With AIG's latest announcement, the footballing world finally got a glimpse of the current world economic crisis. Up until this point there have been few reminders about the reality of our non-footballing lives, but David Gill and the rest of the Manchester United executives have been handed the tough task of finding a company that will part with millions of pounds each year.

...since Abramovich just bought a huge yacht for $550 million. Buying the world's largest yacht, complete with a helipad and its own submarine, doesn't exactly leave much money to buy Franck Ribery from Bayern - leaving the door open for Real Madrid to swoop in.

With the Premier League over for another season. Here are some of the things I noticed from the 08/09 campaign:

Like a bat out of Hull

Hull City were everyone's favorite to go straight back down this season. They seemed like a sweet little feel good story, content to have their moment in the big leagues before quickly sinking back to lower level obscurity where they could be patronized by football and non-football people alike for sounding like a thoroughly dull and uninspiring place to live.

Before you get too excited, Mourinho isn't heading to Old Trafford to take over the Manchester United reins. Instead, Mourinho is returning to England to watch his first live Premier League game since he controversially left Chelsea in 2007. Manchester United is set to face off against second placed Chelsea on Sunday, in what has been marked as a potential title decider.

Does Roman Abramovich play Championship Manager? The news that Gokhan Tore, youngster from German Leverkusen moved to Chelsea made everyone wonder who is he? The kids that spend their time in virtual CM world trying to win all the trophies with their favourite teams, are not surprised with this transfer.

Chelsea FC just hired their new head coach in Guus Hiddink according to the team's website this morning and this choice baffles my mind. But, then again, a lot of things that have happened at Chelsea have baffled my mind. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich moved quickly to hire personal friend Hiddink to take over the squad until the end of the season and he still gets to remain as coach of the Russian national coach.

I saw Milan play some of the most insipid soccer against Chievo this weekend. They should consider themselves lucky to escape with a win.

Ancelotti manages a club that is a shelter for players reaching retirement age, wracked with injuries, and who are discarded by other clubs. Through this osmotic process, Beckham came back to his warm embrace and so did Sheva.

What is it with London?
What is it with Madrid?
In your centralised loci of power, in your stratospheric fake, you assume that your goals may always be purchased on the non-level playing field of life.
Take football and the purchase of illusory glory.
Take your Performance Enhancing Substances (PESs), bribe your match officials, bend the rules of the game, and the nationalistic and non-functioning mainstream sporting media plays along.

Last weekend's FA Cup final merely served to rubberstamp what we all knew anyway, Guus Hiddink is something of a managerial genius. Indeed, it is a testament to how the Dutchman has gotten his Chelsea side to perform over these past 3 months, that even when Everton opened the scoring at Wembley, there was still an inevitable sense that they would recover to turn it around.

So the season is over and now is the time to look back on what has been a frantic, exciting and sometimes amusing nine months of football. Here are my top five moments of the season that brought a smile to my face.
5) Hiddink and Abramovich dance-off
Popular boss Guus Hiddink had already given us a brief hint of his dancing skills at his final league game at Stamford Bridge when he gave a little jig on the touchline.

While it is far too early to make any sort of valid title predictions based on the limited premier league action served up thus far, it is fair to say that of the so called title contenders (I'll include Man City in the equation), I am somewhat surprised at the start made by Chelsea.

It is not so much their 100% record, which means little at this stage, but the manner of their performances which have caught the eye.

Seven months ago Luiz Felipe Scolari was hired to take the manager position of Chelsea, and on February 9, 2009, he was fired after a lackluster season thus far. The problem with the firing is that they got rid of the wrong man. Now there are 11 men on the field and only one manager, so getting rid of the manager is the easy thing to do since you can rarely eliminate three or four non performing players.

El Pelado Díaz fue cesado como entrandor del América, se mencionas a Américo Gallego y José Luis Trejo como posibles reemplazos de Díaz. Dentro de los logros de Diáz esta en ayudar al América a pasar de ser el equipo...

Roman Abramovich has rediscovered his love for Chelsea and now often attends training sessions, according to Guus Hiddink. 'We have known each other long enough, but now due to my work in Chelsea we have naturally developed even closer ties,' said the Dutchman. 'Roman lives with the interests of the club and spends a lot of time [.

What's next for the self proclaimed special one?

With the Champions League quarterfinals a thing of the past, here are eight things I noticed from the last eight.

The Usual Suspects

So, here we are again. Three English teams and Barcelona square off for the Champions League semis for the second consecutive year. No doubt Michel Platini will have already dusted off his Panini stickers and erected a Barcelona shine in his 'salon.

AC Milan - who seem to be playing weekly football like old veterans do - kept their title chances alive with a 2-0 win over Catania last night. And Pippooooo and Kaka both scored! Yes, we see the light in your eyes.

Milan opened the scoring on 27 minutes after Kaka burst into the area and fed Inzaghi for his trademark poacher's finish.

Greed

The Guardian looks at how greed has effected the beautiful game. From City's "human rights abuser of the worst kind" ownership, to Chelski's Abramovich takeover, from the charitable types, to the Premiership money losers.

Money and greed have effected our club more than most over the past couple of decades, with us certainly making the most of the money that has come along with Premiership football and Sky Sports.

Guus Hiddink's mandate was clear cut. A short term intervention that would halt Chelsea's spiraling fortunes which at one threatened to undermine their CL spot. In that he succeeded magnificently. Instilling discipline, excising self doubt, and getting the best out of players overlooked or playing below par under Scolari.

After the rumour mill had once again been gathering pace, I guess it wasn't a surprise after all, that Carlo Ancelotti was named Chelsea boss yesterday.

Leaving Milan after eight years in charge, Ancelotti arrives at the Bridge with heavy expectations already firmly wedged on his shoulders.

I know that you all turn to this blog for incisive commentary and in-depth analysis... Just kidding... You 15 readers come here for sarcasm, statistics, and further sarcasm... So, instead of actually discussing the Chelsea transfer ban that was today put in place, I'll just send you here, here, or here.

Oh the irony of it all: One of the wealthiest football clubs in the world, with a proven world-class manager who is yet to splash some serious cash at his new club, and suddenly the bank has been forced to involuntarily shut its doors until January 2011. All due to a little unknown reserve team player (unless you play Football Manager.

.A hallmark of the Abramovich Revolution at Chelsea has been their activity in the transfer market. Millions upon millions have been invested in a Chelsea team that has won two Premier League titles, two FA cups, two League Cups and two Charity Shields. The European Cup has eluded Abramovich's Army thus far and it looks [.

Chelsea have won quite a few titles during Roman Abramovich's reign but Champions League title remains just a dream, at least for the time being. The famous penalty miss by John Terry denied them the coveted title two years back but the Blues are now looking really well under new boss Carlo Ancelotti, who admitted the Champions League title was the main objective this season.

That is, one with Didier Drogba and one without Didier Drogba. I, like many others have stated before, have always had this sort-of idea that Chelsea were a completely different team when Drogba wasn't playing. During tonight's match versus Porto, this idea culminated into a thesis that was entirely tangible and defensible.

A lot has been said about Serie A's decline over the past couple of years. Critics have claimed the English Premiership and Spain's La Liga have become Europe's best leagues leaving Serie A to challenge the Bundesliga for third spot.

Sadly, Serie A has witnessed a sharp decline in the past few years that cannot be attributed to the lack of financial means alone.

A life without Roman? It doesn't bear thinking about. Or does it? Well, evidently Chelsea Chairman Bruce Buck thinks about it at least once a year. According to quotes attributed to him in today's Sun, Buck has said:
"I think we'd be in a reasonably good state if Mr Abramovich left.

Chelsea fans will already know that, last Friday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) granted Chelsea a stay in relation to the transfer ban FIFA imposed back in September. Since then, the papers have been full of wild and wonderful reports on who Gourlay, Arnesen and Abramovich are plotting to bring to Stamford Bridge when the transfer window reopens in January.

Tras la destitución de Luiz Felipe Scolari, la cual se produjo después de que el Chelsea empatara sin goles ante el Hull en Stamford Bridge, el Chelsea no ha perdido el tiempo y se ha puesto manos a la obra en busca de un nuevo entrenador. Varios técnicos, todos de renombre, sonaron en un primer [.

Another season, and another dramatic sacking by Chelsea Football Club. The latest sacking of Felipe Scolari has prompted football fans to ask many questions. Perhaps the most popular question at the moment is in regards to the connection between Chelsea and Real Madrid. Real Madrid have always been a quality club.

Over the course of Premier League history, fans have seen some whacky characters. From Eric Cantona to Jose Mourinho, certain people just stuck out as people who believed in entitlement. Similar to the American view of manifest destiny, in football we see players and managers feel entitled to winning things.

When Guus Hiddink stepped into the breach after a heartfelt plea from Roman Abrahamovich, the only definite thing we knew was that Hiddink would only be there until the end of the season. Hiddink has stuck to his line of response throughout his time at Stamford Bridge, politely but firmly dealing with the increasingly banal questions fired at him over his future plans.

As closing days of the Premier League go, today's was incredibly flat.
There was no to-ing and fro-ing, no nail-biting tension nor edge-of-the-seat excitement. The three teams involved in relegation struggle, the tedious battle for the title having been decided already, ended up losing, leaving the league table unchanged from last week.

I was completely seduced by last year's FA Cup.

Barnsley and Cardiff City charged toward the final in a gripping giant-killing warpath. They toppled Liverpool, Chelsea and Middlesbrough in their wake. (Boro were still a mid-table Premier League side, so their undoing was still a feat.

Well, the most unsurprising managerial appointment of the summer has thankfully been completed this morning, with Carlo Ancelotti taking over as the new manager of Chelsea on July 1st. It was no real surprise at all really and a couple of weeks ago, I posted my thoughts that Ancelotti was making sure that Chelsea really wanted him and sure enough, they did.

Man, I just finished my Zhirkov. Pure bliss.

Anyway, the man with one brilliant last name has finally, officially, joined Chelsea. Yuri Zhirkov, aka the Russian Ronaldinho, comes to Stamford Bridge from CSKA Moscow for a fairly hefty £18 million. Zhirkov inked a three-year contract, supposedly with an option for two more years.

One text I received this morning described Persija's new investor, Eddy Joenardi, as 'Abramovich' coming to Persija. To extend that analogy it is only right that the club nicknamed the Kemayoran Tigers will to a Portuguese coach to do a Mourinho. Alberto Rafael Gomez is 54 and I know nothing beyond that.

Mark Hughes rings John Terry

• Roman Abramovich is a modest man [Dirty Tackle]

• Fantasy footie stud Stephen Ireland and Xerxes from '300' [Who Ate All The Pies]

• Luca Toni to the Premier League? [Tribal Football]

• Elano turns his back on City's 1-1-8 formation and moves to Turkey [ESPN]

• Bojinov turns his back on City's 1-1-8 formation too, goes to Parma [Football 365]

I was delighted to hear the news that Damien Duff made a switch to Fulham, running away from Mike Ashley and his sinking ship called Newcastle. The Irish winger had endured a very difficult period with the Magpies but he remained loyal despite all that was happening. He did not expressed desire to leave but rather wanted to stay and help the club the practically ruined his career.

(highlights di Chelsea-Burnley 3-0)
Blues inarrestabili. E' iniziata alla grande l'avventura in Premier League, con il Chelsea, dell'ex allenatore del Milan, Carlo Ancelotti. Il tecnico, nativo di Reggiolo, sembra aver trovato l'alchimia giusta nel club inglese, anche se è presto per poter dare dei giudizi definitivi, Fatto sta che la squadra londinese è a punteggio pieno dopo quattro gare e si candida fortemente per la vittoria del titolo nazionale, ma anche per il successo finale nella Champions League, obiettivo dichiarato in casa del club di Abramovich.