Chelseapony

In honor of the 10 year anniversary of Roman buying the team. Some stories and excerpts from books. ESPN: Roman's decade of dominance at Stamford Bridge Excerpt from The Roman Conquest by Harry Harris Excerpt from Game Changer by Mihir Bose.

I feel very lucky. Being a johnny-come-lately I only became a Chelsea supporter in 2010 so I missed out on the Mourinho era. I always regretted not becoming a football fan earlier so I could've experienced what it was like to have Jose Mourinho as the manager of my team. Well now I've been granted a second chance! And I'm sure someone's mentioned this but funny how things work out: If Di Matteo was sacked at the end of the season and Mourinho took his place it'd be a little bittersweet, but since Benitez replaced Di Matteo then Mourinho replaced Benitez we've gotten all the bad feelings over Robbie's sacking out of the way early so now we can experience nothing but pure joy.

The following people in the Chelsea hiearchy should be fired for all that's gone wrong this season. Eugene Tenenbaum "Roman’s right hand man, key director, and closest aide at Chelsea" Bruce Buck CFC Chairman Marina Granovskaia "Abramovich’s personal assistant who, to some, runs Chelsea, at least certain executive aspects of the clubs inner workings." Michael Kevin Emenalo CFC Technical Director Piet De Visser "Abramovich’s personal ‘scout’" Ron Gourlay CFC Chief executive Source Get some new drinking buddies Roman.

You're really equating this with your wife cheating on a husband or lousy friends? The Penn State child rape scandal, that's a reason to stop supporting a team, which in fact most Penn State fans didn't (for better or worse). What are we talking about? A owner who likes to fire managers frequently? Is that so outrageous? The guy pumps money into this club, raising it to a level unprecedented in its history and you all are upset because Roman fires managers frequently? People need to get a grip. I realize it's easy to post something in the heat of the moment but "I won't support the club", that's a scarlett letter. I cannot consider anyone as a real Chelsea fan who says that. That's like saying "I wish you were never born" to your kids, even in the heat of the moment that is unforgiveable. If God made you an offer last season that Chelsea would win the Champions League but the price you paid was the embarassment of Roman firing Robbie Di Matteo 20 (howmany) games into the next season wouldn't you laugh at how easy that decision was? Ungrateful, ungrateful, ungrateful.

No, because if you're saying you're going to quit supporting the club because of this you're not a real fan.

Interesting article on Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky feud in Vanity Fair magazine.

I'm watching a MLS game and I've noticed Kansas City doesn't have a kit sponsor. I honestly don't understand why they (or other clubs who don't have a sponsor) leave that space blank. I mean I knows its tradition or something but leaving it blank with just the club crest on the upper right just looks bland. Why not have "Kansas City" lettering on the chest like NBA teams have? Same with English clubs, if ever the day comes when kit sponsors are abolished why not have "Chelsea FC" across the chest of CFC kits instead of leaving it blank?

Michael Jordan, called one of his younger teammates a "faggot" when he was a player with the Wizards. Was that wrong? Yes. But would it have been neccessary to label Jordan a homophobic and say he's disgraced his legacy and have the police file charges, and have this whole media storm, and raise this whole issue of homophobia in the NBA and professional sports? NO. It was reported, there was some controversy but it faded quickly. The player he called a "faggot" wasn't actually gay but I'm sure his feelings were hurt (I think it was reported he cried) so that doesn't make it any less heinous than calling Anton Ferdinand (who was saying some nasty things of his own) whatever Terry was accused of. Also if it sounds like I'm willing to go to extreme lengths to defend John Terry, it's because I am. I don't mind being a shameless apologist for John Terry. I'm a Portland Trail Blazers fan, I've had to go through a lot more embarassing player incidents than this for a team that's won far far less. I've had my team sign a player that was recently convicted of forcing his nanny to perform oral sex on him, in other words sexual assault. Blazers players insulting the fans and saying they don't matter, drunk driving, smoking marijuana, dog fighting, one player sucker punching another in practice, a (black) player calling his (black) coach a n*****, and one player throwing a towel at a teammate in front of a national tv audience. So if you'll excuse me if I think Ashley Cole calling the FA twats on his Twitter or the John Terry Anton Ferdinand incident is small potatoes. Maybe I'm just a terrible person, but my tolerance of athletes misbehavior is very high. It'll take a lot more than this for me to turn on John Terry. John Terry's a disgrace? Please. Maybe it is a god idea for London to have a NFL team, then the english media can see what REAL controversy looks like.

You know this has really bothered me (not just because it involves the Chelsea captain) and I've had this thought and I really couldn't find the right words to express it. Then it kinda came to me. The real issue I see it is not racism or at least it's not the entire picture. It's like saying the United States has a glock 22 problem instead of a gun problem. "Racism" is merely one piece of the problem which is abusive chanting and abusive trash talking in English football. Why is insults about race especially taboo? Because of the historical baggage of the slave trade, colonialzation, segregation, etc. Take that all way, let's just say we lived in a world where the atlantic slave trade, Nazis or Jim Crow never happened, strip it all away and what is racist abuse? It's merely making fun of someone's physical attributes, also cultural attributes based on what they look like they're from. So forgetting the historical baggage is calling someone "Hey you black f***!" wrong? Yeah, but so is calling someone a "fat f***" Or for that matter insulting someone's mother etc. Football fans don't make monkey noises because they're "racist" in the extreme sense of the word. It's just another way to get under a person's skin. Like you bring up Wayne Rooney prostitution thing. I'm not saying it's not wrong, but to link that with the real RACIST RACIST stuff that happened in the past is not logical. The problem is more about inappropriate chanting not just racist chanting. Like I said, racism is merely one weapon, like a glock 22. The real issue is abusive chanting to footballers period and also abusive from one footballer to another. NOT JUST RACIST ONES. Also I find it kinda laughable how now there is extreme overreaction to "racism". But what I mean is where was this lovely sentiment against racism when it was like ACTUALLY NEEDED. Nobody gave a sh** against racism when England had India as a colony and treated Indians like 2nd class citizens, or when England used African laborers like slaves or when England was bombarding China's coast, addicting them to opium and treating Chinese people like inferior beings. Oh right everybody was racist back then, now present day we're so vigilant over racism, god forbid some footballer make some racist insult and we've got to stop John Terry before England becomes Nazi Germany/Jim Crow Southern America. Really it's punishing John Terry that's lynchpin to saving the western world from reverting to our racist past. Really I'm not writing this to defend John Terry, it's the complete disgust at the media and people in general to turn a issue like racism and completley miss the point entirely and turn it into a absolute joke. Cliches and sanctimonious bullsh** rather than a honest look at the issue.

NY Times does a story on John Terry. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/sports/soccer/john-terry-chelseas-dark-knight.html LOL we're the Yankees.

http://epltalk.com/2012/10/26/fox-soccer-and-espn-drop-out-of-us-bidding-war-for-epl-tv-rights-nbc-universal-is-frontrunner http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2012/10/26/EPL.aspx As an American fan I'm shocked. This is huge. I can't decide whether for good or worse but it's big news.

Really dissapointed in Torres. Not in his performance but his reaction after being subbed, sauntering off into the tunnel like that. I cannot stand that kind of behavior. After we bent over backwards to reassure him and build the team around him, not even getting another striker the least Torres can do is show some leadership and maturity. I don't know what his motivation was for that but perception is reality. He just needs to put on a optimistic face for the sake of team no matter what his personal feelings are. As long as he plays good it doesn't matter, but it'd be nice if Torres was the kind of player I want to support and not feel like I have to support because he's on my team. It's incredible how the guy wins a Champions League, FA Cup and a European Championship in one year and he still looks so sullen and miserable sometimes.

http://soccernet.esp...1133101?cc=5901 Can't help but be impressed by this description of MU's owners. Basically the Glazers act as a de facto salary cap for United. As much success as MU had achieved during the Glazers ownership, MU would've won more, (6 PL titles instead of 4, 1 more European Cup?) But because of the debt they've saddled plus the fact they dont like to spend much they've put a leash on MU. Imagine someone like Roman Abramovich owning MU (which he actually tried to do before buying Chelsea). If that had happened MU would go on a spending spree every year the way PSG did this year. So in some weird twisted way the horrible ownership of the Glazers benefit the PL.

http://espn.go.com/s...irt-sponsorship So mad about the United-Chevrolet deal. So the company gets bailout money from the American government and then they spend part of that on a MU sponsorship. Also the guy who negotiated that deal for Chevrolet was fired prob because the deal was so ridiculous. Bunch of clowns running Chevrolet. FFP is a joke, you can get rid of the future Paris St Germains, Chelseas and Manchester Cities, that's one side of the coin, the other side is the established brands (because they're not clubs anymore they're brands) like Barca, Real Madrid and Manchester United going on a financial arms race to see who can make the most money no matter how ridiculous. IPO's, giant island theme parks in United Arab Emirates, etc.

We're all Manchester United followers apparently. http://espn.go.com/s...-michael-bertin If you've seen a read, talked about, watched a MU game you're a follower by their definition. And a lot of the media equate the word "follower" with "fan". That's where they got that "659 million fans" from.