Lump Of Celery

In a world where everyone stays fit, even just for 50% of the games, would be happy with swapping Sterling for a striker and retaining the rest of the squad we have right now. Maybe look at some loans out like Big Les, Gilchrist and Casadei. See how the squad does for another season. Unfortunately, that also sounds very risky given our recent injury record

Agreed, have to worry about him up against Watkins

I saw a clip from this a couple of days ago that I found very interesting, and is very applicable to the discussion on data/metrics and how reliable it is Leaders Letter 185 - Free Metrics Masterclass From Jeff Bezos - Focus Business Blog

Sterling putting personal accolades ahead of the team, not what is needed from senior players. Having a terrible game too. One we will struggle to move on because of wages, and probably wouldn't want to move to an unfashionable team or league either

What was sterling taking that

Looking increasingly likely we will be getting that £4m loan fee for Broja too, due to not starting 60% of their games

I'm trying to figure it out, but may have got it all wrong - About £80m of the BlueCo loss is probably for the purchase of Strasbourg (£65m) and their transfers (£15m net) That takes the figure to £570m for Chelsea related expenditure, I would assume somewhere in the region of £500-550m of that is for player transfers. Call it £525 and taken over an average 6 year contract (most were 5-8 year) amortisation of £87.5m per year. So going forward to meet Premier League Spending Rules of £105m losses over a 3 year period we need to generate £52.5m in players sales profit each year, before we spend any more. Or we find that money from increased revenue. Those figures are only up to June 30th 2023, so don't take into account sales and profits we made this summer, reduction in wage bill etc. Also doesn't take into account this summers expenditure, not having a sponsor for months etc. The £90m losses are actually down from the last 2 years of the Roman Empire where we lost £156 2021 & £121m 2022*, so things actually appear to be moving in a positive direction financially. *The more I looked into this, the more confusing it became. Surely we would already be charged because of those figures, but haven't been so far so. Maybe because extra allowances were made for COVID, maybe because some expenditure on academies and womens teams is allowed. But on the face of it we are better off financially than we were before.

Wow, bought so many memories back!! He really knew how important winning that first cup was, and against Liverpool too! Makes losing the final to them last week even more depressing, imagine if it had been the beginning of something so beautiful as the Chelsea we once knew 🥹

I thought Bettinelli plays some type of coaching/helper role and is registered in the squad in case of an emergency, but I may be wrong. Just looked at his profile on TOCWS and realised he is only 31, thought he was about 37! Also has 1 yellow card with all appearance stats 0 🤣 Reminds me how we used to have Paulo Ferreira and Hilario in the squad and renewing their contracts, even though they never played. Think certain guys are good to have around the squad and offer something off the pitch. We could probably do with some of that atm! Edit- just googled Hilario and he is 48, how old was he when we signed him! Still a coach at Chelsea

I went with gut feelings - the option to sell some would depend on what fee is being offered, so have decided based on what I think we would probably get for the player. For example - Sanchez - would keep as 2nd choice if we couldn't get over £15m back Cucu would sell if we could get £35-40m plus Wes Fofana - would sell if we could get 50m back

I got a bit frustrated that when playing wide he always drifts into central areas. Then when playing centrally he has a tendency to take the ball away from goal into wide areas

If his name was Allardici he'd be a top 4 boss according to... himself

What does "bring in £100m" even mean? Selling Caicedo for £100m has a very different effect on the books to selling Broja for £100m. It appears these numbers are being thrown around for sensationalism

For me Jose coming back wouldn't be about coming in and have us challenging for the league. It would be about setting foundations for what is now a very different Chelsea, and unlikely to be a long term appointment. Raise standards and expectations throughout the club, instill tactical discipline in the young players, instill a mentality in them, show the owners and committee what's needed for the make up of a winning squad. Basically indoctrinate more of the Chelsea we know into the new set up, after all he was a massive part in creating that in the first place. Possibly even win a cup or two as he has done nearly everywhere else. There aren't many great managerial options out there that would join us now anyway, maybe in a couple of seasons time there will be more attractive options and we may be more attractive to them with those foundations in place

Yes, this is needed not just for the players but also to set standards for the new owners and everyone below. I didn't think it was the way forward this summer given the profile of player we were recruiting, but now it is desperately needed to stop the slide in to mediocracy ( or rather slipping even further below the mediocracy) Jose or Antonio in for a couple of years to build some mentality and leadership into the players. We know they won't last more than coupe of years, and we would need to take a different path after then anyway. Don't give them full reign on transfers but allow them to bring in a couple of older experienced payers into the squad. We lack any kind of talismanic player in the squad and the current set up is unlikely to create on either. We've all seen that these players are capable of playing better than they currently are, as Martin pointed out in more detail elsewhere, it feels like we are currently playing at a level less than the sum of our parts. That is on Poch and his lack of coaching, we need someone to come in and drill these players and set the tone. Lamps said in a recent interview that he was shocked at the standards around the place The problem is the above will require the owners to eat some humble pie, admit they don't know best, and not just look for a yes man to toe the company line