Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire

[bushman 2,043]

"Before he came on" we were regularly in the Champions League and challenging. We weren't a nobody, hovering around mid-table, or lower, we were always there or there abouts, finishing only four points behind Man Ure in 99. We started improving, league and cup wise, mainly under Ruud, then onwards through Vialli. Hoodle did start the upturn, but league placings each of his three years wouldn't really back that up So, with respect, to say we were "nowhere" is miles off reality.

To finish 4 points behind is not good enough. personally, I want titles, trophies & above all good offensive football.

Chelsea must choose new director of football for starters. Emenalo should go back to scouting out players which he is excelling at cos as director he is out of his depth there.

How about someone more suitable for it like Hiddink or Capello when available ?

[Changingman_2000 876]

The game that, arguably, cost us the title in 99'

[Changingman_2000 876]

To finish 4 points behind is not good enough. personally, I want titles, trophies & above all good offensive football.

We all have to start somewhere, Compared to the 70's, 80's and early - mid 90's, finishing 3rd was fucking dream time. We were very much on the up, not "nowhere", far from it.

[bushman 2,043]

We all have to start somewhere, Compared to the 70's, 80's and early - mid 90's, finishing 3rd was fucking dream time. We were very much on the up, not "nowhere", far from it.

I am very sympathetic with it but as I said today´s Chelsea are & should be winning titles as we all are used to.

Times have changed for the better under Roman.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

I read somewhere, a bloke said 'Roman is like a permanent erection'. Couldn't have described it better myself.

[The only place to be 11,313]

So now youre backtracking on Gourlay, as well as Lampard, Buck, and Benitez.

OK lets move on to Emanalo -bloke is a mate/recommendation of the fat sack of shit Grunt, who in turn got his position from puting the cones out at Portsmouth to toadying up to Abramovich. Enough said.

I dont care if theyre ''doing a job as best they can'' -if theyre not up to it, and fucking over a club Ive supported since 1967 they can fuck off

Backtracking? I think that's rather unfair isn't it when you actually read what I've said.

Emenalo - based on what direction the club has taken in regards player acquisition and development, I think he's done some good things. What you've actually written there is the very opposite of 'enough said' if we're being quite honest.

I think this is a very important discussion by the way, and I hope fans do become engaged with these types of issues and educate themselves on them as best they can.

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

Emenalo - based on what direction the club has taken in regards player acquisition and development, I think he's done some good thing

OK. all ears.

Isn t he responsible for letting Drogba, Kalou and Lukaku go and leave Torres and Sturridge as the only two strikers, without signing any replacements? or maybe you know better with your ''insider'' information and the 'Technical Director' had no say in it, it was Roman or Buck , or Gourlay.

Abramovich is a mug if at the end of spending @ £1000 000 000 on the club to end up with a mate of Average Grunt as Technical Director. No wonder fans of other clubs laugh.

[Liquidator 5,176]

Roman is the best thing that ever happened to Chelsea. Without him, the club, most likely would have been bankrupted.

No one can deny the power & influence that money has in football.

It was Murdoch´s Sky TV that changed the face of the game from working class game to a billion pound business.

It became the most globalised sport in the world. Sky TV took advantage of this opportunity & invested millions.

TV deals are at the highest they ever been, these days.

This is the way modern football is heading.

We had just qualified for the Champions League. Although we were in a poor financial situation we would have gained loads of revenue from being in that, we had just completed a large scale redevelopment of the stadium and had some great players that we could have easily sold if we needed to. I doubt we would have gone completely bankrupt.

Absolutely. It has ruined the sport.

What the hell? Football was a global sport already! It was, by an absolute country mile the most watched and played sport in the world long before that money-grabbing cunt Murdoch arrived on the scene. You are right, Sky invested millions and football became a business. And the consequences?

• We have to pay around £15 per month to watch our own domestic football league (in the UK anyway)
• Money is now of more interest to a club than its supporters
• Ticket prices have reached laughable heights
• Everything in football is money-driven, right down to the players. Of course money was an incentive before but now it has reached a stupid scale
• Player wages are silly
• Sky have a pro-Man U agenda and the scale of the Murdoch empire is so great that it has caused the influence of refereeing decisions and decisions made by the FA
• It has brought in investors and foreign owners who don't give a fuck. How often do you see Stan Kroenke at Arsenal games or Venky's at Blackburn? No more than 5 times a season

You are right, it is the way modern football is heading. Its the wrong way too. Can't wait to see what football is like by 2022 for the World Cup in Qatar. If things continue the way they are going, it will be dead as a sport that is affordable to watch, driven almost entirely by brands and sponsors. How long until clubs become 'Samsung Chelsea' or 'Chelsea FC with Samsung?'. It wouldn't surprise me if we start seeing stuff like that in 10 or so years. We already have 'The Capital One Cup' and the 'Emirates Stadium' etc. Murdoch has ruined football

[Fulham Broadway 17,299]

Double like Liquidators post ^ if it was possible.

[Rmpr 8,977]

We had just qualified for the Champions League. Although we were in a poor financial situation we would have gained loads of revenue from being in that, we had just completed a large scale redevelopment of the stadium and had some great players that we could have easily sold if we needed to. I doubt we would have gone completely bankrupt.

Absolutely. It has ruined the sport.

What the hell? Football was a global sport already! It was, by an absolute country mile the most watched and played sport in the world long before that money-grabbing cunt Murdoch arrived on the scene. You are right, Sky invested millions and football became a business. And the consequences?

• We have to pay around £15 per month to watch our own domestic football league (in the UK anyway)
• Money is now of more interest to a club than its supporters
• Ticket prices have reached laughable heights
• Everything in football is money-driven, right down to the players. Of course money was an incentive before but now it has reached a stupid scale
• Player wages are silly
• Sky have a pro-Man U agenda and the scale of the Murdoch empire is so great that it has caused the influence of refereeing decisions and decisions made by the FA
• It has brought in investors and foreign owners who don't give a fuck. How often do you see Stan Kroenke at Arsenal games or Venky's at Blackburn? No more than 5 times a season

You are right, it is the way modern football is heading. Its the wrong way too. Can't wait to see what football is like by 2022 for the World Cup in Qatar. If things continue the way they are going, it will be dead as a sport that is affordable to watch, driven almost entirely by brands and sponsors. How long until clubs become 'Samsung Chelsea' or 'Chelsea FC with Samsung?'. It wouldn't surprise me if we start seeing stuff like that in 10 or so years. We already have 'The Capital One Cup' and the 'Emirates Stadium' etc. Murdoch has ruined football

One thing, those are English Football problems, not Modern Football problems. If you look at Bundesliga, 80% of it has already been solved. I dont think it is the end of the world or the end of football as we know. Yes, they are critical, but you (British) are more than capable of improving things.

The expenses you guys have with your own domestic league are super high, but it is easy to complain on the internet. If you want to change it, just dont pay for things, I bet it will go down really quick (see Spain and Italy).

As far as aspects in football are money driven, well, it is like that for everything isnt it? The fact money is a primary issue with EPL can be coopted with "hapiness and tradition", just look at UCL. Big sponsors and investments and it still keeps a very nice atmosphere.

I do think there are huge problems with the path FIFA, UEFA and FA are taking, but it is something that is manageable. Most people feel the need to categorize club ownership as business and not football or vice-versa. I think this is totally wrong, it is both - football and business. Even more, they can perfectly work together (and there are examples). Roman + Chelsea have been a good partneship until now and we can get things back on track again, no need to overreact and ask for his head.

It hasnt ruin anything, it just got professional and expensive. The passion that has always driven football still very much alive, the fact we are having a very bad season and a lot of things internally are wrong might have a big reflect on our current judgement. However, things were basically the same in 09/10 and we never complained about it. Also, ask how bad things are in English Football for Manure or Spurs fans.

Great post though...

[The only place to be 11,313]

OK. all ears.

Isn t he responsible for letting Drogba, Kalou and Lukaku go and leave Torres and Sturridge as the only two strikers, without signing any replacements? or maybe you know better with your ''insider'' information and the 'Technical Director' had no say in it, it was Roman or Buck , or Gourlay.

Abramovich is a mug if at the end of spending @ £1000 000 000 on the club to end up with a mate of Average Grunt as Technical Director. No wonder fans of other clubs laugh.

He would be partly responsible for those things I'm sure.

Of course if you're giving him the 'blame' for sending Lukaku out on loan, do you give him no credit for the succes of that loan? If you blame him for letting Kalou leave (is that a bad thing?) do you not give him credit for signing Moses? What about the signing of Ba? Yes we were light up front but clearly the club wanted to take every chance they could to make the £100 million man Torres work out. In any business, that's not an asset you can simply write-off.

What about Azpilicueta though? Or the youth team's success? Or the amazingly successful loans of Courtois, De Bruyne, Chalobah and a few others one could mention?

In fact before he took over in July 2011, we signed players like Benayoun, Torres and Zhirkov. After that we've really prioritised young players, which again seeks to remedy one of the biggest problems that faced us a club. We didn't do the right things in the first 5 years of Roman's reign which is why we're playing catch-up now. I actually agree that there is blame to be attributed to people - I just don't know if we still pay their wages.

[MHL 47 378]

I read somewhere, a bloke said 'Roman is like a permanent erection'. Couldn't have described it better myself.

Would that then mean that "Benitez is like permanent impotence"