Just Chelsea Blogs

Blues must sell forwards before they buy

Bharath Ram — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:48:43 +0000

New Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho must shift the dead wood at Stamford Bridge before bringing in new talent as the Blues squad swells with the arrival of newcomers this early summer. On-loan striker Romelu Lukaku returns to the club a transformed man, while Jose confirmed his first signing of a new era last week, rocking the Premier League transfer betting odds by splashing out £18m for German striker Andre Schurrle. These two arrivals mean Chelsea now have four first-team strikers and if Jose wants another then he must sell one of the quartet first. We’ve seen before that possessing the wrong mix of forwards is bad for squad harmony and in the 2006/07 season that issue cost Mourinho his job. Having been crowned champions in ’06 it was clear the Blues needed extra firepower to progress in Europe and right at the start of the transfer window Roman Abramovich bought Andrey Shevchenko for £30m. Mourinho had to quickly sell two strikers – Eidur Gudjohnsen and Carlton Cole – to make up the numbers and that destabilised things heading into the campaign, for Didier Drogba presumed he was still the main man. The same happened with Claudio Ranieri in 2003/04. He had four strikers on the books in late August but that didn’t stop him spending over £16m on Hernan Crespo, an arrival that threw Chelsea’s forward line into complete confusion. Mourinho mustn’t let the same confusion settle at Stamford Bridge and if he’s to bring in forwards to accompany Lukaku and Schurrle then either Demba Ba or Fernando Torres must leave first. It is as yet unknown what the manager’s plans are for these two strikers but football betting fans wouldn’t be surprised if they both departed this summer. Despite his nightmare stint at the club Torres could be sold quickly while Ba – a stopgap over last season – would easily find a place somewhere else. It does help that Andre Schurrle is capable of playing in other positions – as a winger – as well. However, this in turn will increase competition in the midfield. A new era has dawned on Chelsea and with two fresh, hungry strikers to lead the way these are exciting times. Jose must get his transfer policy right and not simply buy for the sake of buying, for that has cost the Blues dearly in recent times.

John O-bye Mikel?

Brad Smith — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:08:20 +0000

When a squad is overhauled with technical brilliance in the midfield it is often the unattractive, more defensive player that loses out as the manager tries to squeeze as much creativity into the midriff.

This seems to be what is happening at Chelsea right now with ESPN reporting that Jon Obi Mikel will be making a switch to Turkish side Galatasaray.

Okay, maybe it is not just because of his position, as Mikel has come under some flack this season for his somewhat lacking performances and Rafa Benitez preferred Ramires and even David Luiz in the more defensive positions and it seems Jose Mourinho is not interested in giving him a chance.

Win or lose we’re on the booze!

chidge — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:22:54 +0000

In the close season during last summer, I had a long chat with Bryan Marriot who I’d first met whilst on the Fans Forum. Bryan runs a successful exhibition design and build company called Expose Designs and was sponsoring would you believe Wayne Bridge’s shirt at Brighton!

As a lifelong Chelsea supporter and season ticket holder, and a long time listener to the Chelsea FanCast, Bryan was keen for the company to look for a more Chelsea oriented sponsorship. Never one to refuse some money to invest in the show, it took me all of 5 seconds to say “why don’t you sponsor the Chelsea FanCast?” About a minute later a deal was done and Chelsea FanCast had its first proper sponsor!

When Bryan asked me what I wanted out of the deal, I said that apart from investing in some more recording gear, I had always been really keen to have a party so that we could thank many of the listeners who had loyally tuned in every week, come and joined in by sitting on the ‘Benches’ and often had a few drinks with us before and after Chelsea games.

Putney Station Bar

So, the night before the last day of the season, the first Chelsea FanCast party was held, appropriately in Putney Station Bar, where we have recorded the show for over five years! The date seemed very apt as it was nearly the end of the season and of course the preceding Wednesday saw Chelsea lift their second European trophy in two years by beating Benfica in the Europa League Final in Amsterdam. Plenty of reasons to celebrate, not that we needed an excuse!

Nearly one hundred listeners to the show, friends and guests of the show and those who have helped make it the most popular Chelsea podcast turned up to help us celebrate.

It being that it was also nearly the one year anniversary of the night in Munich where Chelsea lifted the European Cup for the first time (yet another reason to celebrate), we had a large TV screen showing the highlights of the road to Munich and the final itself – just to remind everybody, not that they need reminding of course! Suffice to say that this went down well!

One of the most popular guests on the show this season were Lawrence Bonavia and Jason Crowley, guitarist and lead singer from a fantastic up and coming London band called The Beautiful Game. Massive Chelsea supporters and fans of the show, they’d become good friends during the season, often having a drink or three with us after home games. I asked if they would provide some entertainment at the party in the form of an acoustic set, and they duly obliged!

Jason and Lozza from The Beautiful Game perform a blistering acoustic set

Entertainment on screen and on stage!

They played a blistering set for 40 minutes including some of their best known material, mind you owing to the small size of the room; many of us opted for a safer distance to enjoy the set! God only knows how loud it would have been had it been an electric set. Nevertheless, these guys are destined for greatness, and it won’t be long before Chelsea can claim another set of rock and roll fans!

Stamford Chidge with the Chelsea Legend Bobby Tambling

The Chelsea FanCast has been delighted to welcome many ex-players on the show as guests over the last five years, but one guest we certainly did not expect at the party was the Chelsea legend Bobby Tambling. Bobby had been over in London and had already made appearances at Stamford Bridge and the CPO party the day before. We were absolutely honoured that he chose to come and meet all of us at the party, especially considering his poor health.

That being said, he was totally unfazed by the constant stream of people queuing up to shake the hand of Chelsea’s now ‘second highest’ all time goal scorer. In fact the love shown for Bobby seemed to give him a permanent smile during the evening, so I hope we managed to make him feel a little better, with all of the well-deserved attention. He was also incredibly gracious about Super Frank Lampard breaking his record, saying if he had to lose it, there wouldn’t be a better or nicer person to lose it to.

The centrepiece of the evening was to be the raffle. I was adamant that the Chelsea FanCast did not want to make any money out of the evening – this was a thank you to our listeners after all – but Bryan and I felt it would be a great idea to raise some money for a few worthwhile causes. Two such causes immediately sprang to mind. Dan Levene, the Chelsea correspondent for The Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle has been a very popular guest on the show this season, and happened to be doing a bicycle ride from Tours in France to London in aid of one of Chelsea’s charities, Right To Play. It seemed very fitting that we should donate some of the proceeds from the raffle to this. However, our main beneficiary was a charity a little closer to home.

During the season, Walter Otton has also been a popular guest, and on his appearance on the show he promoted his new book – The Red Hand Gang. Walter was already donating much of the proceeds from sales of the book to Regenerate UK, a charity run by a great Chelsea friend of his – Andy Smith. It’s a fantastic charity that “works with young people and families in Roehampton and estates around London, helping transform lives and communities from the inside out”. It’s a local charity run by mates who are Chelsea supporters. It was a no brainer and we were delighted to support it, as so many of our other Chelsea supporting writers and entrepreneurs have been!

‘MC’ Stamford Chidge thanking the guests and sorting the ‘bids’ out!

But what on earth could we raffle? Well Expose Designs very generously dipped their hands in the pockets and came up with an impressive bunch of goodies including: signed pictures of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Petr Cech, a signed Joe Frazier Boxing Glove and best of all a signed Eden Hazard shirt. Mark Worrall kindly donated various T-shirts from the cfcuk stall and his entire anthology of books including ‘Chelsea Here Chelsea There’ signed by Kerry Dixon, and ‘Over Land and Sea’, ‘One Man Went to Mow’ and ‘Blue Murder’. The Chelsea FanCast donated the last Chelsea FanCast T-shirts in stock!

Arguably the best prize was very kindly donated by Chelsea FC in the form of a football signed by most of the current squad. Many thanks to Sally Mills from Chelsea FC Foundation for organising this at such short notice!

As we had some very special prizes we elected to ‘silent bid’ for the Hazard shirt and signed football to raise more cash for the charities. We were absolutely delighted that the signed football raised £120 the winning bidder being long time listener Kunal Sapat from SW17 Blues, and the Hazard shirt went for £365 – the winning bid coming from great friend and frequent guest of the show Sami Al Rais. Add that to the raffle tickets that were bought and we raised a total of £1,000 for the two charities with £800 going to Regenerate UK and £200 going to Right To Play via Dan. In addition, Dan re-raffled the signed Frank Lampard photo he won in the raffle to raise a further £175 for Right To Play.

In conclusion, a great night was had by all with the last stragglers (including yours truly of course!) not leaving Putney Station Bar until about 2.00 am! On reflection I can’t understand why it has taken us over five years to hold our first official Chelsea FanCast party. I can assure everyone reading this or listening to the show that you won’t have to wait five years until the next one!!

May 19^th 2014 anybody? See you there!

David ‘Stamford Chidge’ Chidgey

@StamfordChidge

Are There Any Future Stars on Display?

Blake Hewitt — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:14:00 +0000

I’m not sure how many of you out there have been able to watch any of the Confederations Cup that’s begun in Brazil, or the U-21 Championship that’s been going on. Ashamedly, I unfortunately haven’t been able to catch many of the games from either tournament thus far, although I did manage to catch the games on Sunday in the Confed Cup (Italy-Mexico & Uruguay-Spain). Glorious free kicks taken in both games – Pirlo (and his princely beard) had a textbook curler for Italy, and Suarez hit one later in the day that looked very much like a replay of Pirlo’s.

With all this action going on, it’s gotten me thinking – There have been some truly quality players on display, especially some fantastic young talents in the U-21 tourney. Thiago Alcantara, even previous to tonight’s PERFECT hat-trick (right foot, left foot, head), has been marvelous for Spain in the midfield. Why Barca is (allegedly) willing to part with him is beyond me. He’s a goldmine of talent waiting to explode onto the international scene. Isco is another who’s been put on quite a show, specifically with his dribbling and technical abilities.

With this, I’m mainly interested in getting some discussion going amongst the ChelseaDaft faithful – who are some players that have really stood out in your minds as ones to keep an eye out for in the future? Have you seen any that you hope to be on Chelsea’s scouting radar? What players do you think have been the most influential for their sides thus far?

I’m curious to hear what all of you think about some of the players in these tournaments so far, so let me know what you think with a comment below & be sure to follow me on twitter @blakehewitt for updates on postings!

Find your Chelsea tickets at Viagogo!

Carefree & KTBFFH!

Mourinho Embracing Financial Fair Play?

David — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:17:23 +0000

Some interesting comments by Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho that he he is motivated by the challenge of adhering to the Financial Fair Play rules at Chelsea.

Mourinho told the club’s official website:

“It’s very motivational and demands more from you. You have to think more about every decision and every move.

“Every wrong move you make has an influence on the future. You need to work more closely with the board in the financial area, you have to have a different perspective and a different look at the players on loan and youth football.

“It’s more global. Instead of just focusing on your team, and your targets and ambitions, it’s an overall view. It’s a different profile of job and I’m happy with that, I’m enjoying that.”

He added:

“We need to go back to this stability,” he added. “It’s important for the players, for the young players’ development, for the club, for the fan base and for the economic situation which is more important with Financial Fair Play.

“This is what we want, me as a manager, the owner and the board. The owner and the board want stability and then after that if we are working well and working together, success comes naturally.

“Everybody accepts the way we are going. I’m not trying to push in a different way. We are all in the same direction.”

Not quite the comments that Chelsea fans expected to hear from the “Happy One”. Chelsea fans were hoping for another spending spree, much like the one that took place when Mourinho first landed at Chelsea.

But maybe for the first time, Mourinho has been told that he has a budget to adhere to? That could explain the rumors of Mata and Luiz being sold, as Mourinho could need to sell before making a big money purchase of a striker like Cavani or Hulk.

But that is not the future that Chelsea fans expect. We are used to Roman Abramovich splashing the cash and Chelsea being able to basically sign whoever they want. If suddenly Chelsea are adhering to FFP rules, then they are at a major disadvantage to their Premier League rivals. Chelsea’s ground is much smaller than United’s and Arsenal’s and with Man City, Spurs and Liverpool all talking about stadium expansion, Chelsea’s matchday revenues will continue to lag behind their rivals.

And on the commercial side, Chelsea’s commercial revenue is much lower than United’s. Will Chelsea fans, and will Abramovich, be happy seeing Chelsea lose out on top players because they now have to adhere to a budget for the first time in almost a decade? Not so sure about that.

Luiz Talking Up PSG

David — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:06:34 +0000

This is not good news. Chelsea defender David Luiz has said he has asked Brazil international colleagues who play for Paris Saint-Germain about the Ligue 1 champions and their “project”.

Luiz has been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge following the return of Jose Mourinho and reports in both Britain and France have suggested the centre-back could end up at the Parc des Princes, where several of his compatriots made major contributions to the Ligue 1 success.

“I speak about Paris Saint-Germain and its project with my Brazilian team-mates,” Luiz, who is on Confederations Cup alongside PSG duo Thiago Silva and Lucas, told TF1.

“The club has done some good work in Ligue 1, and there are some very good players such as Lucas Moura, Thiago Motta, Maxwell, Thiago Silva.”

Luiz, who plays alongside Silva at the heart of the Brazil defence is available for around €45m, according to French media reports.

Another potential transfer, like Mata’s that makes no sense to me. Yes Luiz can be a liability at center back, but when Rafa moved him into a centre midfielder role last season he was terrific.

All we heard last season was that he was one of Chelsea’s leaders and that he was often touted as a future Chelsea captain.

What has happened to change that perception at Stamford Bridge?

Why Is Chelsea Screwing Mata Around?

David — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:00:08 +0000

I am completely baffled at the way that Chelsea are screwing Juan Mata around. All he has done since arriving at Stamford Bridge is win the Player of the Year twice, the Champions League and the Europa League.

But all we hear is that Jose Mourinho does not fancy him and that he wants to sell him. WTF?

Mata could start for any team in Europe and if Chelsea do sell him, there will be a long line of teams willing to take him off Chelsea’s hands, with Barcelona first in line.

But the transfer rumors are not the only thing upsetting the Mata camp. The Spanish radio station Cadena SER reports that Mata’s father, who is also his agent, is unhappy that Chelsea are stalling on a bonus due for his 19 goals and 35 assists during the 2012-13 club season.

While Mourinho has told clubs on the continent that Mata is available for transfer, the midfielder saus he has heard nothing from the club and will wait until he meets Mourinho before judging the stories.

“Nobody at Chelsea has told me that Mourinho wants me out,” he said in quotes carried by the Spanish sports publication Marca. “When I finished the season I was told that they were very happy with my performances and with the two years I’ve spent with the club.

“I have three years left on my contract. I’m very happy with Chelsea. Mourinho? I’d prefer to wait until I meet him and work with him before I judge him. That’s simple logic.”

The player most linked with Chelsea to replace Mata is 29-year-old Galatasaray midfielder Wesley Sneijder, which would be a terrible move by Chelsea.

Not only is Sneijder four years older than Mata, he is a player on the downside of his career. Sneijder has not been the same player since Inter’s treble winning season in 2010 and the subsequent World Cup in South Africa. Replacing Mata with Sneijder would be a terrible mistake by Mourinho and Chelsea.

Torres Looking Forward To Talking With Mourinho

David — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:46:05 +0000

Fernando Torres says he is not worried by rumours about a summer move to Barcelona, and is looking forward to hearing how he fits into new Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho’s plans for next season.

With Mourinho talking positively about Romelu Lukaku, it remains to be seen how Torres might fit in up front at Stamford Bridge next term, while the player himself said last week he was flattered by rumours of a £17 million Barca bid.

Speaking from the Spain camp at the Confederations Cup, the Madrid-native told Onda Cero radio show Al Primer Toque that he did not know if Barca’s interest was real, but suggested his primary objective now was to talk with Mourinho about his Chelsea future.

“This is all normal, every summer is the time for rumours, new coaches and players,” Torres said. “Until the Confederations Cup is over the squads will not be closed, but my head is here with the national team.

“Barcelona remain one of the best teams in the world, but sincerely, I do not know if there is real interest or not. I am just thinking about the Confederations Cup, immediately after that about Chelsea. I want to speak with Mourinho and then get ready for next season. I am looking forward to that conversation, to know what plans he has for me and to tell him my point of view.”

The former Liverpool striker said he was aiming to add the Premier League winners’ medal that his current impressive collection still lacks.

“Chelsea is the club where I am and where I want to be, I want to keep winning big trophies here,” Torres said. “Mourinho is a very demanding coach, but who has always guaranteed success. I am confident that he will have something prepared for me. I have three more years on my contract, I expect and want to fulfil those. I want to win the Premier League, which is the only trophy I am missing.”

Transfer News: Wonderkid Agrees Four-Year Chelsea Deal – Spurs Linked With Quartet

Transfer News Reporter — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:20:07 +0000

Latest transfer rumours. Today, Chelsea have agreed a four-year deal to sign wonderkid Jacob Maddox and Spurshave their eye on four new signings this summer.

Torres eager to know Mourinho’s plans for him

Anthony Williams — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:31:22 +0000

Fernando Torres recently shrugged off speculation linking him with a move to Barcelona and is eager to find out what Jose Mourinho has planned for him.

The Spaniard is probably one of the players with the most uncertain futures at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea seek to sign a big name forward and will want to give Romelu Lukaku the chances he deserves, where does this leave Torres and Demba Ba?

Mourinho recently described Torres’ time in West London as ‘so-so’ but also said that he perhaps hasn’t been quite as bad as his critics have made out, and the 29-year-old says he’s ready to discuss his options with the manager:

“I look forward to talking with Mourinho and to know what plans he has for me.

“The first thing I am aware of is he will expect much more from me, I expect more from me. Now I have pressure Mourinho adds and that’s a challenge for a player.”

He did admit to having a close relationship with the Barca amid links of a move back to La Liga but says that isn’t in his thoughts for the time being.

“I have known Sandro Rosell for a long time.

“There is a personal relationship, but nothing more than that. My head is now in the Confederations Cup, immediately after that Chelsea.

“I want to talk with Mourinho and then prepare for the coming season.”

(Sky Sports)

I’m not entirely sure what Torres sees as the best option for his career is but Chelsea deserve a reliable forward that is good enough to help make us title contenders and after finishing more than 20 points behind the league leaders in two consecutive seasons it’s definitely something that we need. Can Torres be that forward? It’s highly doubtful at this stage as he’s only managed 15 Premier League goals in his two and a half league campaigns with the club so far.

He’s had a plethora of excuses made for him since January 2011 too. First it was the manager and Didier Drogba’s fault because Torres wasn’t playing regularly enough, then it was the fault of the midfielders for not giving him the service he needs and after spending a fortune on the best creative talent around and making him the number one choice he only managed 22 goals over a whopping 64 games.

If we do sign another forward it’s going to put his nose out of joint as he will want to play for Spain at next summer’s World Cup and Lukaku is more than enough back-up for your main choice, whilst your emergency third striker could be Andre Schurrle, which makes sense as your emergency third shouldn’t expect to play there and will only take time off Lukaku if he does.

Source: Sky Sports

Rising Dutch Star Attracting Big English Sides

Andrei Marin — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:14:42 +0000

The 20-year old has been making some waves in the continent in recent weeks as he ended the domestic campaign on a high with his club Vitesse Arnhem. It was believed that the likes of Chelsea were monitoring his progress over the course of the previous season and are weighing up a move for him in …

Is this Chelsea team as good as the 09/10 Double winning team?

Admin2 — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:42:21 +0000

The return of Jose Mourinho has prompted an awful lot of reflection and review amongst many Chelsea fans; yours truly included. Interestingly, I’ve found myself reviewing our seasons starting in 04/05 when we won the league. That was the start of something glorious for this club, and although we won the league double under Mourinho, [...]

Chelsea Target Due On Merseyside Today To Complete £23m Liverpool Move

Transfer News Reporter — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:01:50 +0000

Liverpool are on the verge of beating Chelsea to the signing of Henrikh Mkhitaryan with the playmaker due on Merseyside to undergo a medical ahead of a £23m move

What Mourinho Must Do Next Season

David Aje — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 07:32:00 +0000

A new season, another new manager, but what might be expected Jose returning to the English Premier League?

A prolific goalscorer is something that Chelsea have tried and failed with in the past. With the exception of Didier Drogba, Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho never quite got it right when finding that one man to lead the line.

Mourinho’s first signing in 2003 was Mateja Kezman – a hit in the Eredivisie with PSV, but a huge failure when asked to lead the line in the Premier League with only seven goals in forty appearances.

Andriy Shevchenko was allegedly forced upon Mourinho by Abramovich; although still talented, the all-time leading goalscorer for the Ukraine was past his best and the £30 million splurged on the then 29 year-old was the catalyst for the split between owner and manager. Nine goals in three seasons for Shevchenko speaks for itself. £50 million has always been an albatross around the neck of Fernando Torres; although the Spaniard notched a reasonable twenty-two goals last season, only eight were scored in the Premier League.

With Mourinho this week stating that Torres has been so-so in his spell at Stamford Bridge, El Nino probably isn’t the man that Jose wants. That man could already be at the club.....

One thing Chelsea have done well amongst all of the chaos of recent years is recognise young talent. Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois were all been brought to West London at sometimes eye-watering cost (Lukaku cost £20 million as an 18 year-old), but all have been bought with a vision for the future. The Belgian trio were loaned out to gain first-team experience last season – but does Mourinho continue their development elsewhere or bring them back to rejuvenate an aging squad?

Most obviously, Lukaku could be Mourinho’s signal of intention; as the man who introduced Didier Drogba to the Premier League, it could be time to give the 20 year-old a starting berth after an impressive seventeen goal spell at West Brom.

Courtois was a revelation in his loan spell at Atletico Madrid last season – as anybody who saw him deny Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final will attest to. Will Mourinho be brave enough to replace Petr Cech – a man he brought to the club from Rennes in 2003?

Part of Mourinho’s success at Chelsea last time around was the proximity to his players, most notably the English trio of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole. Post-Mourinho, this faction of senior players led an unhealthy rebellion that led to the dismissals of Andre Villas-Boas and Roberto di Matteo, whilst interim boss Rafa Benitez did himself no favours by leaving out fans’ and media favourite Lampard and by benching club captain Terry for most of his tenure.

Although that relationship will return naturally, it is in the best interests of the Old Guard to embrace Mourinho to squeeze more from their careers and for Mourinho to establish power in the dressing room once again. Get your sports tickets here as football in 2013 at Stamford Bridge is guaranteed to be unmissable.

The squad at Chelsea is somewhat on the bulky side; competing for the three attacking midfield slots alone are Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, Oscar, Marko Marin, Kevin De Bruyne, Victor Moses and new boy Andre Schurrle. Mourinho is somebody who likes to work with a tight squad of around twenty-three players, so expect some heads to roll.

This is New Manager 101: it signals intent to the dressing room, the fans, rivals and the board room that the new man is here for the long haul. No doubt Mourinho will make that signing – but where will it come from? Monaco are the nouveau-riche that Chelsea once were in 2003, hoovering up the talents of Joao Moutinho, James Rodriguez and Falcao already; any potential signing for Chelsea is also one for Monaco.

This new signing is unlikely to come from Spain, with Mourinho antagonising either his own dressing room or rival managers in his ultimately frustrating spell at Madrid.

The smart money points to Edinson Cavani of Napoli, who has batted his eyelashes at all of the European heavyweights so far this summer. Truly one of the most complete forwards in the world today and with a £53 million release clause, Cavani is the perfect marquee signing for the Happy One.

No Mourinho Reunion – Sneijder

Andrei Marin — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:58:44 +0000

The 29-year old worked under Mourinho during the duo’s time at Inter Milan. The partnership yielded significantly as Sneijder and Mourinho both progressed individually along with collectively winning several trophies for the Italian giants. Mourinho then moved onto Real Madrid and Sneijder switched to Turkish club Galatasaray last season. Mourinho made a sensational return to …

Mourinho Unimpressed By Torres

Rich W — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:03:31 +0000

Fernando Torres’ future has been the subject of attention from the football media, and now Jose Mourinho has conceded that the Spaniard’s performances for Chelsea so far have not been of the highest standard. Mourinho’s arrival came as good news for the Chelsea supporters, and there seems to be a new burst of enthusiasm at …

Coveted Striker Wont Be Heading To Chelsea Or Man Utd This Summer

Transfer News Reporter — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:30:50 +0000

Chelsea and Man Utd have been dealt a blow after Borussia Dortmund general manager Hans-Joachim Watzke confirmed Robert Lewandowksi wont be sold this summer.

The Chelsea Football FanCast: Fannies of the Year!

chidge — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:59:26 +0000

Stamford Chidge, Dazza, Paul, Ross and Lauren discuss the second coming of the ‘Special One’, review the season and reveal the End of the Season Awards winners or ‘Fannies of the Year’ as voted for by the Chelsea FanCast listeners.

It’s fairly safe to say that on our last Chelsea FanCast of the season, we are most definitely Happy Ones! The Hallelujah’s rang out on Monday as we welcomed The Special One back home in his second coming. A nice way to end this season or to begin next season – either way we are all happy.

On the last show of the season, we talk about Jose’s second coming and have a look back over the season and in the process we reveal the winners of the end of season awards – The Fannies of the Year!

The categories voted on by the Chelsea FanCast listeners included: Player of the Season; Goal of the Season; Breakthrough Player; Most underrated Player; Worst Player; Most Disappointing Player; Match of the Season; Best Moment; Chant of the Season; Guinness Moment of the Season; Celery Moment; Chelsea FanCast Podcaster of the Season; Chelsea FanCast Contributor of the Season; Chelsea FanCast Guest of the Season and Chelsea FanCast Quote of the Season

Thanks to everyone who has listened to the show this season, posted on facebook and twitter and mixlr; met us in the pubs before or after the games; and voted for us in the various awards and helped make this show such a great show. We really appreciate you listening to us and supporting the show – without you it would be nothing!! Have a great summer off and whatever you do don’t believe what you read in the papers!!!

Don’t forget you can now listen to the show live every Monday at 19.00 GMT by going to mixlr.com/chelsea-fancast on your computer or IPhone, and you’ll be able to interact with us live on mixlr, and twitter @ChelseaFanCast. You can also email us at chelseafancast@gmail.com during the week.

And of course none of this would be possible without the backing of our sponsor Expose Designs, top of the league for exhibition stand design and build. Offering a complete worldwide service and offering great savings on roller banners, graphics, PVC banners and personalised gifts. Email team@exposedesigns.co.uk or visit exposedesigns.co.uk for more details.

The Chelsea Football FanCast: Fannies of the Year!

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Follow @Kits4Causes, a great charity.

Brad Smith — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:53:50 +0000

Chelsea’s £15m Deal Under Threat With Man Utd Ready To Hijack Move

Transfer News Reporter — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:30:37 +0000

Premier League champions Manchester United are trying to hijack Chelsea's £15m move for Dutch wonderkid Marco van Ginkel, according to the Express newspaper.