MHL 47

From Eddie himself via a very close and trusted Chelsea supporting friend of mine is that one of his main responsibilities now is the monitoring and development of the loanees, including whether the loan placement is proving to be suitable. This ought to stop/halt instances such as the one that occurred with Josh last season. There was nobody carrying out this function prior to Eddie's appointment into the role.

No, what I was inferring was that it was no secret that Jose greatly, greatly admired Frank and perhaps if JM or his representatives have been talking to us, then they may have indicated that keeping Frank was very important.Although relatively new to us Mata is just simply sublime, he's been far better this season than last for me, and last season wasn't too shabby! The brilliance of Mata's performances this season thus far maybe being watered down in the eyes of some by the 'troubled' times we've had. If there's one player you should try and get to watch live it's Juan, it'll be worth the airfare, trust me.

I don't generally read the newspapers, they're full of red or claret and blue loving sports/football editors who can't get past their own only too obviously biased views. I do think the one thing the Chelsea FC board do well is keep contract and transfer business quiet, until its very, very close to being a done deal, hence why I'm hopeful something is close to being sorted with SFL's contract. If I'm in ultra positive mode, maybe a new deal for Frank might also mean that a return of the modern day king of Stamford Bridge might also be in the offing?

Notice how quiet it's been recently regarding Frank's contract? I wouldn't be surprised if we hear something positive over the next fortnight, maybe wishful thinking but when it's publicly quietest is when these scenarios are moving on in the background - in my opinion.

Crespo was class, such a shame his family and in particular his wife couldn't settle in England following her miscarriage. There's plenty of real examples: Jokanovic is a relatively modern example, Ben Haim was one I couldn't understand. Going back a bit - Dave Mitchell, Alan Mayes, Dale Jasper, Bob Iles, Les Fridge. There's a few more around the 70's and 80's that you wouldn't believe how bad they were.

Another thing from last nights international match was that Oscar was the outstanding player for Brazil in my view. His form genrally under Benitez has been poor and nowhere near the standard seen last night. TFSW is somehow making our good players look poor.

Went to Wembley last nght with a Colleague and a Client. My colleague is a very good and long standing friend of the owner and MD of a company who has sponsered Chelsea for a long-time, not in a massive Samsung way but they've been around the club for over 20 years. Anyway and it's gossip I suppose, but he has said that the rumour that Jose is coming back is very strong, on the downside it probably won't be until the close season and Benitez will probably stay till then.

It's a 'Common' name

I'm going tonight, first England game I've attended in 20 odd years. Corporate gig and we're taking some clients, but I've got to say I've more interest in our Brazilians than the England team in general. I'll give Ash a cheer and probably be in a minority, shame really he's been the most consistent England player in a decade. It makes you laugh, he gets lambasted for the money issue when he was at L'Arse but most other people in a similar situation i.e. promised a pay rise to a certain level and then told you're not getting it would do the same thing.

There was supposedly a CCTV video of her 'chomping' on a 'Pancake', Stevie also gets a ballad sung to him, mostly by the Evertonians, relating to the parenthood of one of his children. She'd also allegedly had an affair with an ex-Forest and Celtic player as well.

The tales that were told about that non-transfer were salatious, such as Dalglish having to visit scouse criminals houses and asking them not to pay Stevie and his family a 'visit'.

Not 'gutted' about not getting anyone really. Disappointed we appeared not to go in big for Rooney. Disappointed we saw so little of Pierluigi Casiraghi, if he'd have stayed fit we might of got really close to winning the league that season. Going back a long way we were rumoured to be really close to signing George Best and he wanted to come here, probably for the women & boozing available on the Kings Road at the time. Would've been great to have seen him in a Chelsea shirt, either at the time or latterly on re-runs.

It'll be the longest break most will have had FROM him!!We've players going all over the world, the Spaniards are playing a friendly versus Uruguay in of all places Doha. Not only will they be knackered from the heat and travelling, they'll also be kicked black and blue by that bunch of assassins. Not Torres though, he's had the Spanish archer. We've also a bit of a habit of not playing well after an international set of matches, so better get some more of them anti-depressants ready just in case.

And never to blame, for anything, anytime.He and his family still lives in Scouseland by the way.

There are theories that the development of younger players, the buying of raw talent, development and their sales to other clubs is in place to firstly pay for the Academy and then to turn in a profit, these profits can be included in FFP calculations. Plus if we do happen to turn up a diamond through the Academy for our first team, we'd save a substantial transfer fee.I'm not sure whether Courtois will ever play for us, he could get tied into a deal (with Torres) for Falcao or the club may decide to cash in on Petr Cech before his value drops. If I were Courtois I most certainly wouldn't want to be a second choice now!

Well keeping with the 'Roman' theme, you've gotta liken TFSW to Nero, whilst Rome's burning (our season/team) and chaos ensues, he's fiddling and blaming and burning Christians (blaming anyone but his big fat useless self)!

For those interested, up until the time prior to RDM's departure the club did no have anyone directly responsible for overseeing the loanees, their progress, development or in fact discussing matters or concerns Chelsea may have with the way the loaned players are being treated. Since Robbie's departure they do have a person in that position and I hope this sees an end to completely pointless scenarios, such as Josh's at Swansea turned out to be.

I was thinking of the Chelsea FC nation, of course ;-)

So in order: You know the answer is only one, I know the answer is only one but you don't want to say so, because we both know that the point you're making isn't supported by the answer. There have been a number who've gone on to decent professional careers in lower leagues, Jack Corks gotten himself in or around the first team at Southampton but possibly won't last there long. Thus far all the investment has done for us in terms of producing players is Ryan Bertrand who's second choice left-back and second choice left-sided midfield, promising perhaps but not and won't be a first team regular for us for at least a season and a half. It's not a bell-ringing, flag waving success to my mind, especially when they've been spending big money on 'known' teenagers as well as taking kids through the age-groups. The current age group that includes players between the 'Youth-Cup', the NextGen Series and the U21 groups show some promise and Piazon and to a lesser degree Ake have at least set foot onto the pitch for the First-Team. Believe me Ake is miles away from being ready for First Team action as is Feruz, who we did not develop, we nipped in when a flaw in the FA's recruitment system allowed us to pay £300k for him at 16 years old. Saville, Swift, Baker are a few promising players but again nowhere near the standard required for our first team. On to Emenalo, he's Technical Director not a DofF and his stated responsibilities would be taken up at the other clubs by either DofF, Managers Assistants or Technical Advisors - He'd not get a job with any of them, why hadn't his 'talent' been snapped up before? He's supposed to and I quote from the clubs statement "supports the work of the first team manager, leading the club's international and domestic scouting network, and assists in driving the technical programmes of our Academy and international youth network". What scouting was required for Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Luiz - Hardly any, known quantities. What other scouting may he have done? He may have assisted with the younger teams but we've a good selection of experienced Coaches and Neil Bath already in place, so I have my doubts as to his technical input. As you no doubt can tell I have grave reservations about his talent, to use your F1 analagy, you wouldn't have a mechanic in your Ferrari F1 team, who's only previous experience was with second-hand LDV Vans, in short he's been over-promoted and lacks the necessary experience to bridge the gap. Mike Forde is our Director of Football Operations who has no playing experience at any professional level, less than Emenalo. Do you know who's in charge of Loanees and development of them? I do from personal knowledge and it sure isn't Emenalo. In terms of your comments about stability etc, I can see where you're coming from but again show me where the 'model' being suggested by you has worked long-term in the top leagues in Europe, I can think of one club. Italian Clubs were being forced down the route of development because of commercial constraints, but after 2-3 seasons of frugality they again now appear to be 'chasing the dragon' with pots of money. Applaud those who do good jobs by all means, but applaud those for whom the jury is still most definately out and who have plenty to prove - No way

The Hope For The Day I read somewhere that Benitez was given two days off after the game on Saturday (hopefully giving the Owner/Board a chance to review who to appoint when they sack him). TFSW (he's no longer a 'waiter' for me, I'm sure most of you can choose the appropriate word beginning with W that I've substituted!) comes into work this morning and is duly told to remove his posterior from the Managers chair. Around mid-day the news reaches the media, a national half-day of rejoicing begins for Chelsea fans. Then reality hit and I realised the twat is still here!

Answers in order of your queries: Let Jose or any competent Manager/Coach assess that. The Youth Development has been fine through to the end of the'Youth' period. I'd ask you this, how many have developed into First Team regulars at either Chelsea or any other top dozen PL clubs, I suspect you'll know the answer to this, but answer it for me anyway. You'll have your answer as to how well the 'system' is working in producing First-Team players for us. I can only think of one in the last 7-8 seasons. Therefore any 'system' we may have is worth reviewing? If you never try, you'll never know, if Jose pisses off again after three years how much worse off do you think we'd be than we are now, with a good D of F in place, not an Arnesen or Grant or an Emenalo but a person with that has the club at heart, I'd doubt we'd be any worse place than we are now and probably alot better. There's been too many people willing to take chunks of Roman's money without offering enough back. How many of the top eight clubs in England would Emenalo get a job at, do you think he'd get the Man City job, would SAF take him on, how about Moyes at Everton, Rodgers at L'Pool, Wenger at Arsenal - Again, and I'm not having a go, tell me where he'd get the same gig. Roman's been taken for a bit of a fool in football by people he's put trust in. I think the clubs signings have been OK, however they've missed out big-time in some key areas - a replacement for Makelele, Essien, a Right-Back and Two Forwards. So in my view they've lacked depth of vision, albeit picking up Mata (superb), Hazard and Oscar (promising), 'Dave' - the jury's still out for me. If your desired goal is to have all squad's playing the same way then the Manager dictates the terms, not the Youth-Team Coach, tail wagging dog! My opinion is based on what I perceive and I hear, you haven't offered your opinion yet, what's yours and why?

The match fixing being referred to is betting related and as such I don't think we'll find that it's got any links to Ovrebo. Now whether there was mental or moral corruption/pressure being put onto Ovrebo from other sources, that's an entirely different question. I'd suggest that maybe the FA or the Professional Match Officials organisations have questions to answer related to very recent mental/moral corruption, if you've watched us since Clattenburg you'll see we very much get the rough end of decisions. I've not see a home side get less in the way of 50/50 type decisions than we have since then, never mind what we don't get away from home.

Sometimes and especially when you are dealing with extremely talented and self-confident people - Jose for instance, you may require someone who he can communicate his requirements to and not someone who he percieves as not one of his team. Remember when Avram Grant was appointed and the comments then. Anyway I wouldn't appoint anyone to replace Emenalo, let Jose bring in his own people to deal with scouting and let the Acadamy Manager Manage.Let them have a dual responsibilty to the First-Team Manager and a D of F, if in fact the Owner/Board want a D of F. I'm happy to offer an opinion on Emenalo, an over-promoted networker just like the fella who brought him in the first place i.e. Grant, friendly with Grant and posed him no threat and was an extra set of ears and eyes for him. He'd be lucky to get a job at any other Premier League side, but that's just my opinion.

No, I think that what Emenalo primarily does is what it say on the tin i.e.http://www.chelseafc.com/chelsea-article/article/859057/title/michael-emenalo---technical-director However there is/are people advising on transfers and targets and if it is not Emenalo, who is it? For what it's worth, the information given to me is that he's one of them.

My own thoughts are that Roman and Jose could get over whatever it was that happened between them, time is also a great healer - as is the fact that Roman's tried almost everyone else out there and might be thinking that 'the grass ain't no greener". 100% that there could be a problem re: control over other matters, I suppose that depends on Jose's potential relationship with whoever it is will have a say in incomings and outgoings, Frank Arnesan and Jose were reportedly clashing at the time. I'd have liked Butch Wilkins in a D of F role (that won't happen with Gourlay there) or a Pat Nevin i.e. someone who poses Jose no threats and is able to listen, communicate and has the best interests of the Football Club at heart and not their own personal interests first i.e. saving and perpetuating their (currently) overpaid existence.