Duppy Conqueror

didn`t Thiago Silva agree a contract extension at Milan a week before joining PSG..

reminds me of that episode of Only Fools and Horses when Rodney is trying to write a script for a local drama group and Delboy tries to help him by turning it into a disaster movie called "there`s a rhino loose in London" starring charlton heston..

this will probably be the first game ever that i want Chelsea to win but not totally thrash the opposition with TC in goal for them..3-0 would be nice but Athletico will possibly be taking the game alot more seriously than us.although that could be good for us as our players may be more relaxed about it and play like they do on the training field . i was out there for the `99 Super cup. we put out a pre-season friendly away to Hereford style team out and ended up beating Real Madrid 1-0 ,Gus scored if i recall correctly. pretty dour game tho and apart from Monaco being a beautiful place i don`t know why they hold the game over there,it`s a small ground about the size of Kenilworth Road (Luton Town`s ground) and is probably the most dangerous field to play on in western europe. hope there`s no bad injuries on both teams.

"i never believed i`d ever play for a team like Chelsea" ~ Paulo Ferriera 2005. It`s something probably said by alot of players over the years at various clubs but perhaps in one of those rare moments where he talks to the media,he revealed more than just an off the cuff generic comment. he seems to be a family man maybe that has some to do with it too. London is a great place to live if you`ve got money. i don`t think his wages are keeping him here tho atall. if the club didn`t want him he would be gone by now as we wouldn`t have give him various contract extensions over the years. Roman don`t worry about getting money for when players leave. you could make quite a star studded team from the players we have let run out their contracts and walk away for free. even loaned them out so they can leave and play out the remainder of their CFC contract elsewhere and helped pay their wages.

Legend is a commonly used word in England and does not always have the textbook meaning attached to it.and other words like Mad when people aren`t actually mentally ill,star when they aren`t one etc... drunkards for example are often heard saying these words. Legend could be used to describe Ferriera with fairness tho in the sense you are thinking of..when you consider all the medals he`s won. something like 6 League Titles,6 domestic cups. the European Cup twice and played in numerous international tournaments. it may be too strong a word for you but i can think of numerous people who have been called it with less to back it up. i`m not someone who would use those words myself tho to describe him just yet but maybe in the future when i look back at this legendary era of CFC and the players who were here throughout it.they will be known as Legends.

am i the only one who actually doesn`t believe we will play this 4-2-3-1 formation as much as 4-3-3 ? and in the future possibly even something out of the box like a 3-2-3-1-1. it seems like a lot of people are stuck on us playing 4-2-3-1 then fret over how certain players will fit into it. when already this season we`ve played 4-3-3. i believe Josh will make it with us and will play in the same side as Oscar. our board have settled down and are making wise decisions lately. they won`t let Josh go they just want to make sure when they need to rely on him he won`t let us down. i see a big clear out of old and getting past it midfielders within the next 12 months. Yossi,Flo,Essien,Frank maybe go to wind down his career and boost his pension money in the states. Christine might fancy trying to get into US TV. if they`ll give Piers the Leech a job there`ll wet themselves over having someone with a personality like her and of course she`s so much better to look at than that sleazeball. well anyway that`s 4 i see leaving soon and Meireles could be added to them..there`ll be room for Josh. Roman got out his chequebook for us in style again this summer but i don`t think it`s been like in the past. it`s been well thought out to get in before FFP kicks in. there`s a masterplan they are carrying out all will become more clearer in the next 12 months don`t worry about Josh he`s still very much in our future plans of that i`m sure.

Hulk is not coming and i`m glad. time to move onwards and upwards. better talent out there for cheaper. Porto took the piss just like Levy did last year,they can live with the consequences in the future like Levy and Tottenham are now.

*double post*

@Bloody oh rite..well i guess we can't all be human about these things..

true ,but what`s the *shrugs* for?

..and what is Joey Barton`s problem again? tragic story .i`d normally call someone as young as him a kid but he`s obviously a man now to have overcome that. glad we take in asylum seekers like him. fook the economy and our un-needed luxuries .

yeah Buzz` story is quite tragic tho he seems to have turned his life around now. NASA weren`t that keen on him going first either as they saw Neil as the more level headed and steady personality which he was. i`ve always thought of Mike Collins ...drove them to the Moon and had to hang around whilst they had their fun time. although some experts at the time predicted that when they landed on the moon they would just sink into the moondust and perish. for folks like me who find the whole space race and adventures fascinating,with the fall of the soviet union and previously classified top secret information being released into the public domain there`s so much new stuff coming out at the moment it`s taken the interest to a new level.

R.I.P a fookin superb fighter pilot,test pilot and astronaut. Eternal Legend. as Shaun Ryder once sung with Black Grape "Neil Armstrong ,Astronaut,he had balls bigger than king kong,first big suit on the moon and he`s off to play Golf" a great man. very humble and level headed too.. i`ve studied the whole space race for years. when i was a little boy i used to want to be an astronaut or a Cherokee Indian..there wasn`t much opportunities for such along the Goldhawk road in the late 70`s early 80`s tho...just West indian dudes and Punks and the sound of sirens was my wild west as for Neil someone to have their name known throughout the world and yet he kept such a low profile.. i`d be lording it up like Hugh Heffner in the Playboy mansion.

he could but Oscar is so good at that it wouldn`t really be his main job i would think. his passing is good.there`s a stat sheet from todays game earlier in the thread.yes it`s only one game but it gives you a sample of what he can do or atleast his success rate. i doubt he will come this window now tho. until we offload some Mids to the outside looking in it must seem like they would be buried on the depth chart for the next few years where as in reality i see atleast 2 or 3 mids leaving in the next 12 months. also with Dempsey seemingly on his way out it looks like Dembele is gonna be the main man at Fulham this season atleast, then Fulham can benefit by trying to get teams into a bidding war for him. i would personally try to steal a step on the competition,put in a £20m bid for him now and let Fulham have him on loan for the rest of the season or until January. atleast something worth offering i think. would be ideal to avoid getting tangled up in a bidding war.

Brazilian nuts in a fountain of Belgian chocolate. i`m hungry...

@justin_3d i`m holding out hope Valencia can sort out their finances and grow again to break up the monopoly as i see them as the spanish version of Borussia Dortmund. they consistently produce great players either through good scouting whilst they are at small clubs or producing their own youth talent. they just need to stop having to sell these star players. would love to see them return to how good they were tho and keep Real and Barcelona on their toes even tho you make a very good point there about the EPL still growing wqhilst the Spanish league is declining and it could very well have an effect on the quality of Real and Barcelona are to be on the European stage in the future..even tho it`s always been as far as i can recall like a two tier division the top flight in Spain with a maximum of 5 or 6 quality sides and the rest probably not good enough for the Prem. Barcelona and Real were very ordinary in the 80`s even Dundee United beat them at the nou camp and at tannadice.. Barcelona have played Dundee United 4 times and lost everytime btw..

he was a quality player last year too.don`t think we have room for him at present but yeah i`d be happy with him. not sure why some folks gotta say stuff like everyone is jumping on his bandwagon now after MOTD not sure why phrases like "everyone is ..." doing anything have to be said when it`s clearly not the case. how many people have you guys asked before today what they thought about Dembele?. he is hardly this great star you alone have unearthed. he`s been seen as a great prospect who has been gradually improving for a few years now,he`s been on the radar of many scouts,football fans etc..for atleast 3 years..we were actually linked first for him about 3 years ago,maybe longer. i know there`s plenty of Dembele fans on here who have expressed their feelings about him. my main point is can folks chill out on the generalizations of what people think when it`s a diverse community and each person has their own opinions and that no presumptions of what they are should be made.

good pleasing team performance .Hazard gets his first Chelsea goal and Torres is looking like he may just turn things around and salvage his CFC career afterall. Lukaku has made a good start to his loan spell,gave Spurs nitemares when he came on today. scored against the scousers last week. the boy is doing himself and us proud. AVB booed off in his first home game at Shite Hart Lane and some of them fans have already publicly expressed that they think he`s the wrong man for the job and want leatherface back. haha. Rooney fannied about over that graze and from what i heard so did Charlie Nicholas in the sky goalcenter studio. before i saw it i was expecting to see another "David Busst" the way they were talking on the radio.. pretty close to a perfect day really..

ah,i`m happy to hate alone.. you may never get to hate the likes of Sunderland and Newcastle. some of it is long seated and doesn`t only apply to football..i`ve enjoyed watching Newcastle play quite a lot of times over the last 30odd years,not so much Sunderland..it`s more the fans tho,they still publicise themselves as massive clubs,when they aren`t really atall..it`s atleast 60 years since either of them had a truly golden era. in the last 25 years Luton Town have won more domestic trophies than the whole of the North East. nobody calls Luton Town massive and if it`s just because they have big followings then there`s about 30 "massive" clubs in England. i did go abit too sweeping when i said i hate NorthWest/NorthEast in general..it`s generally "just" Liverpool,Leeds,Newcastle,Sunderland,Manchester...i don`t class midlands as "oop north" even tho there are plenty of Londoners and/or Cockneys who believe anywhere north of Watford is up north. and places like Carlisle and Doncaster have some classy fans.

he didn`t seem to be on our radar which i was fine with.. not that impressed with the Sunderland team i`ve seen better teams than them on paper go down and as they haven`t played together yet that`s all we can go on. *wonders if he`s the only Chelsea fan on here who hates Sunderland (and North East/West in general) *

i don`t care where he ends up either. i`ll just be glad he`s not joining us.not that he ain`t a good player it`s just too many red flags for me..too high transfer fee,too high wages,too old,26 aint old but when you consider he`ll need time to adjust to an upgrade in competition and that the vast majority of Brazilian footballers best days are behind them at 29,he is. also i think he`s maxed out in both his body and performance. all our signings so far have been for rising stars who are good to great already.i think Hulk is good-great but his star has risen as far as it`s going to..he will probably become a bigger worldwide name if he played in the Prem or in Spain but i don`t see him becoming a better player. add that to also just having that bad vibe about him and us ,just feel he would flop with us or atleast not be half as good as he has been playing for Porto.

i only just noticed the standings when i went to set my team for this weekend.forgot to check until now..woo hoo..good ol` Bran,Eden and Fernando, Top of the League in 3 leagues..woo hoo. and i`ve still made sweeping changes this weekend too.. haha. Up the Hatchets! :blue scalf:

good signing. good price.half the price he would have gone for if he had chosen to represent England instead of Nigeria. and our homegrown quota is back up to 8 and more importantly we have 2 proper wingers now. moving to London won`t be a problem either as he has already lived here for 9 years before he moved to Wigan and probably still has family living in town.

well he certainly has experience....of sitting in the dugout..and it would mean we could get something more in return for his wages than him being a sort of holiday rep for foreign players.

glad to see him signed and already in training.. the last time we signed a CA ,we won the double in his first season...