Chelsea banned for TWO transfer windows

[Jase 43,479]

7 hours ago, Nicco said:

We can always make a deal like Pulisic with someone like Sancho for example to avoid the competition in the summer.

 

2 hours ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

I think a quality defender is doable in January. I think to get a quality striker or winger, the creativity shown in the Pulisic deal might be necessary. When I say quality, someone that is producing right now that you would want for more than 3 seasons.

Think the Pulisic deal was a bit of an anomaly because circumstances fell into place for us. Otherwise, other clubs would be doing those kind of deals every January etc.

Also, those names that Matt Law mentioned, I'm not even sure how many of them are actually obtainable in January, if any at all. They all look more like summer transfer targets and furthermore, 150 million is likely only to get us 2 players max from that list (for the love of god, no Zaha please!).

[Laylabelle 9,292]

There is no point buying for the sake of it unless things go wrong. January always a bit meh and overpriced. 

[OneMoSalah 8,611]

Zaha and Ake signings would be a waste of time and money I feel. If we want wingers and a central defender go for top quality. Simple as. Okay Zaha maybe be a better fit than Ake as hes at a higher level but hes hardly an outstanding player that will get much better. Hes at a age and level now where he will more than likely remain at a similar level for the next 2 or 3 seasons.

Also doubt we will honestly get Sancho, so perhaps Mikel Oyarzabal is a worth while alternative.

[ZAPHOD2319 3,868]

November 20th is the date we make our appeal. FIFA is really going hard against us,

 

https://talksport.com/football/624911/chelseas-transfer-ban-appeal-court-arbitration-sport/

[Jase 43,479]

5 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

November 20th is the date we make our appeal. FIFA is really going hard against us,

 

https://talksport.com/football/624911/chelseas-transfer-ban-appeal-court-arbitration-sport/

Did you just come out of the cave?  

[ZAPHOD2319 3,868]

5 minutes ago, Jason said:

Did you just come out of the cave?  

I did sort of. I fell Monday night, bleed terrible, spent 7 hours in the Emergency Room. Had such a severe concussion that there was a noticeable delay in when I heard what someone said and when I could respond. Have been laid out for a few days. Today is my first day back to work. Concussions do weird things to the mind. Almost like you are aware you are not processing information but there is nothing you can do about it.

[Jase 43,479]

4 minutes ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

I did sort of. I fell Monday night, bleed terrible, spent 7 hours in the Emergency Room. Had such a severe concussion that there was a noticeable delay in when I heard what someone said and when I could respond. Have been laid out for a few days. Today is my first day back to work. Concussions do weird things to the mind. Almost like you are aware you are not processing information but there is nothing you can do about it.

Sorry to hear that. Now I feel bad for joking. 😭

So you're back to being okay now or still recovering..?

[ZAPHOD2319 3,868]

No worries, all of my friends have had a good time with it. Humor truly is the best medicine....that and Valium. 

Back to being me. With a long line of staples in my head.

[1905didierblue 748]

21 hours ago, ZAPHOD2319 said:

No worries, all of my friends have had a good time with it. Humor truly is the best medicine....that and Valium. 

Back to being me. With a long line of staples in my head.

Sorry to hear about it all mate. Take care.

[Jase 43,479]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/nov/19/chelsea-transfer-window-ban-appeal-cas?CMP=share_btn_tw

The transfer window ban appeal is tomorrow but we won't know the outcome until some time in December...

[Vesper 27,282]

2 hours ago, Jason said:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/nov/19/chelsea-transfer-window-ban-appeal-cas?CMP=share_btn_tw

The transfer window ban appeal is tomorrow but we won't know the outcome until some time in December...

I do not think it will be overturned (so hope I am wrong.)

Just wanted to put that out there for the record, as I have in the past. Well before the initial hearings I said we would get a substantial ban, I has just happy it was not 2 full years.

I also FULLY believe that Shitty and PSG need to be really punished for their financial fraud transgressions, but have little faith in the process due to tens upon tens of billions of pounds in Arab state monies backing them (and apparently able to buy anything, including this dirty rotten winter 2022 World Cup in Qatar.)

 

[Atomiswave 6,072]

5 minutes ago, Vesper said:

I do not think it will be overturned (so hope I am wrong.)

Just wanted to put that out there for the record, as I have in the past. Well before the initial hearings I said we would get a substantial ban, I has just happy it was not 2 full years.

I also FULLY believe that Shitty and PSG need to be really punished for their financial fraud transgressions, but have little faith in the process due to tens upon tens of billions of pounds in Arab state monies backing them (and apparently able to buy anything, including this dirty rotten winter 2022 World Cup in Qatar.)

 

City and PSG getting punished? You'll be waiting forever then mate, it aint gonna happen. I saw days ago that the case has been thrown out or something like that. As you said nothing will happen to them, them arab money is too good. Again footy as a fair contest has long been dead.

[Vesper 27,282]

10 minutes ago, Atomiswave said:

City and PSG getting punished? You'll be waiting forever then mate, it aint gonna happen. I saw days ago that the case has been thrown out or something like that. As you said nothing will happen to them, them arab money is too good. Again footy as a fair contest has long been dead.

I fear you are correct.

There's no justice, it's just us.

One law for them, another law for us.

 

[Atomiswave 6,072]

37 minutes ago, Vesper said:

I fear you are correct.

There's no justice, it's just us.

One law for them, another law for us.

 

Its utter horse shit thats what it is......why have ffp then at all? Let Clubs spend as they wish or enforce the law to its maximum effect. Maximum effect....least effort.

Its a fucking scam, a shit-show. Every man and his dog knows psg and city is not worth those kind of sponsorships, and the emails proved that. But nahh nothing to see here, move along, they are not utterly cheating, its all good....bang case thrown out. Footy is entertainment, its not a contest anymore, its a product that they sell...nothing more or less.

[Vesper 27,282]

24 minutes ago, Atomiswave said:

Its utter horse shit thats what it is......why have ffp then at all? Let Clubs spend as they wish or enforce the law to its maximum effect. Maximum effect....least effort.

Its a fucking scam, a shit-show. Every man and his dog knows psg and city is not worth those kind of sponsorships, and the emails proved that. But nahh nothing to see here, move along, they are not utterly cheating, its all good....bang case thrown out. Footy is entertainment, its not a contest anymore, its a product that they sell...nothing more or less.

I am not a believer in FFP, especially in its current joke of an iteration

I have 2 huge pan-national wishes for the next 20 years or so 

one in sport

one is political

the sport one is a 32 team (4 divisions of 8 teams each) European football super league 

the political one is

Nordica

Nordica would be a new combined Nordic nation (Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Estonia (IF they wanted to join, not sure if they would, but I think they would, especially if Finland comes in too, they already have massive historical and present links to Sweden and Finland), Greenland, Faroe Islands, Åland Islands) of almost 30 (WELL over that by the time it happen, probably 35 or so) million people, a HUGE GDP (especially for its size) insane combined natural resources and wealth, and a global powerhouse on almost every front and level,including quality of life and governance and wealth equality. We also would have our own currency which would be partially backed by gold, silver and natural resources, so only a semi-fiat, and thus far less likely to be manipulated.

I am 27, would love to see both these happen before I turn 50 or so.

[Jase 43,479]

Chelsea hopeful over transfer ban appeal – but with Lampard’s youth policy in full flow would it be a disaster if it failed?

https://theathletic.com/1382138/2019/11/19/chelsea-hopeful-over-transfer-ban-appeal-but-with-lampards-youth-policy-in-full-flow-would-it-be-a-disaster-if-it-failed/

Chelsea’s legal team are due at Chateau de Bethusy first thing on Wednesday morning. Case 2019/A/6301 is one of four slated on the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s relatively cluttered schedule this week, sandwiched between Emirati and Turkish football clubs taking on former players. Then, there is the ex-president of the South Sudan Football Association, Chabur Goc Alei, who kicked off the week’s proceedings in Lausanne with an appeal against a 10-year FIFA ban for, among other things, bribery and embezzling grants intended for women’s and youth soccer.

Alei, who was also fined 500,000 Swiss Francs (£390,000), is still sweating on the panel’s verdict. CAS’s judgement on Chelsea’s case will most likely be delivered next month, but the hope among the Premier League club’s travelling team of lawyers is that the two-window transfer ban imposed by world football’s governing body for breaking regulations relating to the transfer of minors will ultimately be reduced, allowing the club to re-enter the market in January.

That might be optimistic given the damning judgement reached by FIFA’s own appeals committee back in April and made public earlier this month in a 44-page verdict, detailing 150 rule breaches involving 69 academy players over several seasons. Even so, Chelsea will re-visit their arguments over what constitutes a “trialist”, and what qualifies as “organised football” – both key elements of the defence originally put to FIFA by a team featuring the renowned sports lawyer, Adam Lewis QC – in front of the panel of three independent arbitrators at CAS.

Perhaps more significantly, they are expected to point to the relative leniency shown by FIFA in August when dealing with similar breaches of the rules, if not as many, by Manchester City.

They are likely to argue Chelsea should have been given the same opportunity as the reigning Premier League champions, who had taken advantage of the governing body’s recently adopted disciplinary code to accept a fine of 370,000 Swiss Francs (£315,000) for breaches of article 19 on cross-border transfers, and duly avoided a ban. The new code only came into effect in July and effectively allows clubs to give input into their own sanction if they admit the charges. That path had not been open to Chelsea when they were originally fined 600,000 Swiss Francs (£460,000) and banned for two windows back in February.

There is a level of confidence within the London club’s hierarchy that, this time, their lawyers’ arguments will hold sway, just as they did in late 2009 when they appealed successfully against a similar FIFA ban imposed over the signing of the young French midfielder Gael Kakuta from Lens. The next few days will demonstrate whether or not that faith is misplaced, but they are hopeful the suspension will be lifted for January and a recruitment department, forever primed and presumably now awash with reports on potential targets, will be able to re-enter the market aggressively if the club and the head coach, Frank Lampard, feel the need.

“I’m interested (in the CAS hearing) because it’s obviously going to affect potentially what we can do in January,” said Lampard ahead of the recent Champions League tie against Ajax, hinting at a trolley dash of sorts ahead. “As Chelsea, we will always look to improve in windows if we can, if we’re allowed to and if the players we might look at are better or we feel are worth adding to the squad.”

Yet, whether FIFA’s shackles are cast aside mid-season or in the summer, a new kind of challenge awaits the 41-year-old. One that he has yet to experience over a fledgling coaching career. At some stage, Lampard is going to have to balance the emphasis he has placed on a long-term vision building this vibrant, youthful team from within, with high-profile recruitment from outside. For a manager whose most successful signings at Derby County were arguably loanees from Chelsea, he will be entering uncharted and potentially treacherous territory.

Chelsea currently sit third, eight points off Liverpool in the Premier League and only two down on the same stage last season when Maurizio Sarri was in charge. But few would dispute it would still take a hefty investment in the first team if they are to swiftly bridge the gap to the leaders. The temptation will be there to spend. The old Chelsea — always impatient for success — would certainly have reached for the chequebook, aghast at the thought of having fallen behind.

There is funding at their disposal. They are restored to the Champions League with all its financial perks, and have raised significant money with the sale of Eden Hazard and other fringe players, with a further £58 million due from Alvaro Morata’s move to Atletico Madrid.

There is scope, too, to pursue immediate improvement. Pedro and Olivier Giroud are both out of contract in the summer and have slipped to the fringes while Willian, excellent of late, has yet to agree new terms on a one-year extension. That might explain the reported interest in luring Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund, Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha or the Lyon striker Moussa Dembele.

The progress of England’s Ben Chilwell, so impressive at left-back with Leicester City, has drawn covetous glances, while a buy-back option at around £40 million could be exercised on Bournemouth’s Nathan Ake. The drip-feed of names doing the rounds has also included Sergej Milinkovic-Savic of Lazio.

Whether any of these players could be prised away mid-season is open to question, but each would bolster Lampard’s immediate options and, arguably, improve the first team from the outset. And yet there could be other repercussions of reverting to type. By lavishing huge fees on such signings, Chelsea would surely risk disturbing the delicate equilibrium which has served the head coach so well to date and, indeed, reinvigorated an entire club.

So much of Chelsea’s season to date has felt exceptional: from the circumstances inherited by a rookie head coach, to the atmosphere generated around Stamford Bridge and their Cobham training base, to the manner in which a succession of youth-team graduates, long impatient for a chance, have grasped the opportunity finally presented to them.

Lampard need not have leaned quite so heavily on this group given there are senior players at the club — Giroud and Pedro most notably — who have been relatively under-used, and others, like Antonio Rudiger, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and even N’Golo Kante, whose involvement has been frustrated by injury. Instead, he staked so much of his personal reputation on this youth movement and, after six successive league wins, has been handsomely rewarded.

Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount have flourished to the extent that, fitness permitting, they will surely go on to Euro 2020 with the national team. Fikayo Tomori would have been loaned to Everton had David Luiz not departed on the eve of the season but has been a revelation at centre-half, and is now another full England international. Reece James excelled on a first Premier League start earlier this month and has already demonstrated the versatility which made him so invaluable to Wigan Athletic last term.

Callum Hudson-Odoi, restored to fitness after a ruptured Achilles, found the pathway that had suddenly opened up to him so appealing that he put aside all that hankering for a move to Bayern Munich and, instead, signed a new long-term contract in south-west London. A player who had handed in a transfer request earlier this year suddenly feels eager to commit to five more years in these parts. Indeed, by January, it is hard to envisage that quintet not all boasting new deals commanding wages to reflect their newfound status as first-team regulars.

There have been opportunities for Billy Gilmour and Marc Guehi, Ian Maatsen and Tino Anjorin. Coaches within the academy have been thrilled at the encouragement now being offered to those from the junior ranks. The gossip doing the rounds has been of counterparts at fellow elite clubs growing frustrated that similar opportunities are not being offered in their respective senior set-ups, so impressive has progress been under Lampard. And, all the while, a fanbase who had grumbled through much of Sarri’s tenure, and even the latter stages of Antonio Conte’s politically-charged stint at the club, have rejoiced in it all.

Yes, Liverpool have already won at Stamford Bridge and, of course, Manchester City may well reassert themselves at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening to leapfrog Lampard’s side in the table. But the sense of optimism whipped up around the club this season, born of the head coach’s homecoming and a young, vibrant team brimming with locally nurtured talent, has been irresistible.

Now comes the dilemma. How would it look to Hudson-Odoi if Chelsea broke their transfer record to secure a Zaha or Sancho, potentially flinging down the old barriers to his progression? There may be lingering doubts over the pedigree of Marcos Alonso or Emerson at left-back, but how would Maatsen react to his pathway suddenly being blocked by Chilwell’s arrival? Where would Loftus-Cheek fit in if Milinkovic-Savic joined expecting to be first choice?

There is the potential for the knock-on effects of even one or two major signings to disrupt the current harmony within the set-up. Yes, this season’s challenge might be strengthened, but what of that policy of long-term progression? What message would it send out even to that next wave of academy talent? It would not take a lot for the old fears to come flooding back. In that context, there is an argument that CAS throwing out Chelsea’s appeal, putting off such awkward decisions until the summer, would not be disastrous.

Many would argue that, if the youngsters boast the quality, they will maintain first-team opportunities even in the face of stiffer competition. That, now they have enjoyed a taste, an immediate challenge to their involvement will spur them on to greater things. Or even raise performance levels higher. The players themselves have been bullish when reminded what the future may hold. “We’ve had to deal with that during our whole time in the academy,” said Mount. “There’s always been that competition within Chelsea. We just need to keep working hard and when that time (when the club can make new signings) comes around, then we’ll be ready.”

But lavish spending will also raise expectations. Chelsea have been excelling in an artificial bubble to date, with each victory cherished because mounting any kind of challenge had initially felt so unlikely given the ban or the loss of Hazard. Those wounds were supposed to have rendered this team also-rans. All that will change the moment the director Marina Granovskaia is photographed next to a smiling, high-profile arrival, pen in hand and contract spread out on the table.

The head coach will have to cope with a new level of pressure thereafter: maybe not from an adoring fanbase but certainly from a board and outside world alike. The fear would be a reversion to more familiar times, when campaigns which yielded silverware were not always deemed acceptable, and a trophyless season was generally considered unforgiveable.

Perhaps Lampard will thrive, as, in truth, he has in virtually every aspect since returning to Stamford Bridge in the summer. Nothing has fazed him yet. He has integrated the youth-team graduates, and coaxed more consistent displays from senior personnel such as Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho alike. He has preached realism from the outset, and known when to play on the restrictions under which he is operating, or raise the prospect of timely additions.

Back when Chelsea’s results were less impressive at the start of his tenure, he had been quick to point to his inability to “bring in any players to help try and push the way I’m thinking”. Of late, he has sought to deflect calls from some quarters for the club to continue to steer clear of the market. “We’re on a good run, though, aren’t we? Of course, some players have come in and shown, with the opportunities they’ve been given, that they can play well. But we are getting results at the moment, which is why the fans are happy.”

That suggested he is braced for trickier times. When youthful exuberance dips, inconsistency kicks in. Steadier, more seasoned personnel might be needed to hoist the side back on track. Deep down he must wonder, too, if Chelsea’s willingness to embrace long-termism will be retained quite so readily once the transfer ban is curtailed, whether in January or the summer. And experienced signings, if shrewdly integrated, would be a quicker route to the silverware this club craves. Tricky decisions lie ahead, whether in mid-winter or the summer.

Regardless, he will await news from Lausanne’s Avenue de Beaumont with interest. The appeal will be heard at CAS on Wednesday, and the decision relayed next month. Whatever the outcome, the environment in which he has been operating is soon going to change.

[NikkiCFC 7,562]

Even if we can buy in January why would we? It's always been hard to attract top players in January. 

[Nero 1,794]