Hats off to the Blues and Golden Guus! Special thanks to Drogba, Lampard and the man who keeps proving me wrong – Nicolas Anelka! That’s it for now. Enjoy the win. See ya!

Officially the last day of the football season 08-09. The second season in succession where we are not ending the season with the manager who started the season. For all the drama and instability, if Chelsea win this football match today, this would be called a good season. While on a free fall, recovered and finished with a champions league spot, knocked out by UEFA in the champions leage semi finals and a FA Cup trophy. Not bad I’d say, if you know where we were heading to.

Guus is leaving. There is no doubt about that. He has never kept us in doubt in this regard. He’s always been saying that he would go back to Russia. It’s the media and us who have been cooking stories in a hope that he would do otherwise. I don’t think he is someone who would break an existing contract because he gets a big money job in his buddy’s club. He looks far more principled and dignified to do such things. He has been with us only for just four months and the impact he has created in this team is phenomenal. Which other caretaker manager has his name sung, gets a standing ovation and gets such a fantastic goodbye?

Meanwhile, let’s not underestimate our opponents. Everton are a fantastic team capable to beating the big four. David Moyes is an outstanding manager who’s capable of masterminding a trophy win for Everton. While I seriously hope that we win this for Guus Hiddink, if we don’t, I’d still be happy for Everton and David Moyes. The Chelsea players have said this already. We have to win this for Guus. I think we would. He has been a great ambassador for Chelsea FC that he deserves a very good last match.

Here is what Guus says about Chelsea FC:

I think this team has personality if you see the individual players. What I had as a reaction from my time here, people are changing a bit their minds. They are going to like more and more Chelsea. I think that’s an achievement, not just in England, but also abroad, that Chelsea is recognised now as a big club. I think the way the club presented itself in recent months is what people recognised, the way of playing, the character, the fighting spirit and the good players. You have the attention when you play the Champions League and top duels in the Premier League, and Chelsea has won a lot. I think the image of a club is very important worldwide, there is always this up and down in winning a trophy but the overall image is important in the world of football.

This is why I want Guus Hiddink back as Chelsea manager. I hope he ends on a high with a trophy today. Let he resume his Russia duties. Once that’s over, I want him to come back and take the Chelsea job from whoever is here. With what I’ve seen of Hiddink so far, mostly, anyone else would be a compromise.

Here is for a 2-1 win for Chelsea. Let’s bring home the FA Cup again!

Expectations from the champions league final? We aren’t even playing in the finals, are we? Didn’t UEFA knock Chelsea out of the competition in favour of their favourite sons from Catalunya? Still, I’ll watch the champions league final tonight, purely out of the love for football. All said and done, both Man Utd and Barcelona are great teams, and a champions league final involving them must be a spectacle for any football fan in any corner of the world.

I do have some hopes and expectations from this final. Firstly, I want Man Utd to win it. Hard to say, but I say it, let Man Utd win it. Because they deserve it better than Barca. As we all know and have seen, Barca are champions of a weaker league when compared to Man Utd. As all teams have rolled over to allow them play their game to their strengths, they have also got on to the moral high horse on the playing style. Whereas, Man Utd have won the league against toughest of competitions from teams like Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and even the top half teams. Man Utd plays are a more complete football team when compared to Barca.

How do I want Man Utd to win this match? I want Man Utd beat Barca by completely crushing them or by incredibly dodgy referee decisions. Option 1: Let Man Utd completely crush Barcelona that they have nothing to say after the final. Let them teach Barca a footballing lesson in attack and tactics. For once, I want Barcelona to openly admit that they were beaten by a side and they deserved to lose. After the match, I want Platini to say that the better team won. Option 2: Let Man Utd win through some extremely dodgy goals that would keep Barcelona crying for weeks and months. Yes, I mean it. Let the match be decided by the lone goal late in the extra time but let that goal be a penalty from a blatant dive from you-know-who. Or let there be some half a dozen clear handballs in the box by Man Utd but none of them gets called for a penalty. These things happen, you know!

The press builds this up as a Messi vs Ronaldo battle. I want Ronaldo to win this battle. I think these two players personify their teams and their philosophy. Ronaldo is a more complete player when compared to Messi. Keeping Messi quiet is not that hard. We had our right back play at left back and still made him invisible. Ronaldo is much much more consistent than Messi. Until a couple of seasons back, Ronaldo was a choker and he’s grown immensely since then. Ronaldo can play against any team, any league, any competition and at any stage. He’s a monster now. Hats off to him. Forget Messi, Barcelona as a team has always been poor in the last 6-7 seasons against English opponents.

UEFA and Platini would be hoping that Barca wins the trophy. Platini would even shed tears of joy if they win. But my final prediction: Man Utd 2-0 Barcelona. I think Barca will run around in circles and play their triangles all night but Man Utd will find the straight line that leads them to goal, that is, unless UEFA has fixed the final too.

The premier league is over, finally. As we come to the end, there are two pluses for us from the premier league. One is, we finish third which means we don’t have to play qualifying rounds for next season’s champions league. Two is, it is a Chelsea player who got the golden boot of the premier league.  Plus, I have this little satisfaction that we gathered 80+ points in the league.

Full marks to Nicolas Anelka who managed to score 19 goals in this difficult season. I’ve been one of his biggest critics all along. He has pissed me off to no end at times. He’s been downright frustrating as well. Once Guus the magician walked in, I’ve started to see a transformation in Anelka. More commitment, more efforts, more desire and hunger and more importantly better attitude. Congrats to Anelka. It’s quite a feat to get the golden boot in a league where you have the likes of Drogba, Lampard, Ronaldo, Torres, Gerrard, van Persie, Adebayor, Berbatov, Rooney etc.

Special mention on Ashley Cole. I’m delighted for him. This season, he has eliminated Arsenal from the FA Cup and he has thrashed and ripped them to pieces at their own backyard where the goons booed every single touch of his. He must be pleased. And now, this goal. He said only a couple of days back that he wants to score more goals for Chelsea and he started that today. I’m sure we’ll see that side of Ashley Cole next season or next weekend if I’m a bit more greedy.

For the first time since 02-03, Chelsea has finished outside the top two. In other words, first time in Roman’s era. As Jose Mourinho once said, there are champions and there are others. As long as we are not the champions, the place in the table is only of academic interest. But the rules and regulations have clearly shown why 2nd and 3rd are no different while 4th is really a step down. From that perspective, as long as we are 2nd or 3rd it must be fine especially after our mid-season collapse.

Back in January, if you had offered me a third place in the table, I’d have bitten your hands off. Scolari left us in such a state where we would have ended up between Everton and Aston Villa instead of Liverpool and Arsenal. Roman made a timely intervention to save the season. The objective of this season changed from champions to champions league spot. Hiddink has achieved just this plus a fantastic run in the champions league halted only by UEFA. Also, as a bonus he might even win us a trophy next weekend.

It’s a short post today. I’ll sign off now. In the next few days and weeks, we will discuss various things such as the new manager, players to go out, new players to come in, short term tactics, long term strategy, transfer rumours and football news from the rest of the football world. We’re just a match away from another trophy. Here’s hoping that the boys will finish the job this weekend. Cheers! Enjoy!

I’m back Chelsitos! I’m back just in time for the last premier league game of this season. While this is a very key match for Sunderland, one might think that this game is of no consequence for Chelsea. That’s not entirely right. Chelsea are still in with an outside chance to finish runner-up in the premier league. I can say it is still mathematically possible and not very improbable. All that we need is Tottenham to beat Liverpool and Chelsea to beat Sunderland by 5 goals or something. Both these results have happened before but we just need them to happen on Sunday.

Sunderland are still not out of danger. If they are beaten at the Stadium of Lights, they would stay up only if few other results go in their favour. We have some interesting relegation battles on Sunday – Sunderland vs Chelsea, Aston Villa vs Newcastle, Hull City vs Man Utd and West Ham vs Middlesbrough. Expect Sunderland to go for a draw. A draw must keep them up unless incredibly both Newcastle and Hull City win their tough matches against all odds. Man Utd may not have a great motivation to win their match but they might want to sign off with a win. Aston Villa needs to win to confirm their fifth place in the table. So, a draw must be okay for Sunderland.

Under these circumstances, Chelsea need to beat Sunderland by about half a dozen goals and expect Spurs to beat Liverpool. Spurs must be looking to beat Liverpool to get a respectable 7th place in the table. But what I believe is, if Chelsea manage to break Sunderland’s defence and take a lead, the score could end up anywhere. For Sunderland, 0-5 is the same as 0-2. Chelsea need not have to rest any players. If anything, they need to play the first team so that they are all fit and ready for the FA Cup final next weekend.

I think Chelsea would get a big win on Sunday. Anelka must score and must get the golden boot. I’d like to see the whole team rally around Anelka to faciliate him get the golden boot. We saw that in the last match too when Drogba laid off one for Anelka while he could have blasted it himself. I want to see more of that on Sunday to see Anelka win it. Just before the second leg against Barcelona, probably I was the only one to predict a 2-0 win for Chelsea. It turned out to be a 1-1 but if you had seen the match, we were right on the money for a 2-0 win. Now, for this match, I predict a big 4-0 win for Chelsea.

The good thing about Chelsea now is, the smiles are back. As we get closer to the end of a difficult season, even after several heartbreaks and disappointments, the smiles are back. You see smiles, happy faces, celebrations everywhere. I would expect Chelsea to play with complete freedom, flair and celebration. It should be a very good match.

Meanwhile, Frank Lampard has been voted by the fans as the Chelsea player of the season 08-09. He also becomes the first player to win it thrice.  He fully deserved the award. I don’t think there was any competition as he was miles above the second best. Apparently, I voted for him. Michael Mancienne has won the young Chelsea player of the season award. Bit strange. He has not played too many matches to win this award. Capello picked him. That shot up his popularity. In the few matches he played in the Chelsea first team, he did rather well. But I didn’t see him as the young Chelsea player of the season as such. In my view, John Obi Mikel could have won it again, though he was in the running for the senior award too. Also, Essien’s goal against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge was voted the Chelsea goal of the season. It was a great goal but I would not have complained if it was won by Alex’s free kick against Liverpool or Lampard’s delicious chip against Hull.

While I was away, Chelsea sported the new home kit. I’m still not sure if I like that or not. It certainly does not look like the conventional football jersey. I guess the players would look like robots with this revolutionary design. I like the adidas’ three stripes on the sleeves and the fact that it has a disconnect from the three stripes in the shoulder. Actually, this design, this new home jersey reminds me of an armour. The kind of armour that was worn in the medieval days. Adidas probably had that in mind while designing this, perhaps. I probably need to see it more often to like it more. I’ll buy it anyway because it’s a Chelsea jersey!

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This one is for the FIFA 09 buddies – EA and Adidas are coming up with an update next week to replace the Chelsea’s old kit in the game with this new kit of 09/10. The updates would be for XBOX 360 and PS3.

While this jersey was unveiled, Adidas also launched a Chelsea campaign called ‘the 12th man’. It is actually called ‘every team needs the 12th man’. Watch this movie on the 12th man campaign featuring Michael Ballack (he is staying then!). Unlike Barcelona who have the referee as their 12th man, Chelsea FC have you and me as the 12th man following and supporting the blues, be it from the Stamford Bridge or from your drawing room couch. Like you have always done, go ahead and show your support for Chelsea FC.

By the way, the last fortnight was quite significant for BlueChampions. For various reasons, I’ve been contacted by The Guardian, Adidas, Setanta and, hold your breath, Chelsea Football Club. Lots of things happening in the background but when it comes to the foreground, you’ll be the beneficiary. Stay tuned for more exciting times. This time, BlueChampions would be busier in the off-season period too. More details would come later. Don’t go away!