EskWeston

If it's not bad enough actually trying that, then to actually kill yourself doing it. But the absolute WORST thing is being found in that state!!!! Oh, the shame of it....

We seem to be linked with a lot of Average players at the moment who are massively overhyped, Yakubu, Anelka, Berbatov - we have done the whole thing of buying players who are going to be "squad" players. Right now we need to be looking at improving quality, so we either spend big and go for a proven World class player like Eto'o, Villa or the likes or go for a young and aspiring world class player like Huntelaar.

We are still well in with a shout of competing for the title this season, but if we can't get our key players back soon then it will be extremely hard for us. Carvalho and Ballack look like being back very very soon, but Terry and Drogba are going to be missing for a long time and add to that an absense from Kalou and Essien and it is not going to be easy.

Role for futsal?: Brian Barwick famously consulted "12 wise men" from British and European football as he began his search for the new England manager. Were he now to canvas the opinions of the best players in the world about the malaise in English football, it is possible that the word futsal would come up time and time again. Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho both credit the skills-based game with making them the players they are today. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the countries who excel at futsal - Brazil, Spain, Italy and Portugal - also feature prominently in the Fifa world rankings. In contrast, England's senior futsal team is yet to win a match in 45 attempts and lost 4-2 and 6-3 in a double-header against Andorra in October. Futsal is a five-a-side game played on a basketball-sized pitch with a weighted ball. The emphasis is on improvisation, creativity and technique - you are unlikely to hear calls of "get stuck in" or "get rid of it" at a futsal match. While it is widely played by youngsters in Brazil, Portugal and Spain, the game is still rare in England, where traditional five and 11-a-side matches predominate. England's futsal coach, Graeme Dell, believes the desperate record of his team points to a wider malaise in the English game. "A lot of the success of countries like Brazil or Italy has to do with the breeding of players in the younger age groups and the fact that they grow up playing futsal," he told BBC Sport. "They learn to keep the ball in play because of the nature of the futsal ball and court." Countries such as Spain host a professional domestic futsal league, in which players are paid as much as their 11-a-side counterparts. Manchester City and England defender Micah Richards is one of the few top English footballers to have played futsal as a youngster. "It did improve my technique," he told BBC Sport. "It makes you more composed on the ball and makes you want the ball more, so you can do something with it." Brentford introduced futsal to their training programmes a year ago, and coach Luis Melville says it is already making a difference to the technique of his players. "Futsal makes players more difficult to play against in 11-a-side and gives them more tools in their armoury to be a more complete footballer," he told BBC Sport. "Players find it challenging. Because space is at a premium on a futsal court, the ball has to be manipulated far more closely to the body. "Players also have to do clever things with the ball and their foot skills improve. There is no hiding place on the court, so decision making is absolutely paramount." Zinedine Zidane once said he was fortunate to have played football on the streets of Marseille until the age of 14, meaning no-one had the chance to coach skill and improvisation out of him. "That is what futsal is all about," Dell says. "It's a platform to allow a player to use invention and game understanding to not only develop themselves but get out of trouble. "Whatever drill or exercise you develop, you have to make the player think for themselves." Dell says that a lot of English coaches have a "blinkered vision and are "doing the same thing year after year". And he adds ominously: "Unless we start bringing the futsal concepts to the way in which we train young players we could be having this conversation again in 15 to 20 years' time."

Technique gap: "Unless you change your whole approach to football, nothing will get better." Carlos Alberto, a man who once scored a goal so exquisitely-crafted it could have been made in heaven, is not in the habit of mincing his words. His finest moment - the sublime last goal in Brazil's 4-1 thumping of Italy in the 1970 World Cup final - means he knows how to succeed at the highest level and what it takes to get there. Such a damning verdict on the English game gives the World Cup-winning captain no pleasure at all, but he, like many others, fears that unless things change, England will get left further behind. The shambolic, failed attempt to reach Euro 2008 that ended with the humiliation of a 3-2 defeat by Croatia at Wembley was followed by the oft-repeated criticisms directed at the English game - namely a lack of technique. It comes as no surprise then, that it takes Carlos Alberto only 19 seconds into our interview to mention the word that seems to be casting a shadow over the English game once more. "The most important thing that can happen to English players is that they improve their technique," the 63-year-old tells BBC Sport. "Technical skills like dribbling, good movement, the ability to pick a pass are key to breaking teams down, but you just don't see it when England play, their style is always the same "They never changed, they never improvised and they never improved. They put the high ball into the area and try to head it in, but they need to focus on more technical skills. "I also have the feeling that the England players need to change their mentality, the spirit with which they play football. "Sometimes they play as if they do not feel the game. I hope they understand these things and try to change because every other country changed a long time ago." Fabio Capello has admitted that one of his biggest challenges as England coach will be to overcome the "up and at 'em" philosophy that is so prevalent in the Premiership. At his first news conference as England manager, he was asked how he might change a style based primarily on pace and intensity. "This is something he says he is going to have to work on," Capello's interpreter said. Sir Trevor Brooking, the director of development at the Football Association, believes England lags behind because the players are not learning these technical skills early enough. "We need to start earlier," Brooking told BBC Sport. "Anybody emerging from the 5-11 age group has to be comfortable on the ball. "Can you get this ball under control? Can you kill it instantly? Have you got the know-how to make decisions? Do you know how to use it and select the right pass? "Now if you can't do all that when you get to 11-a-side situations in the 11-16s, you're going to struggle desperately. You won't be able to cope if that basic stuff isn't there." What is becoming increasingly evident is that if the technique of English players is going to match that of the best countries in the world, the FA must get its coaching structure right. Carlos Alberto, who also managed the Nigeria, Oman and Azerbaijan national sides, fears that by the time kids join academies, the skills they need later on in their careers have already been lost. "It must start with the very young children and they must get the best coaches coaching these kids," he added. "When the kids are so young, it is not time to think about winning, to think only about winning as you do. "You have to develop them, teach them how to pass a ball, how to control a ball, how to control a game, how to cross, head and shoot. "It is not important to tell the kids to win - you must instead teach them the skills that will help them to become winners. "Most of the time when you are young, you should be playing with a football. Give a ball to each kid, tell them to go home and look after the ball and sleep with it even!" Brooking says important changes are already underway at grassroots level to help improve the development of core technical skills. "We want to take the intensity out of it, especially in the younger age groups," said Brooking. "So we do more individual ball work and concentrate on technique. "With the younger groups the philosophy is about fun and just letting youngsters play, we have to take away the pressure of results. "There are one or two pilot schemes where we've scrapped the leagues for under-nines - why are we putting them under the pressure of getting results? "We're not allowing them to express themselves and it takes the fun out of it because of all the pressure from the sidelines. "So the adults have to sign a code of conduct and are roped off in the corner. There is no hollering at their children, just someone in charge who supports them and makes a few little comments. "We're trying to give them a lot of small-sided playing time, getting them playing so they get as much contact time as possible." Brooking argues that one of the major problems in England is a lack of defenders who can start attacks in the manner that right-back Carlos Alberto did so successfully in his 53 games for Brazil. "I don't think we have enough defenders who are comfortable on the ball in attacking areas - creativity is a worry," continued Brooking. "A lot of international sides see that now as a way of getting width and getting in behind defences but we don't have the depth, that is our challenge. "Full-back is a clear problem - we have had one or two jumping three age groups in the development teams because of a lack of depth and that could be worrying in a few years' time." Carlos Alberto also believes that England's big clubs must give more opportunity to homegrown players in order for the national team to benefit. "They must change the rules of football in England to give chances to English players, not only bring foreigners into the Premier League," said the World Cup-winning skipper. "The big teams like Arsenal and Chelsea must allow English kids to play so they can improve their skills at the highest level and concentrate on their improvisation. "Unless all these changes are made, it is clear that the England national team will not improve."

Coaching crisis: Sir Trevor Brooking says English football has been "hugely negligent" in the way it develops young talent. He told BBC Sport that relief at Fabio Capello's arrival as coach must not be allowed to mask England's problems. "Unless we take the initiative now, missing Euro 2008 would be even more of a sacrilege," said the Football Association's development director. "We must not let the debate on coaching and player development drop. We must invest and transform what we do." Brooking, who has been at the FA since 2003, made it clear who he believes should guide that transformation. "In other countries there is no doubt that the governing body takes the lead," stated the former England and West Ham midfielder. "The governing body has to look long-term. We are the only ones looking that far forward and that is why I believe we should co-ordinate it." Brooking's comments come after BBC Sport research has revealed just how few English-qualified players the country's leading clubs are producing. Since the start of the 2002-03 season, only 53 English players have made Premier League debuts and subsequently started four more top-flight games. That averages out as one genuine first-teamer per academy every two years or just 10 new English-qualified players a season across the league. A recent Professional Footballers' Association report, ominously titled Meltdown, said the number of overseas players making Premier League debuts each season is running at three times that of English players from the academies. Brooking first voiced his concerns about the threat to English football posed by the Premier League's appetite for overseas talent to BBC Sport in September. And since England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, the trickle of support for his views has become a torrent. But the 59-year-old is no knee-jerk "Little Englander". His solution is to raise the bar, not the drawbridge. "When you have to decide to sign on somebody at 16, the overwhelming feedback from the clubs is that the English youngsters fall down on the technical side," revealed Brooking. "The coaches like their mentality, their hunger, their desire, but that doesn't compensate for not being on a par technically with overseas youngsters. "That is a clear sign we've got to get a long-term philosophy in place for our English kids at five to 11 and then 11 to 16, so that when they to get to 16-plus it is tough for our clubs to say 'sorry, you're not good enough'. At the moment, they're telling me it's too easy." At the news conference to officially appoint Capello as England's new manager, FA chief executive Brian Barwick said a "strategic review" of the governing body's approach to coaching would be announced in March. Barwick added: "We have talked about 'root and branch' and there has been some scepticism about whether we will see that through and whether it was just a smokescreen to recruit a senior coach. It wasn't. "The FA's strategic review will take us through the next five years of our life at the Football Association. A direct part of it will be to work out how we take the England situation forward in a positive way. "One of the ways is to make sure Fabio's skills are 'sucked out' of him in terms of getting us not just to pick winning teams but to make sure we use his great skill across our whole coaching framework. "We also want to make sure the framework Trevor is building up has good, strong investment and we are giving people chances to become better coaches." That investment could be significant, as the governing body's finances have never been healthier. Barwick confirmed that the FA's revenues could exceed £1bn in the next four and a half years - a remarkable turnaround for an organisation that appeared to be on its uppers during the depths of the Wembley saga. While much has been made of Capello's cut of these riches, Brooking said the FA's investment in coaching and player development would dwarf the outlay on the senior side's coaching team. "We've got significant money coming in next year from the new broadcasting deal but we need to know what people want from us," said Brooking. "A designated coaching unit to support all the clubs? More regional coaches? Do we ring-fence some money for five to 11 skills coaches for every club? "We have the ability to support the clubs so much better than has happened. But in order to do that we have to have the capability, like every other governing body in the world, to go out and do it." The FA's ability to act, however, remains a major bone of contention and Brooking feels he has been prevented from doing his job properly by the professional clubs' refusal to work with him. "I certainly haven't got the power or responsibility to implement change, unlike, for example, Gerard Houllier in France," Brooking said of the France Football Federation's technical director. "He has the power to change everything and anything, I haven't got that." The clubs, however, feel the FA should stick to coaching badges and grass roots schemes, as the professional game knows better. The governing body's technical team is desperate to revamp the existing coaching and player development structure set up by former FA technical director Howard Wilkinson's Charter for Quality in 1997. It was that document that put paid to the FA's own academy at Lilleshall and brought in the current system of academies - of which there are now 41 - and their less expensive relatives, the centres of excellence. Brooking, Wilkinson and almost every coach in the game will tell you the original plan needs updating. Who takes the lead in that process and who oversees its implementation is another matter entirely. In 2005, the clubs - unhappy with the FA's perceived meddling - asked Richard Lewis, the chief executive of the Rugby Football League, to conduct a review of the academy system. That review was published in July of this year but further action has been conspicuous by its absence. Brooking, who admitted he did not see the need for the review at the time but welcomed its findings, said he was now eager for it to be implemented. A source close to the Lewis Review negotiations told BBC Sport that there was "85% agreement" on what should happen next but the main sticking point was on the "corporate governance issue" - namely, who should run player development in this country. An announcement on the result of these negotiations is expected early in 2008 and a number of "quick wins" can be expected. Those are believed to be a harmonisation of standards across the leagues, more emphasis on improving coaching, more age-specific work, a relaxing of the rules concerning matches and a loosening of the loan system to give youngsters more first-team chances further down the pyramid. For Brooking, these changes are long overdue. And regardless of how the system is regulated in the future, the footballing knight is worried it will all come too late for a lost generation of English players. "I think a lot of older players in the system are damaged goods because technically they're not able to cope with the demands," he conceded. "If you can't play it from the back, or in tight areas, it doesn't matter how good the coach is, you're not going to make it."

This is a hot topic at the moment and rightly so considering we are not producing English managers of a high enough quality and we are not producing young players enough who can compete with their foreign counterparts. But here are some interesting articles from the BBC site on this subject: Burton decision: Establishing a national football centre at Burton is as important as the appointment of Fabio Capello as England coach, says Sir Trevor Brooking. Brooking, the Football Association's development director, has urged his bosses to approve the much-delayed project at Thursday's board meeting. "Burton is certainly up there with anything else we're going to do," said the FA's development director. "If we don't get it right the England coach's job will get that much harder." BBC Sport understands that supporters of the project, which is in Staffordshire, are confident it will get the go-ahead on Thursday, albeit in a scaled-down version of the original plans. But there remains significant opposition on the FA board, most notably from those within the professional game. The leading Burton sceptics are believed to be Football League chairman Lord Mawhinney and Premier League chairman Sir David Richards. Mawhinney's hostility to the NFC project is believed to have been stiffened by his annoyance that the FA canvassed opinion on Burton from the 72 Football League clubs without his knowledge. The governing body has been forced to apologise for this diplomatic gaffe. And Richards has always been unconvinced about the scheme's purpose, value for money and venue. He, like Mawhinney, is an advocate of smaller, regional bases that would support the work already done by the clubs' academies and centres of excellence. Thursday's meeting will involve FA commercial director Jonathan Hill presenting four scenarios to the 12-man board - go ahead with the NFC as planned, approve a scaled-down version, redevelop the site with a partner or scrap the scheme entirely. Despite the dissenting voices, a more modest interpretation of the original blueprint is expected to get the board's approval - although there is a chance the final nod will not come until after the FA's new, independent chairman is in place next year. For Brooking, the green light cannot come soon enough, as he views Burton as a key component of the "root and branch" changes he wants to make to the way we produce footballers in this country. Hailed as the English equivalent of French football's Clairefontaine or Italy's Coverciano, the NFC was intended to be the training base for all England teams - from the U16s to the senior side - and act as the focal point for the FA's coaching and player development work. "I think we all believe we should have a hub site, a catalyst to pull all this together," stated the 59-year-old. "The debate has been going on for a while but you would like to think that it could be taken to the next stage. "It's for the board to decide but it would certainly help in the overall picture of what we're trying to do. Our regional and national coaches don't have a base." Brooking is not opposed to the concept of regional bases - and points out that the French Football Federation has now opened eight "mini Clairefontaines" around the country - but is adamant that Burton must come first. "If you get the green light then you can look at what needs to be put in place at Burton," he said. "There are lots of options. Is it just a one-off and do you link it with the academies that are already out there? Or do you need a couple of regional centres too, or more? "Or you can tap into the English Institute of Sport and UK Sport outlets?" Interestingly, one of the more vocal advocates of the need for an English 'Clairefontaine' has been Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. "It is crucial. You cannot imagine that in 2007 a federation of the size of England has no headquarters and no grounds to develop their whole football education," said the Frenchman. If Burton is approved, a business plan could be agreed by February and construction of the NFC's main buildings could start, with a target completion date of 2010. The bill is believed to have risen from £30m six years ago to £80m now. First mooted in former FA technical director Howard Wilkinson's 1997 Charter for Quality, the NFC started to take shape in 2001 when 350 acres of Staffordshire countryside were purchased and plans were drawn up. But a series of delays, primarily caused by the governing body's Wembley-related financial problems, culminated in a decision to halt construction in 2004 - two years after the NFC was originally supposed to open - with only the basic infrastructure and pitches completed. The project has been in limbo ever since, with some FA board members calling for the governing body to cut its losses and sell Burton. This would result in a considerable loss as over £20m has been spent already and the site's re-sale value is believed to be in the region of £5m. For Wilkinson, the man who started it all, the time for debate has passed. "I wouldn't be personally offended if they want to change the place or the buildings," the 64-year-old former Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday manager told BBC Sport. "What matters to me, and others, is that we do something. We have to stop talking about Burton and switch our minds on to the concept of education and the need for a centre that is a focal point of that education. In terms of the long-term future of football in this country, the decision on Burton is more crucial than the decision on who should manage England. "We have to leave all personal and political considerations aside and get this right. It's critical that we have a National Football Centre and it's critical that the National Football Centre embodies a philosophy that can take us forward. "It's a no-brainer for me. The main function of any governing body is to educate and develop. It's crucial to the lifeblood of any sport. That has to be the priority and you cannot take risks with it or it will come back to haunt you."

Yup, the point Clement made about them fielding 3 U19's is like us fielding Hutchinson, Bertrand and Cork is spot on and the exact reason that Academy football is all about the development of the players rather than results. Although we had plenty of England youth internationals in our team too, but i am sure at a younger level.

Good point, with something like 400 teams taking part we should be sending a strong scouting team over there for sure. Although i am not too sure on the rules of signing young american players, i would assume as they are non EU there would be the same work permit problems as you get with South American players.

The Chelsea youth team's final match of 2007 ended in defeat after a strong second-half display could not overcome two goals conceded in the first period. With the FA Youth Cup win over Stevenage having taken place only two days ago, the line-up included the players who had not been involved in that match and Chelsea started this weekend's league game well. After three minutes, Adam Phillip, scorer of the winner on Thursday, hit the post but from that point on for the rest of the half, the young Blues didn't play well. The lead was gifted to Southampton on 11 minutes when a Nana Ofori-Twumasi throw-in was intercepted, leading to a simple goal. The home side went 2-0 up on 30 minutes when Jake Thompson, an England youth international, got down the right, crossed and the chance was taken at the near post. After the break, a very strong claim for a penalty was turned down on the hour; then on 70 minutes, a good breakaway move set up a chance for Jacob Mellis before two minutes later, Fabio Borini hit the bar with a header. The Chelsea goal came on 73 minutes following the award of a dubious penalty. Jacob Mellis's shot was saved but he netted the rebound. On 81 minutes there was a fantastic save from Gaël Kakuta after a great breakaway move before unfortunately the game ended on a sour note. A strong tackle on Chelsea's Frank Nouble (pictured) only received a yellow card but a couple of minutes later, Tom Taiwo lunged into a tackle and received straight red. At 2-1 and with 10 men, Chelsea continued to push forward in an effort to save the game but were undone on by a counter-attack when Thompson cut inside and fired into the top corner. Just before that goal, Southampton had been reduced to 10 men as well after a second yellow for a bad tackle on Mellis. 'It was a classic game of two halves,' reports youth team coach Paul Clement, 'but we didn't take our chances in the second-half and played poorly in the first and got punished for it. 'Southampton pressed us early on, were much more aggressive than us and though our back players got on the ball and had to do a lot of defending, our midfielders and front three couldn't get hold of the ball and created very little. 'We made two changes at half-time in an attempt to push the team forward more and from then on we dominated. There was no consistency over the decisions on the fouls at the end. 'Southampton were fielding three under 19s to our none and that does make a difference. It would be the same as us playing Sam Hutchinson, Ryan Bertrand and Jack Cork which we would never do. When you are good enough to play in the Football League Championship, there is no point in playing in the youth team.' Chelsea Niclas Heimann, Nana Ofori-Twumasi ©, Jack Saville (Jacob Mellis), Jeffrey Bruma, Billy-Joe King; Tom Taiwo, Jordan Tabor, Daniel Philliskirk; Nikki Ahamed (Gaël Kakuta), Fabio Borini, Adam Phillip (Frank Nouble). Source: Chelsea FC

Of course it is a marketing move, put for the U16's it will be a great trip for them and they will enjoy playing against their American counterparts. The Disney Sports complex in Orlando is f**king massive and if we can get more of a presence over there that is only a good thing. But the boys will need to win the games to get the desired impact, but we have some good players at U16's level.

Well put it this way, with the difficulty in finding top class strikers in January we could do a hell of alot worse that sign him on a free in January................

Terry, Ballack, Drogba and Carvalho are not exactly softies though, their injuries have been pretty bad too. Transfers in January are an absolute MUST and also players of the right quality because you do feel that we are lacking in quality somewhat on our backup players. Every team goes through injuries of that there is no doubt, but it is the constant injuries to the key players that is f**king us up. Not once this season have been able to put out our first choice defence let alone anything near our first choice 11. I think you are absolutely right FB and there is a case of us being targeted now, also we are seriously lacking in protection from refs and our players can get kicked all over the place without any punishment.

The last 2 seasons we have almost been crippled (literally) by injuries. But not just injuries, injuries to our most key players, and not just injuries to our key players, but serious injuries to our key players. With JT, Drogba, Carvalho, Ballack and even Malouda out at the moment with injury we are missing some of our biggest players. And it has been the same for this whole season and last season too. We never seem to pick up the injuries to our fringe players, obviously that is mainly because they are not playing many games. How many of the other big 4 teams cope without their key players? Well we saw how Arsenal coped recently without their players, and Man Utd at the start of the season struggled without theirs, and Liverpool are fooked without Torres and Gerrard. Last season it was incredible how we managed to achieve what we did with such crippling injuries to key players compared to our rivals and at the moment we are managing to stay in touch with bad injuries again.

Chelsea's Academy side will be heading stateside later this month to compete in Disney's Soccer Showcase, America's most prestigious youth soccer tournament, which features some 400 clubs. The under16 team will compete against local youth clubs from the Chicago, Atlanta and New York areas beginning on December 27 at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. The announcement follows the long-term partnership between Chelsea and Disney's Wide World of Sports which was announced earlier this year to help promote soccer at all levels in the United States. Under the terms of the four-year agreement, we are the Official Professional Soccer Club of Disney's Wide World of Sports and presenting sponsor of Disney's Soccer Showcase Series. 'Giving our Academy players an opportunity to come to the US to compete against some of the best American teams, helps each individual player learn and develop,' said Academy manager Neil Bath. 'Our goal at Chelsea is not only to hopefully produce some of the best young players in the UK and the world but also produce ambassadors for Chelsea off the field. Participating in programmes like Disney's Soccer Showcase will help us achieve success and also increase their experience of cultures and societies outside the UK,' he added. 'Chelsea's world class Academy structure helps players maximise their potential and drives self-sufficiency for the club. It also promotes long-term loyalty and commitment to Chelsea among those who eventually make it as a professional,' Bath said. 'Our partnership is a natural fit, aligning the world's foremost soccer club with the leading youth soccer tournament in America. Through this new relationship, we hope to expand the visibility of the sport for young soccer players in the United States and internationally,' said Mike Millay, director of sports events for Disney Sports Attractions. We have also been to the USA for our pre-season preparations in the last four seasons, continuing our commitment to the growth of Chelsea Football Club as a global brand. Chelsea Academy scheduled matches at Disney's Soccer Showcase: Thursday, December 27 at 6:30 p.m., Chelsea Football Academy v Sockers FC Chicago Friday, December 28 at 2:30 p.m., Chelsea Football Academy v Concorde Fire Elite (Atlanta) Saturday, December 29 at 8:30 a.m., Chelsea Football Academy v NY Hota Academy 91 (New York) Source: Chelsea FC

What a seriously annoying match. For a start it was just typical for the Arse to be able to put out their strongest possible side against us, and then for that dirty little s**t Eboue to crock JT. And then add into that some more woeful finishing from us... I felt we was unlucky not to come away from there with a draw, without Cech's mistake Arsenal just never looked like scoring until we chucked everyone forward at the end with just 1 back. We created the better chances but didn't take them very well at all, the best both comming from Sheva rockets. With our 5/6 missing best starting 11 players in the team for the whole game you would have seriously fancied us to win.

There was highlights to the game on the FA website.....

Exactly, his commitment to the club is there for all to see. The part about him being susceptible to interfering is possible, although a lot of what has been said is just paper talk - it was a mistake to appoint Grant 100% when we could have got a top class manager in no doubt. For me that is his only mistake, and even that at the moment is paying off.

Yes, and he can take his nice transfer kitty with him that has rebuild this team into a genuine World Class team, his brand new training facitiy - we can go back to the run down dump at harlington, the brand new state of the art training building with top of the range medical facilities, and then he can take the newly developed world class academy as well.....Please, Roman has done more for this club than anyone - every other team would sell their souls to have Roman owning their club.. And here we are wanting to get rid of him.I am pretty sure that other teams do not regard us as a joke - no one still would want to draw us in the CL and Arsenal and Man Utd will be watching their backsides in the league as well.

Not much chance of us finishing mid table though is there? No matter who we had come in to take charge of us i would never have thought we would have done as well as we have.The best thing Grant has done is hire Ten Cate, he will make a difference. All i am concerning myself with is watching and Enjoying Chelsea playing and winning - Grants interviews and press conferences? Just dressing that i couldn't care less about.

The good thing about playing the Arse at the Emirates is that they will open up and have to take the game to us, and that is where we will be able to exploit them. We will need to have our best players on form for this one, Maka will be holding to give us the extra insurance, but Frank, Joe and Sheva will need to be on form for us to be able to give them a good game.

Yeah i am sure i would have done, but i probably would have stopped laughing if they started winning titles. And i am sure the Arsenal and Liverpool fans won't be laughing that hard if we manage to beat them in the next 2 games.....I am not at all "pro Grant", what i am is pro Chelsea and if we are winning i couldn't give a monkeys who is in charge. I have said right from the start i didn't and don't want him in charge of our team - but i am enjoying watching us play and winning at the moment and i have nothing to be upset about.

Being a great player doesn't mean you will be a great coach.Hate him as much as you like, i am not trying to change your mind. The point i am making is that it isn't as if he is completely Alien to the world of football management and has been around it a very long time.

Gullit, Vialli, Hoddle.......Even Docherty and Sexton were new to management and hadn't managed at a club close to ours when they came

At the end of the day if we are successful with him in charge he will earn a big reputation from that, of course. Also it's not as if he has NEVER coached football before, he has been doing it most of his life, OK the highest point up till now was managing Israel and he certainly shouldn't have been considered for the Chelsea job, but we have hired a lot more underqualified people in the past.