be saying 'why?'

I present an argument/dilemma for the consequences of keeping André. I don't believe this will happen, but I simply present the idea for views; What if we let André build a team, but he still can't deliver results. Will we have another situation, with Villas-Boas loyal players commanding too much power because of that team that he's built up, with an eye on long-term measures (on André's part). This is what Roman & the board have to ask themselves this June-Aug ^.

Yep, his stature is very impressive. -- That first goal they showed though, not Bramford's, was very impressive!

Yes, yes, yes! Well no actually, we'll ruin him. Very exciting player, when I heard in Jan that WBA snapped up a B'ham winger I was on the verge of facepalming and then realised it wasn't Redmond. He's a fantastic talent and if Bosingwa plays on Saturday then he's going to have a field day with us

Exactly. This is the thing about both Torres & Sheva, they weren't wanted by the managers. Not to the extent of other players. We didn't need Sheva at that time, though I do argue Torres might have been slightly more. André gave him a chance but you can't fix something so broken.

Mm, I can relate to that, but the point about effort and such is a bit over exaggerated, imo anyway

Those are good points, and to a certain extent true. However they are professionals and they shouldn't be crying to Uncle Roman because things aren't going well results wise. That's the problem there is at this club where certain players are allowed to have too much of a relationship with the owner, that it constantly undermines the coach time and time again. Not saying AVB is totally faultless in what's going on at the moment, of course he has flaws, but the players shouldn't be allowed the level of power that they have in the club.

http://www.gillinghamfootballclub.com/page/NewsDetail/0,,10416~2610810,00.html?

To be fair, he's only worse because we have no-one else to lead the line. When Sheva came we had an in-form Drogba, I think Crespo was still around as well. Or if not we have a few options that could compensate for Sheva's poor form. Now we need El Nino to be firing because Drogba's just as poor sometimes and Lukaku isn't ready. Sheva did have his moments of moaning though, let's not get it slightly twisted. He was just as bad as Torres sometimes with attitude. We just tolerated it because of our other options.

And what if the next manager who comes in decides to relegate them to the bench and they start another coup. My point here is, regardless of André's abilities these players will always cause turmoil in the dressing room. Until they are gone & André's allowed a shackle free attempt to have a go with Chelsea, we shouldn't be so quick to hit the 'sack' button.

Good report BlueLion.

Might as well start now. These are dark days we're heading into, so much optimism in June, looks like this will carry on for a while.

An increase of the player-power-management. Where they tell the manager what they want to do and the manager nods accordingly.

Well I, personally, believe it's their unwillingness to adapt. André came with his own ideas for tactics, formation & general play and I believe it's the players who are failing to meet his demands. They would rather play their classic 4-3-3 with Malouda, Lampard, Drogba, etc. Of course André must take some heat for a bit naivety displayed in some of his preparation but they should be willing to grant him time and patience which I don't believe they are. I share your view, it was sarcastic

Well there's the problem isn't it. We'd all like to see something like that, but it can't happen. We can't afford a new team in June, FFP simply won't allow it. Therefore it's the players who'll be appeased, André will get the boot and they'll get someone who will meet their demands. In an ideal world, Roman would tell them to suck it up or leave the club. But that's not how things work here.

Indeed manpe. They are guaranteed CL football (so it seems), we are 80% to be without manager come June and probably with Europa League..

With the limited resources André has, of course we must look to Kalou, because there is no-one else. He's still the same player, but we do get another dimension. I hope this isn't going to backfire on us..

Ah, so the infamous player mutiny has begun. Unfortunately I have no faith Roman & the Board will side with André.. Time to pick up the red telephone which has Hiddink on the other line. What a sad state of affairs.

Epitomising the state of mismanagement of finances in football.. Beginning of the end.