I'm a tad worried about the general direction that Chelsea could be going in. Roman Abramovich seems to be very heavily influenced by an Israeli agent called Pini Zahavi, who somehow manages to get himself involved in every deal in which Chelsea are involved (in much the same way as good old monster Eric Hall did in the Ken Bates days!). He was the guy who introduced Abramovich to Avram Grant and eased his way into the Chelsea setup. I hope to God that Grant's appointment as manager is for footballing reasons, and he isn't just doing a mate a favour.

^I think you should be worried about the general direction Chelsea is going in.

I give Grant three games max. He'll have v little fan support, forcing Abramovich to hook a far bigger fish by the end of the month. My money's on Scolari - who I think could prove a total disaster.

There's a strong rumour that Grant is keeping the seat warm for Guus Hiddink, who won't be available until Russia go out of the European Championships. That could be late November, or could be the Summer.

Man this conspiracy theory goes deep.

I haven't even suggested yet that, in order to get his man as soon as possible, Abramovich could pay off the Russians to make sure that they don't qualify! :eek:

Indeed.
OR the Brown Government couldve panicked about the potential economic consequences of England not being in the world cup, and forgive the Russians for the radiation poisoning fiasco earlier this year if they ask the Russians to pressure Abramovch into getting rid of Jose' so as he becomes available for England.

Allegedly

That could explain this too:

Gordon Brown has rejected a plea by UEFA president Michel Platini to become directly involved in battling "the influence of money" in football.Platini has written to all European heads of government as his "last hope for a healthy and balanced future of European football", calling for support to change the European Commission's rules on sport.

Brown however believes that the influx of money in football has brought many benefits and that it is up to the game's governing bodies to address Platini's concerns.

His tough stance is somewhat surprising given that Platini will be one of the key figures England need to have on their side for a successful bid for the 2018 World Cup - a campaign that Brown himself is very keen on.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: "Platini's letter has raised some important issues that fans care about and we do too. But these are matters for national football authorities to address and they should respond directly to fans' concerns. We will continue to encourage them to do so. The Government recognises and supports the autonomy of sport and its right to self-regulation. The running of football is down to the game's authorities and Government can assist when asked."

In his letter Platini expressed fears the prevalence of money could lead to a dangerous shift in traditional values.

He wrote: "A serious threat hangs over the development of European football: the malign and ever-present influence of money. Money has always been in sport and football has had a professional component for 150 years. But money has never been the ultimate objective of football: the main purpose has always been to win trophies. For the first time we may be entering an era in which financial profit alone will be the measure of sporting success."

Downing Street however argues that money is working its way down from the top.

The spokesperson added: "We believe that football can find a way forward. The recent Premier League broadcasting deal highlights this with money being split amongst the League's clubs as well as being redistributed to the grassroots. We have made great strides through the Football Foundation with funding from government, the Premier League and the FA supporting over 4,000 community projects worth over half a billion pounds in seven years. There is no doubt that the influx of money into football is a testament to its success and has brought many benefits. It, of course, brings challenges too and we welcome the ongoing constructive debate within the game."

There had been speculation that the new European Union Reform Treaty would give football's governing bodies more power to tackle inequalities in the game and the increase in foreign players. But Platini is upset that recommendations proposed by Portuguese minister Jose Luis Arnaut have been rejected in favour of a weaker version that could leave the sport open to legal challenges from clubs and players who do not agree with any tough new measures.

"This article doesn't go far enough to protect football from the rampant commercialism which assails on all sides," added Platini in his letter. "Millions of football fans, for whom I speak, are calling on Europe to do more to defend our football and the European sporting model based on financial solidarity between rich and poor, which is the only way to guarantee the values we cherish. If I am turning to you, the heads of state of government, it is because you represent the last hope for a healthy and balanced future of European football."

rumours abound that jose is white hart lane bound! i hope not or ill have to eat humble pie.....

we dont want a chelski reject!

did any of ye see the last champ league chelsea game with rosenberg i think. abramovich laughed when rosenberg scored and it was caught on camera......

Just the excuse he was looking for!
More telling was his lack of emotion when Schevchenko finally started earning his wages.

I bet Ashley Cole is on the phone right now to some other clubs with more money than sense, whoring himself to the highest bidder.

i'm so excited, i'm going to the Man U and Chelsea game on Sunday.

^
Have a good time, mate. I'm not even gonna bother trying to wind you up, 'cos I'm far too worried about Chelsea to think about other teams. Think of me sitting there crying when your fourth goal goes in.

Christ on a bike i wish id watched Spurs Villa the other night

fucking spurs. for the first time ever i fear for our season. spurscould be facing a relegation escape! we are absolutely awful. and then to play for 25 minutes like we were brazil 1970... what the fuck were they doing for the rest of the game!! paul robinson has really fucked up. i think he could be on some kind of hallucigenic solution........... keep jol, get rid of berbatov.......

also did you see ranaldos face in the cham league game against rome last nite. classic. sorry. i dont like him. all feet and white boots.......

HE WAS FAKING IT! Clearly hid a razor behind his buck teeth, i think he wanted to get home to watch the Hollyoaks omnibus.
And yes, we are in the shit. Its all Levys fault for wanting to get a new manager and increase the share price so he could sell up. Im fast thinking Usmanov was gonna buy Spurs til he realised we were in the shit this season. I might be wrong.

Well that would be a second lucky escape for you. If it weren't for Roman Abramovich flying over Stamford Bridge by chance, you could be owned by him right now.

Steer clear of Russian oligarchs, that's my advice.

Thanks i'll tell the board :rolleyes:

but why are we shit. we have great players collectivly just as a team it doesnt seem to work. typical spurs moan i know but if we dont bag at least 4 goals on thursday night, we are shit and we could face the prospect of not getting to europe next year, and perhaps battling for premiership survival as well.

Whats that team we're playing? Aronthosis Famgusta?
They sound like some kind of tropical disease.

I dunno, you undermine a manager so publicly its bound to affect him. We HAVE also been very unlucky, against Sunderland we were shit but lost in the last minute, the whole fiasco of the Fulham game, Should have had a penalty/goal against Man U.
Only times i think we deserved to lose is Everton and Arsenal.

Henk Ten Cate's agent claims the Ajax coach has agreed to join Chelsea as assistant to new boss Avram Grant.

Ten Cate's representative Sigi Lens told The Sun: "It's true we have an agreement with Chelsea. It's an opportunity for him, a challenge for him to work with a big team and work with Avram Grant to build a new team. Chelsea have spoken to Henk about the matter. There was a conversation and both the manager and Henk are on the same wavelength. They invited Henk to a meeting to talk about technical matters and ask how he sees things and how he wants to play and that was good."

Ten Cate had a glowing reputation for his work as Frank Rikkaard's assistant at Barcelona - and it appears this is the role Chelsea want him to perform at Stamford Bridge.

Lens said: "Henk knows what he's doing. He did it in Barcelona", and he hinted the appointment could be made swiftly if Chelsea can reach an agreement with Ajax. "Chelsea want to take the coach now, so if there is an agreement between the two clubs everything will be clear. The will is there from both parties for Henk to start straight away. Henk does not want to wait until the end of the season, he wants to come now but it depends on how Ajax react."

Lens explained that the 52-year-old's work at Ajax made him the ideal candidate for Chelsea. He said: "You can see how he plays the game tactically. Look at Ajax last year. The season before they finished fifth and with Henk they were joint top and only just lost out on the title by one goal."

Ten Cate, who has a reputation for producing attacking football and being a hard task-master on the training ground, was formerly number two at Barcelona and helped the Catalan giants to Champions League glory in 2006.

In his first season as Ajax manager, the club missed out on the Dutch title on goal difference, though he has won a Dutch Cup and two Dutch Super Cups in his time at the Amsterdam Arena.

Ajax refused to comment on stories linking Ten Cate with the role.


Can any of the Dutch boardies tell me if this is something worth me getting excited about? Have Ajax played entertaining football with this guy as coach?

don't get too excited. five live reported at lunch time that he's not going to chelsea. he wants to stay with ajax. also reported on sky sports.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...781411,00.html

Oh well. All the time that Chelsea are playing uninspiring football it's saving me £50+ for each game that I don't go to.

£50!! I knew chelsea was pricey.
I've just this minute picked up an england/croatia ticket for less than that.

Fifty quid's the cheap tickets.

When I were a lad (15 years ago) it used to cost me £7 (I think) to stand in the Shed End. I wouldn't want to trade the last few years trophies, but I'd love to be able to watch Chelsea again and feel as passionate about them as I did at that time.

^^
This reminds me Nick Hornsby's book.

Hahaha!



Hahaha!



Yes, for everyone supporting Feyenoord it has all been really entertaining, especially that last couple of months... although I have a feeling that's not what you meant. Anyway, I reckon he'll probably do well as a field trainer at Chelsea.

Russia 2 - England 1

Bugger! We're reliant on Russia messing up if we're going to qualify.

ha. we are reliant on a collapse of germany and the czech rep eceonmy and geographical location to qualify. last night was the worst performance ive ever seen by the irish team. awful absolutely awful. people in high places should be sacked for what they have done to the team. ok steve staunton aint doing a great managerial job but he shouldnt have been given te post in the first place. and furthermore he is here for another 2 years at least to get us into the world cup.. irish football is screwed! as one famous pundit in ireland put it " poor poor soccer..." ive never seen a campaign that started off bad and get progressivly worse, also ive never seen an irish team get booed off the pitch in dublin before.......

You're still way better than the crippled Slovakians.

We won, hooray.

Austria 3 - Cote d'Ivoire 2

Our team is still a fucking wreck. The EM is going to be such a disgrace for us + we're host!!!!

I bet you'd kick the shit of our "masters" easily, Christoph.

^I don't think so, we've played so bad over the last few years it's not even funny anymore.

look at the FIFA ranking list:
slovakia is 46, we're at 85!

Yeah, but Slovakians are cheating. We were actually at 146th position initially, but someone erased the "1". :D

haha, in that case we might have a chance.

we got beat 5-2 away to cyprus and then drew with them 1-1 at home. fucking awful. and to think it wasnt that long ago we were in a quarter final of the world cup. the day we beat romania to reach the quarters is still etched in my memory and most irish peoples memories forever. packie bonner is a hero!

thank you martin for your time and effort.....

^ Another decent manager bites the dust due to silly financial pressures.

the support he received last night against getafe was unbelievalbe. but as a spurs fan, im worried...very worried about the remainder of the season.