Superblue

Disagree I think City have the means to suffocate us and will be confident with the way they've beaten us over both games this season. Liverpool have played us 3 times this season - couldn't beat us in front of the kop against 10 men, couldn't beat us when going 2 up at the Bridge and we were very much the better team in the Carabao Cup. I think the way they like to play, gives up more opportunities and spaces then City offer. We need to beat Palace first but either of them are going to be extremely hard and we'll be underdogs. However given the key injuries we've had this season, that wretched winter/covid, having to go off and play the World Club Cup and all the recent furore over being sanctioned and new ownership, I think 3rd place and the two trophies in the bag already is a very good season. FA Cup would be just that extra sweetener. We've evolved from last season, Tuchel is still finding out things about this squad and I believe there's more levels to come over time. We've become extremely hard to beat under him, we just need to improve that consistency and convert some of those draws to more wins now. Our season was derailed in December - we need to learn with City and Liverpool that we can't afford a run like that. The odd game is always going to happen but 4 or 5 on the bounce won't cut it.

Incredible mixture of emotions tonight. I was just really hoping for a bit of pride tonight and to go out on our sword but after how the game panned out, really disappointed we had it and lost it. I didn't even think we were that bad last week, especially in the second half and we've basically been knocked out by a couple of really good goals and a couple of poor mistakes. This Madrid team have been incredibly fortunate to get past PSG and now us, I'd be amazed if they got past City. Really proud of the team tonight though, left it on the pitch. Whoever the new owner is going to be - resign Rudiger and back Tuchel with a couple of additions in the market to go again next season because we're not far off given all the things we've had to experience this year. Pep had 2 summers and over £400m to spend before he got things going with City and Klopp needed 4 seasons to get Liverpool into a position of challenging. The one blessing with new ownership may be that they have the patience to give a manager like Tuchel really backing and support to build something special and long standing here. Hopefully we finish the season strongly, get top 4 wrapped up as soon as possible and get past Palace to make another cup final. I don't want City and Liverpool splitting all the trophies between each other this season, we need that recent FA Cup hoodoo to end.

It's difficult to have a really definitive opinion on the whole situation to be honest because there is a real lack of true information coming out around the bids. It's been widely reported that the Ricketts bid carries no debt and is 100% equity. If that is being reported in such a way, would make you assume that the other bids perhaps are not. But then I would also expect any bids that had any significant form of debt financing included wouldn't have made it this far with Raine. I don't follow the Boston Celtics so I can only rely on more knowledgeable people than myself commenting on his ownership of them. From what it appears he seems pretty good, no real controversy and very much in the background. I'm glad that he has released a statement. Like the Ricketts one, its pretty basic stuff although I think worded in a much more warming and informal tone. But it's still good to at least have this baseline to at least start from because up to this point no one, even in the media, really had any idea of his plans with the bid and it's secrecy felt a little concerning. Ironically I would say now the Broughton bid seems to be the weakest one. After he did some PR rounds a few weeks ago, everything has gone quiet with this and there doesn't appear to be much transparency with the bid as it obviously isn't his money. I personally don't like the idea on this bid of Harris and Blitzer just divesting their Palace shares at will to jump over to us. Ethically this doesn't sit with me well that they're prepared to just dump something with very little notice and our semi final against them this coming week probably doesn't help matters. Ultimately we're not privy to the fine detail of each bid and this is what Raine and the likes of Buck, Marina, etc are paid the big money for. I'm a little worried Raine will push for what earns them the biggest commission (although as it's not necessarily biggest bid wins, their commission may well be factored against biggest bid anyway despite the selected winning one), and the likes of Bruce and Marina may push their own agenda regarding their futures at the club. We just have to trust and place faith across them all that they will make a decision on what is best for our football club in the long term. I'm at a point now though where this has drained and sucked all my appetite out for football this season. Maybe a comeback tonight will get the fires burning again but if I'm honest, I'm just looking forward to this being resolved and the season ending to re-charge over the summer and look forward to a new era at the club.

This seems to be the full statement.

https://news.sky.com/story/Chelsea-fc-sale-celtics-owner-pagliuca-breaks-silence-with-pledge-to-cherish-blues-12588486 Stephen Pagliuca appears to have broken his silence.

Definitely a subject of debate and I guess it largely depends on what would be defined as elite clubs. It's the same really as which players are world class. If you're talking the absolute pinnacle of elite in terms of size, support, success then I think you can only go with a small group of United, Barca, Real Madrid and Bayern. That next rung down the ladder in my opinion is where we are. Difficult to compare our success with say a Juventus or a Liverpool because most of our success has been this era not ones bygone. But in my opinion we are positioned that level down from the very top clubs mentioned above and I'm ok with that and I'm unsure that level could truly be reached within a tenure as short as Roman's from where we were before his arrival. Just a note though I think you've misread my comment. I wasn't saying his achievements at Chelsea couldn't be surpassed. I think the base has been built that we can be taken further. My comments were that Roman taking on that Turkish club he'd never surpass his achievements at Chelsea with what he could achieve with them.

Think it's been extended to Thursday, but with the Easter bank holiday weekend I'd assume nothing will start coming through until well into next week.

All of Havertz goals and assists in the league this season bar one have been against teams 14th or lower, are we using the same basis of argument against him too? Or should we all just have a bit of trust in Tuchel that clearly both are part of what he'd view as his strongest XI? Both are young players with what we hope are their best prime years in front of them playing in Chelsea shirts and are both improving on last seasons numbers. The Lukaku experiment this season I think has proven that we're very much a team where the unit as a whole are a greater sum than its individual parts and we need to be looking at 3, 4, 5 players chipping in with 10+ goals a season as opposed to one pushing 20 goals a season. In Mount and Havertz we have two and we need to find a couple more either from within or through the market in the summer.

Forster has had a really good game despite conceding six. He's had absolutely no help in front of him.

Havertz goal was the perfect snap shot of someone (Werner) who is trying too hard to make things happen and someone (Havertz) who doesn't need to really try at all it's just effortless. Fair play to Werner though, he looks very sharp. Maybe staking a place in the team for midweek? The problem is I don't see Madrid giving space, they'll set up to keep things tight.

Surpass his achievements at Chelsea is as good as guaranteed to never happen. They are a million miles away from what he inherited here, add the league and location it's just not happening. He might over time get them challenging and winning domestically and as a result into the Champions League - would that be deemed as a surpassing at what has happened at Chelsea? Exciting for Goztepe though. It'll put them in a better position than they've ever been before, but the standard of player they will be able to attract won't allow for a quick fix.

Just because they are billionaires doesn't mean they're going to open up their wallets. Joe Lewis is a billionaire, I don't see him overstretching Spurs. Same with Kroenke at Arsenal. Boehly, Wyss and now Walter combined are worth around the same, if not more than Roman so we're hardly looking at desolate buyers and I would expect there is further financial backing if needed within the consortium. They don't need the deepest pockets, the strategy is more important. Especially with the new FFP being mapped out by UEFA, the keys now will be finding better value in the transfer market and driving revenues higher to be able to spend more. It's probably the closest thing we're going to get to a salary or transfer cap in football (albeit it will be driven by individual club's own revenue as opposed to a blanket cap across the board). I have liked this Boehly bid from the beginning. He comes across very well, his track record with other sports teams speaks volumes and there has been no controversy about his bid. It's clear Matt Law is a mouthpiece for them through the media but that's worked in his favour too because he's not had the controversy of the Ricketts but his bid has remained fairly transparent unlike Broughton and Pagliuca. I like the ideas being suggested that Boehly and Walter feel they can bring a number of strategies and ideas from the Dodgers across to Chelsea with regards to data analysis, recruitment, etc. As much as we'll all be indebted to Roman for where he's taken Chelsea over the years, there is no question that there has still at times been frustration with some poor recruitment and a lack of foresight and longer term planning. Someone coming in with fresh ideas to implement on areas perceived as a weakness from the outside can only be a positive. I genuinely believe this bid will boil down to this one or the Ricketts and whilst I'm open to giving the Ricketts bid a chance if it was deemed successful by the decision makers, my choice based on information currently at hand would be this one.

Agree, commit to Havertz and bring Broja back as the alternative, i.e. a more natural striker but someone more mobile and willing to press from the front, whilst also being younger and a lower profile to be a backup for now. If Chelsea really want to back Tuchel, I would take the risk on Dembele for him. His injury history is a big asterisk but when he's fit he is a genuine game changing talent and on a free would help to mitigate those risks. Back in the day I always used to think would I rather 25-30 games a season of Robben or 50-60 games of Kalou. And the same applies here - would I prefer 25-30 games of Dembele or 50-60 games of Werner? For me, Werner and Lukaku probably represent the two most obvious options to be moved on and probably would generate for the club the most money of those deemed dispensable, albeit maybe at a loss on what we bought them for originally. Potentially bringing back Broja and Gallagher and buying Dembele on a free would offer quite a refresh of options within the squad whilst also keeping funds available to help strengthen other areas of the squad which may need it.

I agree. I think tonight may be the last time Tuchel has trust in a big game environment in that Jorginho and Kante combination. For me moving forward it needs to be Kova and one. He has been the only one of our central midfielders to be consistently excellent throughout the season as a whole. I think previously and certainly last season they offered the best mix in midfield but Kante has looked shot in recent times and he's a 31 year old who relies entirely on his athleticism. There could be some big calls this summer. Lukaku and Werner are obvious to look at moving on and bringing in one or two new attacking options but there's a genuine argument that decisions need making on Jorginho and Kante. Both will have 1 year left on their contracts and whilst you don't want to lose too much experience within the group, we do need to look towards the future and get legs in the middle of the park. Would a new owner be willing to make such a big decision, especially with Kante? It's funny regarding the Ricketts and a lot of the complaints about how they run and manage the Cubs because I've seen a few Cubs fans on the Athletic forum actually defending them for making brave decisions for the longer term view by being willing to dispose of players loved at the club but either were over the hill or hadn't been performing.

I was thinking the same with the away goal rule. 3-1 at home does not seem as bad this year as it normally would do. It's a bloody big ask but if we got the first goal over there it really would be game on. The weekend game against Southampton though is critical first to give us some breathing space in the league. That's must win and then we can go to Madrid with a bit more confidence but almost a free hit opportunity.

If we're talking keepers with their feet there's no competition either between Ederson and Allison in my opinion. Ederson is light years above Allison who is also prone to making mistakes and overplaying. I always feel that Mendy thinks he's better than he is on the ball. It's not like much is being asked of him either and on the same note he's better with the ball at his feet than the likes of Cech and Courtois are. But he has the likes of Thiago Silva and Rudiger in front of him who are excellent on the ball. Just give it to them! I still want us to play out the back and not just hoof it away but he holds on to the ball too much too often to try and draw a player out and it's a risk for a player who is decent on the ball but not elite.

Not just that but he also got a lot of stick from media and Madrid fans for years that he wasn't deserving of that spot or was an area the club could improve on. He always seemed to be the fall guy for abuse when the team was struggling. Obviously no taking away from Ronaldo but there's no doubt whatsoever he benefitted from playing alongside Benzema all those years. He's an excellent all round player who has flourished when given the opportunity to be the main man.

Weird game really because I don't think we played that bad and as is usual we were pretty wasteful with our chances. We've been beaten by a world class striker on the absolute top of his game scoring 2 incredible headers and then a complete and utter fuck up. You just can't legislate for a mistake like that, and to be honest I was pretty happy with how the team pushed in the second half despite that mistake killing the atmosphere at a time where it felt we were in the ascendancy. We just needed to take one of those chances to keep us within a goal. If we'd have gone to Madrid 2-1 down I'd have fancied us to at least put the frighteners into them but 2 goals behind against a team of that experience I think will be insurmountable. Tonight's game probably showed up some of our weaknesses which need addressing - lack of depth in defence, especially on that left hand side without Chilwell has killed us since he went down injured, we need new blood in midfield to go in there with Kova. Kante in particular has struggled for form in recent months and Jorginho isn't far behind him with that regard. And then we need to find a way to move Lukaku on in the summer and build our attack around Havertz. To be honest though, everything about Chelsea recently has been draining, especially with regards to the ownership and that's only going to exacerbate now we're showing some signs of wear and struggle on the pitch too. Right now, I'd take top 4 and draw a line under this season and hope to look forward to a new era with an ownership maybe with new ideas and some ambition to push the club on.

The problem is everybody has seen the plans Roman had drawn up and I think it was pretty much unanimous that Chelsea fans loved it. In reality though, talk is it would now cost in excess of £1.5bn and 4 - 5 years to build, it just doesn't seem feasible. Ultimately it may end up actually being the only option but I'd rather other avenues are pursued first and if a stadium renovation can take place without impacting our ability to play at the Bridge and eventually bring us up to say 55,000 capacity I'd be pretty content with that. It should also be noted that an option like this should end up being significantly cheaper if it's possible and if it's true that prospective owners must commit a further £1bn to future fund the club, then it means there should almost certainly be more money available for investment within the squad.

The issues around diversity, politics, etc aren't so much of a worry for me. As things have progressed, the Ricketts bid seems to be either prominently or even entirely based on Tom and Laura. Tom appears to be the least politically active and controversial amongst the males in the family and Laura is a democrat and openly gay (and also a big supporter of the LGBTQ community). I do believe that if the bid centres around these two within the Ricketts part, they will look to ensure the club is distanced from anything the rest of the family may say or be involved in. I'm actually far more concerned with how the Chicago Cubs have been run by them and I know that Tom in particular is viewed as the 'face' within that. The Cubs have been poor in recent years which doesn't help them, but it just seems that they have such a disconnect with the community of Chicago. The day experience is on average the most expensive for fans within the MLB, and they have made a number of decisions in the past which have been unpopular but they've gone ahead anyway. They have to be prepared to buy into the club, the community, the culture and in general the league and the sport. Their past experience with the Cubs does make me worry regarding this.

Some of them are pretty basic statements which you'd expect to be minimum requirements and point 3 could pretty much be anything at their discretion although I'm glad the academy has been referenced, but I'm glad at the very least they've released something to try and quell some fears should they take over. As has been noted on paper, financially, they are probably the strongest bid but we've been needing to know more about their plans for the club. I would have liked there to also be a commitment to retaining and supporting the current management within the different playing areas of the squad - i.e. Tuchel, Hayes and Bath. I would still like all the four remaining parties to lay out both a short term plan and longer term plan for the club if they were to take over. At present the limited information afforded to the supporters (who's opinions were apparently going to be considered and taken into account during this process) has been really quite poor.

Ricketts have released a list of promises today within their bid: List of the Ricketts' promises to Chelsea fans 1. Make no change to the club’s name, badge and crest, or Chelsea blue, without the consent of supporters. 2. Never participate in a European Super League and always protect the integrity and heritage of Chelsea F.C. 3. Commit the resources necessary across all levels of the club to continue winning trophies, including investing in the first team, experienced football leadership and the Academy. 4. Put diversity and inclusion at the heart of the club and fight against any form of discrimination or inequality. 5. Create an Advisory Committee with diverse representation to ensure our decisions are informed by: a former men’s and women’s first team player, members of the CST and Chelsea Pitch Owners, and influential community leaders. 6. Explore every option to redevelop Stamford Bridge and do everything in our power to keep playing in this historic stadium. 7. Match the current commitment to Chelsea F.C. Women and increase the number of women’s matches played at Stamford Bridge. 8. Continue the vital charitable work of the Chelsea Foundation, seeking to use the power of football and sport to motivate, educate and inspire

I know you didn't, if it came across as such I apologise.

I have never met Bruce Buck so can only trust your judgement on him face to face. The few times I have heard him talk, he just doesn't portray someone who I can fully trust. I could be completely wrong but he's the Chelsea chairman and whilst Roman is the owner, he isn't involved in the day to day running of the club. For me, as the chairman, Bruce Buck should shoulder more responsibility for poor decision making than I feel he does. There have been numerous times where the club has shot itself in the foot from a PR perspective and he has to take much of the responsibility for that. Some of the decisions such as the Super League, the Boro game, CPO, etc scream to me complete arrogance and also a lack of respect and consideration for the fans. This is what worries me most about him having potentially a big say in this club's future, I don't think any consideration will be taken for the opposition to the Ricketts bid. None of the bids will be perfect, and likely all of them will result in a change of philosophy from Roman's tenure, but there are 4 bids available and one has staunch and fierce opposition to it. Unless it was absolutely miles clear from the rest as a bid (and if it was then I think it should be presented as such to the fans to see if they'd be willing to reconsider the current stance) then for the harmony and atmosphere around the club, one of the other 3 should be selected instead.