Arsene Wenger has had a fair bit to say recently about the short term thinking displayed by a lot of football clubs these days, while trying to end the speculation about his own future as the Arsenal manager. We know that the Frenchman is a man of principles and will stick to them, although the Arsenal fans wish he would be a bit more flexible sometimes.
Rumour if rife at the moment about the future of Jose Mourinho with speculation in some quarters that he has ALREADY SIGNED an agreement to leave Real Madrid this summer and in addition, he has already agreed a deal to become manager somewhere else.
Now, I for one am hoping that it's to come back to Chelsea and finish the job he started here.
Kaka of Real Madrid-Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images
According to Caught Offside, Chelsea could make a £20m bid for Real Madrid's Brazilian playmaker Kaka. The former AC Milan has failed to secure a regular starting spot during his time in Spain, and with Madrid sure to bolster their squad in the summer, potential playing opportunity may get even smaller for him.
The date read 19thMay 2012. It had just gone 23:20 local time when an eerie silence fell upon the Allianz Arena in Germany's capital city of Munich. He stood at 6 feet 1 inches and had the look of a man possessed, this was to be his night, his time to be written in the history of the club.
According to Martin Lipton at the Mirror, Rafa Benitez has been an ultimatum. Beat Wigan this weekend or be sacked!
Roman Abramovich is said to be furious as Chelsea's post-Christmas tailspin. Saturday's loss at Newcastle came on the back of poor draws at Swansea, Brentford and Reading.
Abramovich, who is not known for his patience, is said to be worried that there is a serious and growing prospect of Chelsea falling to finish in the top four for the second consecutive season.
Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge on Sunday to face Chelsea in a game that could have a huge saying on the season for both clubs. The Gunners are coming off the back of the best performance in a while, knowing that a win will put us just five points behind Chelsea with a game in hand. The Blues, on the other hand, are in a bad way.
Clear signs that the Rafa Benitez era at Chelsea will be a very short one as the Daily Express is reporting that Chelsea are set to make Pep Guardiola the highest paid manager in the world.
Guardiola turn down three offers from Abramovich last summer after leaving the Nou Camp for a year's sabbatical and it looks like Chelsea are going to make him an offer he cannot refuse.
The direction that the Chelsea hierarchy are looking to steer the club in is very clear. The world's best young players are very much the agenda in the transfer market whilst the ‘old guard' look as though they will be allowed to see out their contracts and walk away. Its all about the future. This began when Abramovich brought in Andre Villas-Boas last campaign, looking to usher in a new era at Chelsea.
What Financial Fair Play Rules? Obviously Chelsea do not care much about them as owner Roman Abramovich is said to be ready to break the bank to sign Atletico Madrid superstar Radamel Falcao.
Abramovich wants Falcao and is ready to meet the £48 million buy-out clause in the striker's contract.
Last night's Chelsea v Fulham match at Stamford Bridge was so hard to watch. Neither side able to keep possession and string four or five good passes together. Watching the match I was wondering, is this the Chelsea that Roman Abramovich really wants to see?
Abramovich has spent around 800 m on Chelsea since fallen in love with football after seeing Real Madrid v Man United European Cup game years ago.
Arsenal fans should give a great big thankyou to Roman Abramovich. Nothing that happens this year will do the Gunners as many favours as the crazy billionaire Russian has done us this week. It is common knowledge that Abramovich was desperate to get his hands on the Champions league trophy, and the man who finally did what a host of other very well paid and expensive managers failed to do has been rewarded with the sack.
RDM Sacked by Chelsea- Abramovich shows Di Matteo the door is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter
RDM Sacked by Chelsea- Abramovich shows Di Matteo the door is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Chelsea have sacked manager Roberto di Matteo today ( November 21, 2012), barely six months after the latter guided them to their 2011/12 Champions League trophy in Munich after beating FC Bayern on penalties.
After an excellent start, Chelsea have once again slipped into a Fall lull (two wins in seven matches). Despite winning the Champions League and FA Cup just last season, this has still led to talk of manager Roberto Di Matteo's job being in danger because of Roman Abramovich's famous impatience.
Chelsea want to sign Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, and reckon they can land him by installing Pep Guardiola as boss, writes the Sunday People. The Uruguayan's agent, Pere, is the brother of the former Barcelona boss, and Anfield officials fear the link will trigger the 25-year-old's exit. Roman Abramovich wants Guardiola as his next manager, and dreams of linking Suarez with Atletico Madrid's prolific frontman Radamel Falcao - who is believed to be heading to Stamford Bridge in January.
Chelsea FC have just released an announcement on the official website that confirms the club has made a total profit of 1.4m in the year ending 30th June 2012.
This is a big deal, with the UEFA Financial Fair Play fast approaching, it looks like we are well on our way to reaching the requirements set down in these new rules.
Neil Ashton of The Daily Mirror is reporting that Roman Abramovich demanded answers from players and coaching staff at Chelsea's training ground on Thursday as to why the European Champions could not hold onto a two-goal lead at home to Juventus on Wednesday night.
Abramovich arrived unannounced at Cobham on Thursday morning with director Eugene Tenenbaumin and spoke with players, coaches and manager Roberto Di Matteo on the training field.
While all the media attention has been focused on Arsenal and the contract disputes they have
been having with Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott, there are some nasty contract battles going on
across London at Chelsea.
Chelsea have THREE England internationals; Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Daniel Sturridge, who
are all in the final years of their contracts and in January could join another club forÂ
FREE.
"Europe at the moment is like the Titanic, but we live in football like nothing matters." Arsene
Wenger once again stated his case for the defence of Arsenal Football Club and their self
sustaining policy. He knows that Arsenal are in a privileged position due to massive earnings, but
is concerned about the ridiculous amounts [.
Chelsea set to confirm Roberto Di Matteo as permanent manager - originally posted on
Soccerlens.com
If Chelsea really do appoint Roberto Di Matteo as the permanent manager for next season, it will
signal a shift in long-term strategy and a more acute understanding of what Chelsea, the football
club, really needs.
Why Chelsea will blow the Premier League to pieces.
For the foundations of why Chelsea will win the Premier League this season it is important to
analyse what their starting line up next season could potentially be:
P Cech (30), A Cole (31), G Cahill (26), J Terry (31), G van der Wiel (24), F Lampard (33), M
Essien (29), J Mata (24), E Hazard (21), M Marin (23), F Torres (28)
There are two people that most Chelsea fans want to see at Stamford Bridge next season. One of them is Jose Mourinho to return to take over the club and start the second coming of the Abramovich era and the other is Radamel Falcao!.
According to the written press this morning, Mourinho has all but sealed his return and has instructed Roman Abramovich to do whatever it takes to go out and sign Falcao.
Jose Mourinho is featured all over the press and media today after comments he has made about his future and because he hasn't ruled out returning to a club he has already coached!. A strange statement from a Manager who would be in demand anywhere in the world if he was to become available but it has to give Roman Abramovich and the Chelsea board massive encouragement.
Roman Abramovich has wasted little time since the appointment of Rafa Benitez at Chelsea. Within days of Rafa's appointment, both he and Michael Emenalo met for dinner and discussed the weaknesses in the squad that Benitez had identified and it seems he is already acting on advice from our new Interim Manager.
I have to say Roman Abramovich and the Chelsea board have surprised me this week, they really
have!.
Now I know with Euro 2012 coming up, the Top European clubs will be looking to get their summer
signings done and dusted before the competition starts or shortly after if deals are already in
place, but the fact that Chelsea have acted quickly has surprised me.
Let's be honest here, the club should have made their managerial appointment by now shouldn't
they!. It's obvious that Roman wanted Guardiola and has done for years and I really don't see him
going back on what he has said about taking some time off to be with his family. Of course if Roman
wants him, he will do what he can to try and change his mind.
This is an odd moment to post this having just come off a good result at the weekend, but I see wild accusations of blame related to our underachievements thrown about every week. I don't usually like negative subjects such as this one, but to correct our shortcomings it's necessary to work out where they are coming from.
For the last few days Chelseafans have been under fire from repetitive articles all saying more or less the same thing: Chelseafans booing Rafa are wrong, misdirected, cowardly and unjustified in their protests. Well, various arguments have been made to assert all of these things, some I agree with, and some I don't.
I've written this article in response to Kalou's recent words in the press. As I'm sure most of you will have noticed, he has come out with both praise and criticism on Roman Abramovich's role at Chelsea. Here is what he said:
Roman has his vision and he knows how he wants things to happen.
I have always been a staunch ‘sustainable model' kind of guy, in keeping, you might say, with
my career as a no-nonsense, think with your head and not with your heart accountant.
However, recent events have made me stop and reflect on that ‘sustainability' stance.
The Chavs are now beginning to flex their obscene financial muscle, once again, in the transfer
market to re-stock their ageing squad while Citeh continuously threaten to hoover up any
footballing talent not securely nailed down after buying their first Premier League title, and even
the Spuds are beginning to flex Joe Lewis' chequebook.
I have always been a staunch ‘sustainable model' kind of guy, in keeping, you might say, with
my career as a no-nonsense, think with your head and not with your heart accountant.
However, recent events have made me stop and reflect on that ‘sustainability' stance.
The Chavs are now beginning to flex their obscene financial muscle, once again, in the transfer
market to re-stock their ageing squad while Citeh continuously threaten to hoover up any
footballing talent not securely nailed down after buying their first Premier League title, and even
the Spuds are beginning to flex Joe Lewis' chequebook.
As we all know, Andre Villas-Boas is set to take over at Spurs next week which is somewhat of a
surprise. It's surprising because I will never understand why Harry Redknapp has been sacked with
his record at Spurs and also because AVB is taking over a club so quickly after being sacked by
Chelsea AND being another club in the Premier League.
Johan Cruijff: "Chelsea winning the CL final is a defeat for proper football. I'd rather not win
it than to have to play this way."
Recently, I have been extremely grumpy and needed a bit of time to reflect on a bad week for
honest, beautiful football, which started with the Northern Oilers succeeding in buying the title,
and finished six days later, with the London Oilers getting their greasy hands on the ‘Cup with
the big ears'.
Since AFR last loosened up its larynx, there was a series of high profile exits from the football juggernaut. Pulling his ripcord first was David Beckham, who looks set for a safe and particularly well-paid landing in France. Next up was Roberto Di Matteo and Mark Hughes – both unceremoniously ejected from West London into no man's land.
The plain truth is that we made this possible. It is no revelation that money and status are the drivers of ambition, or that money goes where money grows. The brutal truth is that we are powerless to stop this. Accepting change can be painful, as us fans yearn for the ‘better' days of yesteryear where we didn't hear at regular intervals of interest repayments and stock exchange floatation on the back pages of our newspapers.
Liverpool's owners, die hard practitioners of Moneyball, pride themselves on the rigorous behind
the numbers, value for money purchases that give them a leg up in the MLB. Entering the cash on
steroids environment of the Premiership, they recruited Damien Comolli on the advice of Billy
Beane, Mr Moneyball himself and ended up throwing £120m on transfers.
I do, I honestly fear for Andre Villas-Boas. It's not that I think he's a useless coach, because
given his track record at Porto, he's shown that he can cut the mustard.
With regards to the Chelsea debacle, I think we'll be able to judge his tenure after Roberto Di
Matteo has around 10 to 15 games under his belt.
Pep Guardiola led not only a dominant era of football for Barcelona, but also a revolution of the
'total football' that was preached by his mentor, Johan Cruyff.
As he steps away from his post at Barcelona at the ripe age of 41, Rob Hughes of the New York Times
writes of how Guardiola had transformed Barca into the gold standard in world football.
