Though I don’t consider Orkut to be an absolute measure of support, the combined Chelsea communities there have about 62,000 members and we outnumber clubs like Liverpool, Milan, Barca etc. Great achievement for a club that has ‘no history’ ;-)

I had heard a while back from a self-proclaimed “insider” that Chelsea would be trying to hire Cruyff as the new manager and move AG back to his old position.

I think it’s a really interesting idea, and wonder if the addition of ten Cate was part of the plan to entice Cruyff as they’re both Dutch.

To me this sounds much more realistic than stealing Rijkaard away from FC Barcelona. I don’t see him being too eager to leave. On the heels of last year’s disappointing second-place finish, a person as competitive as him has a lot to prove.

Who knows how it will all work out but as a Chelsea fan, I’d be delighted to have Cruyff in charge. I believe also that ten Cate will only do great things at Chelsea. This might be a beautiful arrangement. Only time will tell how the footballing minds and egos will mesh, though.

TBF@35,

You know why Arse hardly won anything of note over the last several seasons, because all they did was entertain while their rivals focused on winning first and entertaining second.

You wonder why Barca despite all their flair never was able to beat us unless we are one man down, it is because when it gets to the crunch and the stakes are highest, what wins the day is the spirit of the team and the efficiency of the combattants rather than their capacity to entertain.

Did you watch the recent Copa final that pitched Brazil against Argentina? Brazil abandoned their crave for entertainment and focused on winning first- Argentina with the super abundance of talent came onto the field believing their superior skills will win the day- after 90 min, they were totally torn to shreds by an efficient Brazil- 3-0 was the final verdict.

I have said and will repeat it a million times- Competitive football is about winning first. Exhibition football is about entertaining first. Both the EPL and CL as far i know are competitive leagues rather than exhibition leagues.

Do you think people who are wagering mega bucks on the fortune of teams care a hoot about all those fancy skills?

Who said our fan base would go sky high only because of skills? Let me tell you- at least in most of Africa, I can emphatically state that over the last three seasons, we have won many more followers than the underachieving Arsenal. The reason- Success. Not Entertainment but Success.

If it were just an issue of skills, then the EPL would not rate at all- because real skills are in places like Spain, France, Italy and the home of skills- South America. But it is more than skills. It is about getting the results and making fans happy through that.

Champs league final 99 between Man U and Bayern epitomized this so well. One team played all the best football on the night- that was Bayern. The other played crap all night but got the result- that was Manure.

Guess what? Few remember today how great Bayern were on the night and if they remember at all it is no big deal cos the team that won attained Legendary status that night. Man Utd that year reached dizzy heights cos of treble even tho they were absolute rubbish that epochal night.

I said it before, I will not mind fanciful football once i can be guaranteed that winning is the number one motivation, not entertaining fans. My greatest entertainment is Victory. Ask any Arsenal fans and they will be honest enough to say that Entertainment without trophies is of no much consolation.

We have won only two EPL. Jose’s obsession was to make us focus on winning so many so that all over the world our brand becomes known for trophies first. Then we can indulge in the luxury of doing 180 degree movements with the balls, back heeling and all those eye pleasing tricks, knowing that if they don’t even earn us trophies (like they way they have not helped Arsenal over the last three years), we have the cvonsolation that we had already established a great pedigree.

its difficult to compare football in spain and england… this is what morientes had to say
“The English league is physically stronger than any other league in Europe and the style of play is much different, too. You don’t have as many touches on the ball in England as you get here. Here you have more time to make the play, that was the main difference that struck me when I joined Liverpool.”

arsenal and man utd do play some good free flowing football getting the results too(arsenal?) but both have well settled managers for a long time.. and did it happened overnight?

only problem i see in chelsea is expectations are sky high and time very less… steven clark is indispensable now but y was he being thrown out last season ? only jose came to his rescue and i think he is gonna end his long committed carrer this season.

another one i see going is cudacini… he can be a first choice in any team he wants. jose knew his potential and did quite a good job retaining him till now. asking cudacini to lft the trophy first he showed his respect to him. I hope new manager can also retain him.. we have the best 2nd choice in whole europe.

things will be fine and we will also play free flowing footy but may not be with the same set of core players.. but will we win again the EPL leave aside the champions league with this manager?? NO

with present things and African cup of nations coming and form of our strikers i see chelsea finishing 5th in the league with a close competition with man city. quarter final exit in champions league.
This season seems over but may god prove me wrong. The problem i see is not the same ccommitment level in home matches that we have in away matches.. lets hope for the best .. prepare for the worst.

BC and Mourofessien,, very well said, beautiful football , i still cant get it. what is the point of playing flamboyent football when u cant win anything, what happened to barca last year then ??? what happened to arsenal last year ?? all playing one touch passing and beautiful football according to some, but didnt win anything. i strongly belive loosers are never remembered atleast in football.

BC as u said there is a strong media circle atleast in england against chelsea. it could be because of the fact that the club is owned by a russian billionniare and was managed by a very charming young man called Jose, at 44 the success he had must envy even the likes of Sir Alex ferguson.

I cant understand people’s comments when they say chelsea play boring football. every team in the premireship play boring football at times. the only difference i can see chelsea from other teams in the league is chelsea play to win, and i think if you are playing any football game beyond a park level with your frends you should play to win. the amount of money involved in football makes it a must win game every time a top team plays.

According to many many football fans arsenal are the best team playing beautiful football, i dont deny it, they do play some good football but,I can recall many times arsene wenger complaining about other teams being a bit physical, i dont undertsand that at all ,, are opposition teams suppose to just let the young boys of arsenal pass around how ever they want and watch them play their beautiful football with out putting in a good tackle or being on their face. How many goals have arsenal scored against chelsea in the last 3 years with thier beautiful football ? they steam roll teams who give too much respect to them. and complains against teams who play a bit physical. how many times has liverpool put 10 men behind the ball when chelsea are attacking ?

first of all there are different ways you play football and every game has to be approached in a different way. some games you play defensively some attacking. liverpool aresenal and man utd has history of winning many titiles. but how many of you reading this can tell me all these titiles were won by playing beautiful football ?

i have commented before about chelsea team, what jose did was create a team of winners. i never felt for a second he built the team to play flamboyent football, which doesnt mean he cant,,,,

As BC said, if you want to be recoganised all over the world you have to win things first, and style will come along with it. liverpool man u and arsenal has won things in past and they claim it as history, which is good, no complains, but chelsea are the present and chelsea is the future. arsenal has relseased a finanacial statement recentlyy claiming so and so profit and bla bla bla. How do a normal football fan who works in a small factory knows about this financial figures , forget that i hardly understand it, lol, all he cares is if his team has won anything any titles. soo as far as i am concerned if we win , ugly or beautiful doesnt matter. last years community cup match arsenal vs chelsea, arsenal played thier so called second team, and many of my frends who support arsenal gave the excuse, oh we played our second team, why play then ? you play to win and chelsea are winners, we won back to back titiles, few cups, we cant expect our team to steam roll every opposition teams, in every year, thats impossible. look at liverpool, they concentrated on CL last 2 years and they rested many players and changed the team around for it,, all sort of rotation from rafa, but what happened to the league ? and for that i think as BC mentioned we need to give Jose a big bigg credit how he managed to keep chelsea untill end of april and finish 2nd with 2 cups, with all his tactical approach. as i said in one of my previous comments, jose was not a big technical coach, were as wenger is, and am sure he would be waking up in the middle of his sleeep walking around with a peice of chalk drawing formations and passing movements, but i hav hardly seen wenger bringing in a substitute and he changes the game around were as Jose was a specialist in that, and you don get a sliding goal celebration from a manager any one apart from Jose.

As for now, Ten cate’s appointment is brilliant as far as i think,, not sure about other views, he was one of the main technical guy behind barcelona during 05-06 season,winning both la liga and CL.
so himself steve clark and the most charming Avaram should be a good team for time being. Should we all maker a request to that prgramme(what not to wear, if any one watches it) for a complete make over for Mr Grant, come on he has to look a bit more polished does any one think so ? lol..

@Blue Champion
Brilliant post mate……………….i understand and appreciate ur views…………….

Right on in your assessment…..
The three skills that TSO demonstrated again and again were
#1 The ability to inspire men to fight and to play hard for him.
#2 Brilliant tactical maneuvers- remember the game where SWP played at right back-brilliant!

@BC
you probably missed my first question on ballack???????
for me and for anyone…………..winning is first………….the main reason i appreciate jose is because of the winning mentality he instilled so deep down the squad that even without a manager they can gather enough self-motivation and self-respect to challenge for every silverware on the hold…………….

I am left speechless…..

@BC
If you have noticed my post……………i asked
1.is winning with flair footy impossible????????
i never in the first place said that winning is secondary objective……

@BC
about those dvds,where do i get them…………….i don’t get a real cfc jersey here in lucknow………if it’s on internet can u provide the link???????
and mate catherine zeta jones over angelina jolie anyday…..

TBF

On Ballack: I don’t think Jose would have gone for Ballack as he always claimed Lampard to be his man. He had Michael Essien who is the best holding midfielder, in my opinion. He had already groomed Mikel for holding and central midfielder roles. In addition to these, he had Joe Cole and SWP on either sides. So, I can understand Jose going for someone like Sidwell but Ballack, I dont think so. For someone who gives importance to tactics, team balance and discipline and particular about pre-defined roles for everyone, it’s hard to accept that Ballack would have been his choice.

It appeared that Jose in fact, was impressed by Ballack’s discipline and commitment in comparison to Shevchenko. Or sometimes in management, it’s common to praise someone only to tickle/provoke the other person, provided they are on the same plane. Sheva and Ballack joined at the same time, both are greats/legends in their earlier clubs, both are part of Chelsea’s ambition of going global and increasing fan base.

When Roman brings in two legends - Sheva and Ballack, TSO cannot drop both of them for long periods of time and hence had to choose better of the two. To talk about what kind of season they had, for a striker his goals should speak. Whereas for a midfielder, there are no definitive numbers to show. Jose claimed that the Chelsea statisticians say that Ballack’s pass percentage was very high, the metres covered and zones manned by him showed very high workrate. As we know, for Jose it’s more about your commitment and attitude than anything else. So, he found Ballack to be more obedient with a better attitude.

So, that’s my take on Ballack.

TBF

We’re getting a sponsor soon on BlueChampions who would sell original official jerseys (beware of the duplicates around) of all clubs. Wait for a few days.

As regards DVDs, I bought it on ebay. More than value for money. I’ve ordered for my copy of ‘The Blue Revolution’ as well. Would post a review after I get it and see it.

thanx mate

The only reason why you got ballack is that you don’t want him to go to man utd.

Remember manu lost Keane toward the last part of the previous season.There were very much interested in him.
Papers ran wild linking ballack to man u.Had ballack joined Manu he would,could have gyrated the whole league.(just because he would be the center of their play)
But in the end ballack choose money over everything.(just a guesss) I won’t agree that roman alone brought him,i see a hand of your “TSO” as well

Hiya there all.

I haven;t been able to post 4 abt 2weeks but been watching CFC.I see No real game plans, solidity, only individual skills are getting us results. How long will this go on ?

Thats a very Comprehensive article . I have called on so many of my friends to read this article and also send the links to many oppositions fans and CFC fans who are yet to know this blog.

Good work BC
Blues till I die

Let me be the devils advocate in respect to this article , BC , great work no doubt but my concepts are very cleanly defined to be sculpted so!!!
This is not a defination but a defense of our playing style BEAUTY AS THEY SAY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER , i agree , but ur comparison of Zeta jones and Jolie is offbeat , u ask who is more beautiful but not ‘if they R beautiful’ , which even u take as fact(not that it isint…lol) , now if u ask—’Whos prettier Oprah or Beyonce??’ what wld ppl say??? (no disrespect to Oprah)

Now lets take this to the football level , this is what u really mean—’Arsenal or Barca , which plays prettier??’ not ‘Chelsea or Arsey’ cuz beuty is not what we play!!!
Beauty is something that causes delight and pleasure according to the dictionary , now when we play can anybody feel any sort of pleasure or delight?? is there any sort of excitement or sense of anticipation?? NO , does only the result mater??? all thru the match we just keep waiting for the ball to go in just once , pleading and praying , and there is always a sigh of relief , yes shameful relief when we finish the match , even after a match with teams we shld be rolling out of the park , is this beauty??? NO , this is called ‘crap’ , ‘boring’ and ‘crawling to the finish line’ , does it refer to beauty in any way?? NO!!

U say Joe put tactics over creativity , when has he put creativity over tactics??um…..uh………maybe just one word………NEVER , playing only to get a result is not bad , but it shld be done when necessary , in big games , in matches where there is no other choice , why did we hav to atack till the 90 minute mark last season???? cuz we were either still in a draw or losing , wht is pretty abt that??? scraping a win agnst teams like Watford in the 90 min is beauty??? tactics???i call that pure and complete shi* nonsense!!!

When teams spending as much as we do play , there shld be a sense of dread for the opposition , but the oppposition instead always seems to hav a chance , hav th chance to score goals , cuz we just sit back and allow them to play , beauty??? huh……….lack of common sense , when u hav an opponent in a ring who is smaller , weaker and millions less talented , do u run around the ring throwing punches in the air??? do u give that person a chance to do something??? NO , u just put across ur best and finish off the contest with a KO as soon as u can , and then relax!!
Even i play chess quite a lot , and when i hav the advantage of power and numbers i charge thru , not let the opposition relax and rearrange himself!!

when wld we be clinical??? smarter???or aggressive??? Jose’s style is going to take very long time to leave , and until then beauty wld remain only a word in the dictionary for us!!!

JOSE BLAMES FOREIGN FAN.
Jose Mourinho has accused Chelski supporters of being too ’soft’ to realise the club’s ambition of being a ‘great club’.

In a remarkable stereotyping of the Stamford Bridge faithful, Mourinho depicted Chelski supporters as ‘foreign’ and ‘cosmopolitan’. According to Mourinho, ousted as the club’s managers just two days after 24,973 spectators attended September’s Champions League tie against Rosenborg, their background means they are not inclined to sing or shout at matches.

“Most of the black community are fans of Arsenal, the Jewish community support Tottenham, in the most disadvantaged area of London they’re fans of West Ham, and Fulham are a small club but with a strong nucleus of fans,” The Sun quotes Mourinho writing in a new book.

“And then comes Chelsea, a cosmopolitan club, with fans famous around the world, like Bryan Adams, Claudia Schiffer and Chelsea, the daughter of former president Clinton.

“And there’s a common denominator among them all - they’re foreigners, which fits in with the general profile of the fan of the club. Whoever is a foreigner and leads a life above the means of the average citizen is a fan of Chelsea because Chelsea have the most expensive tickets, the most expensive meals, their social life around the game is more important than that of other clubs.

“It’s the soft sort of fan who doesn’t get behind the team a lot, who don’t organise themselves into fan groups, with the cheering on that is characteristic of the image of English football.

“They create a different atmosphere because a lot of our fans also go to the opera, the theatre, other types of shows that don’t lend themselves to lots of shouting. That’s the Chelsea fan.

“That’s why Chelsea have some difficulty in asserting themselves as a great club of English football.”

“PASS THE CAVIAR, DARLING!”

@18…..simply fantastic…

BC - i completely agree with you. brilliant post mate. superb.

Excellent post BC, I really enjoyed it.

I see another definition to the argument here between football with flair and football with trophies. According to the rules of the game, you get a win for playing smart no matter how it looks. This is why there is such a thing as a “professional foul” - it is against the rules and perhaps an ugly concept, but players will take that risk if they think it will save the team from being scored on. So beauty aside, the entire point of the game according to the rules is to win- trophies are what matter in the end.

On the other hand, clubs need to survive right? They need financial backing, they need a fan base and a full stadium on game nights, and people buying their logo. Basic capitalism: what will increase our income? What will attract “customers”? Perhaps the answer is flair, perhaps not.

So what I am saying is, beauty aside (and beauty is subjective, I think we all agree, thanks BC, and well put comparing Jolie and Zeta Jones!), what is the motivation to choose a style of football, efficient vs. flair? It has to be a balance, but in the end, does capitalism win the day, or does achieving victory? For me, it is the latter, and I agree that over the long run, those trophies stack up and CFC is a great internationally renowned team if they play good, winning football.

Also, I can appreciate fancy dribbles like Kaka- he is amazing to watch.

But I will never be bored with Lampard so long as he can unleash those cannonballs from outside of the box! For me, whether or not he has a bad streak and misses a dozen, his ability to see the opening and change the game in an instant from outside of the box is so exciting. Opposing ‘keepers must never have a moment to breathe easy when Lampard is on the field.

@ people who think Deco is better than Frank Lampard:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tNZ9-KZ7pNo

Deco is a scum.

Do I feel excited when watching Chelsea play? All the time even under Grant. The irrepressible spirit of the team gives me so much excitement. Our capacity to overpower our opponents no matter what skills they possess makes my head swirl all the time. In days past, those clinical long balls from our defense straight onto the chest of drogba who lays it down for lamp to strike a long one makes me go ga ga. Taking 20 min to put three past Barca makes me swoon anytime.

Seeing the sheer self belief that makes us take aresenal apart at the emirates even when we are a man down makes my day anytime.

So, it is again an issue of what you consider to be beauty. One million passes before a goal may make some happy but for others, it is a waste of time and energy when the same job can be done in one fell swoop.

MourofEssien

that was a brilliant explanation. you simply nailed it. exactly thats what BC’s trying to say about beauty and what you see as beauty!

GTB @ 15

We have so many such stories on this side as well. What if I claim that the only reason why Man Utd bought Tevez and Anderson were to prevent Chelsea from buying them? You’re free to believe a story of your choice. Roman signed Ballack with a genuine expectation of good performance and also with a hope that he would help us sell few more thousands of Chelsea jerseys.

Great post mate …

Beautiful or ugly ,
one common thing, with these guys we will win nothing.

great attitude Maysam. Your a sorry excuse for a Chelsea fan with your constant moaning, groaning and griping. Go support Barca or Arsenal, you really think they have match winners. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from other clubs fans, its that you should never doubt your own players and clubs. If you do, you’re just a fair weather fan.

it takes some serious football knowledge and maturity to appreciate the tactical genius that Chelsea exhibits. young football fans, especially the bandwagon boys, don’t like the brains of the chelsea game.

that’s the same way in other sports too. anything very intelligent and technical, lot of young fans do not appreciate. they always to see their team play like X, like Y and like Z. they’ll not be satisfied even if they are the fans of X, Y, Z.

but i’ve lived enough and feel privileged to see chelsea sending shivers to the opposition by winning two titles. JM is a legend and he has never put a wrong foot. Genius!!!

ballack always great and he play for the team

Good post BC but here is my take on this issue:
football is a sport as well as a business (entertainment business),we all teams have to win but they must also strike a balance. some games have to be won in style and some when its not working have to be won the Mourinho way. But the Mourinho way (efficient, dull, safe, defensive, 1-0) over sixty four games is unacceptable.The view that fans will rather have trophies than beautiful football, that fans do not care what type of football gets them trophies they just want trophies is a shortsighted view, and only focuses on satisfying the whims of what i will call hardcore fans who are worried about bragging rights rather than growing the club by attracting new supporters.

Winning playing boring football has the following advantages:

1. teams that play boring football are not going to attract new fans or neutrals, every club needs growth by attracting new fans for revenues, so they can invest in infrastructure and new players. Most neutrals I know if there is a chelsea game in one channel and a Barca or Arsenal game in another will switch to the channel with Arse or barca. football is entertainment business, and winning in style attracts more customers.Its different in england because football is about loyalty, if your family has always been chelsea, then chances are kids born to that family will support family, but we live in a global village, a guy in Zimbabwe, Brasil or China will buy a jersey of a team because that team’s football entertains him the most, not because his father , grandpa etc etc supports or supported that team, he will choose to support a team over another because the team he chooses him entertains him the most.If clubs do not capture the global market for supporters they will lag behind, the only way to attract a global audience is to entertain them. The English market is already saturated.

2. Teams that play unattractive football even though they will be winning do not usual attract quality players. Chelsea has managed to attract players by paying above market salaries and ridiculous transfer prices, otherwise if they paid as much as Arse, barca or Man u they will lose when it comes to attracting top talent to the club. This is a fact.

In addition:
1. Barcelona and Real Madrid have proved over the years that you can achieve success, win lots of trophies by playing fantastic football. The old Ajax did it as well.So it is possible and it has advantages. that is why those clubs have huge folowings

2.Roman is a rich, busy and important man, after investing 500M in a club he has every right to demand entertaining football, there is a lot of things he can do on a saturday afternoon but he chooses to watch chelsea and as such has every right to be entertained, if it means the club has to rebuild from scratch to achieve that goal then let it be. Other european teams have done it , it is possible at chelsea.

5. The special one just did not have it in him to win playing attractive football. Look I do not think Roman wants Chelsea to entertain every game, I am sure he will be content if we resort to efficient boring football in a CL league final and win the final, but the problem with the Mourinho is that even against watford, Wycombe etc etc we played boring football, after 500M we should be able to put 3, 4, even 5 goals past watford playing entertaining football.Man U were doing it last season, even with injuries.

6. when Morinho arrived he inherited a team that ranieri had built, that team played very good football in his first season, good football the next and rubbish after that. The decline is evident if you analyse the years.Enough with the injury excuses, a team has a squad of over 20 players ,and after 500M we should be able to lose 11 players to injury and still beat teams easily. Roman was not getting value for money. Other teams do get injuries too but they do not start playing rubbish and winning 1-0 against useless opposition all the time. If you realised Jose had lost some of ranieris players and replaced them with his own e.g Duff , Gudjohnson, gallas , Huth left etc etc and once that happened it was downhill from there.

7. people might blame the Sheva fiasco I do not think Jose was ever forced to play anyone, his style of play just did not suit players of the mould of sheva, ballack etc etc , even kaka, messi would struggle in a Mourinho system. if sheva had gone to Arse or Man U i think he would have flourshed because they run off the ball a lot and they pass the ball.

I can go on and on, in my opinion sacking Jose was a good strategic move, I am not sure about Avrams appointment though, maybe the Chelsea Board know something we don’t. lets not pre judge the guy, at the end of the season lets judge him on what he would have achieved.

I want my chelsea to grow by attracting new supporters and Chelsea was not going to do that by playing Mourinho type football.

sorry on my previous post I meant

“winning playing boring football has the following disadvantages” not advantages