The Board

[Laylabelle 9,667]

"Club sources ensure me that their model is to buy potential and grow experience"

Which is so flawed!  We dont need potential we need experienced players 

[Pizy 19,214]

21 hours ago, Strike said:

Like United showed last summer, it is possible to have a smart window even without European football 

True. Personnel wise we won’t need too much in the summer, we just need to be smart and not blow huge money on super risky signings like fucking Gittens. Like United, we should actually consider targeting some of the best players within the PL who don’t play for the top teams like they did with Mbuemo and Cunha. Players who wouldn’t care about UCL football and would jump at the shlt to step up to a huge club.

 

[Vesper 30,889]

3 hours ago, Pizy said:

we should actually consider targeting some of the best players within the PL who don’t play for the top teams like they did with Mbuemo and Cunha. Players who wouldn’t care about UCL football and would jump at the shlt to step up to a huge club.

    
Micky van de Ven  Tottenham Hotspur 
Murillo   Nottingham Forest
Malick Thiaw    Newcastle United 
Jan Paul van Hecke      Brighton & Hove Albion 
Marcos Senesi    AFC Bournemouth 

   +

[OneMoSalah 9,057]

11 hours ago, Pizy said:

True. Personnel wise we won’t need too much in the summer, we just need to be smart and not blow huge money on super risky signings like fucking Gittens. Like United, we should actually consider targeting some of the best players within the PL who don’t play for the top teams like they did with Mbuemo and Cunha. Players who wouldn’t care about UCL football and would jump at the shlt to step up to a huge club.

 

Not too much at all. Just a GK, CB, CM, LW & CF. We need more than just 2 or 3 and they have to be quality signings because everyone else around us will strengthen again. The likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City & Man United will not scrimp on wages if it means getting quality in the door. 

Be a few pawns sacrificed in the summer too, as usual, to rejig the squad/comply with PSR or FFP/realise we’ve made some more bad signings no doubt. Plus the double signing of Garnacho & Gittens on top of the Sancho loan & Mudryk has really set us back on the left wing. Like thats at least £150m of wasted cash on players that are equally as bad as each other/what we had before. Thankfully we pulled the plug and didn’t sign Sancho despite our best efforts to nearly fuck that up.

If Man United wasn’t Man United, Mbuemo & Cunha probably go elsewhere but they are always going to have that pulling power because of the stature of the club.

 

Mentioning PL best & seeing some names up there - United also firmly in driving seat for van der Ven by sounds of it (again, with or without CL, they’ll have that pulling power).

Plus Liverpool will be desperate for another CB when Konate goes despite signing Jacquet. Van Dijk cant go on forever.

Edited February 27 by OneMoSalah

[Pizy 19,214]

17 hours ago, OneMoSalah said:

Not too much at all. Just a GK, CB, CM, LW & CF. We need more than just 2 or 3 and they have to be quality signings because everyone else around us will strengthen again. The likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City & Man United will not scrimp on wages if it means getting quality in the door. 

Be a few pawns sacrificed in the summer too, as usual, to rejig the squad/comply with PSR or FFP/realise we’ve made some more bad signings no doubt. Plus the double signing of Garnacho & Gittens on top of the Sancho loan & Mudryk has really set us back on the left wing. Like thats at least £150m of wasted cash on players that are equally as bad as each other/what we had before. Thankfully we pulled the plug and didn’t sign Sancho despite our best efforts to nearly fuck that up.

If Man United wasn’t Man United, Mbuemo & Cunha probably go elsewhere but they are always going to have that pulling power because of the stature of the club.

 

Mentioning PL best & seeing some names up there - United also firmly in driving seat for van der Ven by sounds of it (again, with or without CL, they’ll have that pulling power).

Plus Liverpool will be desperate for another CB when Konate goes despite signing Jacquet. Van Dijk cant go on forever.

We will almost 100% not be getting a new GK so we can put that to bed. I’d be stunned if we get another CF either with Emegha and maybe even Jackson returning.

I maintain that we don’t need much. Or perhaps to better put it, we don’t have THAT many glaring holes in the squad. It’s just that the few we do have are costing us big time. For me we badly need a dominant CB, a top class LW, and another high quality body in CM if Lavia gets injured once again. 

We don’t need a total rebuild or major surgery like we did a couple of years ago. 

[OneMoSalah 9,057]

19 minutes ago, Pizy said:

We will almost 100% not be getting a new GK so we can put that to bed. I’d be stunned if we get another CF either with Emegha and maybe even Jackson returning.

I maintain that we don’t need much. Or perhaps to better put it, we don’t have THAT many glaring holes in the squad. It’s just that the few we do have are costing us big time. For me we badly need a dominant CB, a top class LW, and another high quality body in CM if Lavia gets injured once again. 

We don’t need a total rebuild or major surgery like we did a couple of years ago. 

We do have glaring holes in the squad, maybe not in quantity but in quality 100%. Barring a handful of players, the majority are average. Particularly the signings the last 2/3 seasons.

It would be a real mistake if we went another season relying on Sanchez, despite his improvement this season, because he is an accident waiting to happen which has been proven at Brighton & here. Welcoming Jackson back to the fold would also be another mistake given how petulant his attitude and discipline is. Not to mention the whole scenario to push through his move to Bayern - where they’ve basically used him sparingly to not have to sign him. The transfers of Gittens, Garnacho & Delap also poor signings last summer (not an improvement on any of the players we already had in those positions). Would replace all 3 within a heartbeat. Perhaps even Hato too. Given the noise around Gittens, Delap & even Garnacho, I would imagine there is scope for them to leave already.

A supposed club with elite ambitions cannot rely on those guys every season. We probably need at 4 good signings to go into the first 11. GK, CB, LW & CF has to happen sooner than later on we risk making no progress at all. Well continue making no progress.

Maybe a CM not as desperate for the starting 11 but Lavia wouldn’t be someone we should be counting on either based on his lack of appearances in the past 2 and a half seasons. Again, most clubs would be looking at moving him on based on that (sick of hearing about his “talent” no good if he is crocked 90% of the time). Going into next season with Fernandez (who has played further forward more with Maresca & now Rosenoir), Caicedo, Santos & Essugo (if not loaned?) as our only fit/reliable options would really leave us short. If Caicedo ever got a long term injury we’d be fucked. 

Edited February 28 by OneMoSalah

[Strike 7,748]

I respect the honesty but Todd Boehly summers make a lot of sense now. Cucurella was perhaps the only signing that worked out from that period 

[Fernando 6,703]

9 minutes ago, Strike said:

I respect the honesty but Todd Boehly summers make a lot of sense now. Cucurella was perhaps the only signing that worked out from that period 

I think the other buys came from tuchel.

Which I often highlighted as a great manager but not good for building a team. 

Similar to Conte. 

[Mário César 1,445]

22 minutes ago, Strike said:

I respect the honesty but Todd Boehly summers make a lot of sense now. Cucurella was perhaps the only signing that worked out from that period 

This is exactly why the club is in the state it’s in. Decisions were made without clear expertise, structure was dismantled, and massive spending was reactive rather than strategic. The result is a destabilized squad, inconsistent management, and a lack of coherent long-term planning. Until a solid footballing framework is rebuilt, there are few prospects for meaningful success in the near future.

[OneMoSalah 9,057]

Spurs apparently interested in Paul Winstanley. Take him please let him go.

[Vesper 30,889]

Matt Law of The Telegraph:

‘With every significant defeat comes a natural reaction to call for change. Change the goalkeeper, change the defenders, change the project. But the best and easiest change Chelsea could make for next season would be to remove the Club World Cup winners’ badge from their shirts.

‘Vice-captain Enzo Ferndandez perfectly highlighted just what the badge stands for when he pointed to it after equalising against Paris St-Germain in the Parc des Princes on Wednesday night.

‘His peacocking celebration was pure arrogance and that is exactly what the badge represents.

‘World champions? You’re having a laugh. The Blues are not even the best team in London right now.

‘For all of the bravado and big talk, Chelsea find themselves in exactly the same position as the club they love to laugh at – Tottenham Hotspur – as they contemplate the prospect of trying to overturn an embarrassing 5-2 deficit in the second leg.

‘There can be no doubt that winning the Club World Cup created an arrogance beyond the sense of achievement that has helped to cultivate a head-loss culture within the club.

‘Players, presumably under the impression that the Club World Cup badge has made them untouchable, have regularly talked their way into trouble with referees and found themselves at the centre of ludicrous incidents, such as Pedro Neto pushing over a ball boy.

‘Even co-owner Jose Feliciano (not the guy who wrote Feliz Navidad) was poking fun at Arsenal ahead of Chelsea’s trip to PSG, reminding them that his club won two trophies last season. Maybe somebody should remind Felicano that Chelsea only qualified for the Club World Cup by winning the Champions League in the Roman Abramovich era. Or that the Chelsea’s route to the final saw them face the might of Los Angeles, Flamengo, El Tunis, Benfica, Palmeiras and Fluminense.’

[Vesper 30,889]

What Does Chelsea’s £355m Loss Really Mean?
Business of Sport

Chelsea have posted the biggest pre-tax loss in English football history - €407M in a single season. We break down what the UEFA numbers really mean, the stadium problem, the commercial failures, and why Clearlake’s private equity model may be heading for a very uncomfortable reality check.

[Vesper 30,889]

11 minutes ago, Vesper said:

What Does Chelsea’s £355m Loss Really Mean?
Business of Sport

Chelsea have posted the biggest pre-tax loss in English football history - €407M in a single season. We break down what the UEFA numbers really mean, the stadium problem, the commercial failures, and why Clearlake’s private equity model may be heading for a very uncomfortable reality check.

a must watch

these are financial experts

not ranting footie fans

[whats happening 1,655]

30 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Matt Law of The Telegraph:

‘With every significant defeat comes a natural reaction to call for change. Change the goalkeeper, change the defenders, change the project. But the best and easiest change Chelsea could make for next season would be to remove the Club World Cup winners’ badge from their shirts.

‘Vice-captain Enzo Ferndandez perfectly highlighted just what the badge stands for when he pointed to it after equalising against Paris St-Germain in the Parc des Princes on Wednesday night.

‘His peacocking celebration was pure arrogance and that is exactly what the badge represents.

‘World champions? You’re having a laugh. The Blues are not even the best team in London right now.

‘For all of the bravado and big talk, Chelsea find themselves in exactly the same position as the club they love to laugh at – Tottenham Hotspur – as they contemplate the prospect of trying to overturn an embarrassing 5-2 deficit in the second leg.

‘There can be no doubt that winning the Club World Cup created an arrogance beyond the sense of achievement that has helped to cultivate a head-loss culture within the club.

‘Players, presumably under the impression that the Club World Cup badge has made them untouchable, have regularly talked their way into trouble with referees and found themselves at the centre of ludicrous incidents, such as Pedro Neto pushing over a ball boy.

‘Even co-owner Jose Feliciano (not the guy who wrote Feliz Navidad) was poking fun at Arsenal ahead of Chelsea’s trip to PSG, reminding them that his club won two trophies last season. Maybe somebody should remind Felicano that Chelsea only qualified for the Club World Cup by winning the Champions League in the Roman Abramovich era. Or that the Chelsea’s route to the final saw them face the might of Los Angeles, Flamengo, El Tunis, Benfica, Palmeiras and Fluminense.’

dumbass matt law as usual

[Strike 7,748]

4 minutes ago, whats happening said:

dumbass matt law as usual

presumably he can't write change the owners because he might lose his limited access at the club

[Fernando 6,703]

2 hours ago, Vesper said:

What Does Chelsea’s £355m Loss Really Mean?
Business of Sport

Chelsea have posted the biggest pre-tax loss in English football history - €407M in a single season. We break down what the UEFA numbers really mean, the stadium problem, the commercial failures, and why Clearlake’s private equity model may be heading for a very uncomfortable reality check.

Good stuff, really these guys that are running the club are dumb. 

I had thought they turn the corner last season with Maresca, but then they don't back him, and don't get the deals done. Sack him and get an even worse manager. 

 

[Vesper 30,889]

5 minutes ago, Fernando said:

Good stuff, really these guys that are running the club are dumb. 

I had thought they turn the corner last season with Maresca, but then they don't back him, and don't get the deals done. Sack him and get an even worse manager. 

 

The thing is, they are NOT stupid, certianly not financialy ignorant. All of the principal singular individuals involed most closely are all multi-billionaires, and ones who are doing nothing but getting richer in terms of overall net worth ona yearly basis.

The combined entities that own Chels or are directly or indirectly involved with Chels have, atm, over half a trillion USD combined in assets under management.

They have hundreds of quants in their combined employ, billions worth of computing and deep analytical systems, vast, globally interconnected relationships, decades of hyper complex financial experience, etc.

What IS becoming openly apparent is that they DO, at taproot level, look at us as an asset first and a sporting entity 3rd, 4th, or lower down the list.

AS long as they can keep the money churn and profit-taking (profits extracted from the investor classes discussed in the video) going, they place our performances at sporting levels far further down the list.

There is a real chance that if they see the longer-term project (let's say a window extending out into the mid 2030s) as turning towards an arc of diminishing returns IF kept whole, then they will, if the numbers say it is more profitable over the mid-term, simple strip mine the club by extractig max profits via short-terms mass sales, and dump the whole thing, leaving it a smoldering heap of ashes and char.

THAT is, unfortunately, an altogether far too common outcome for firms who get swallowed up by hedge fund hyenas and private equity jackals.