Welcome to the new Chelsea Blog

Testing...testing....

Congrats Nick. We appreciate your hard work as well as Tony, JD and everyone else's.

KTBFFH

Frank Lampard must stay!He is too good to be sold!

Looks good Nick...will register in a while! Despite growing up with the anti-German sentiment in general (football, the 6 a.m. appearance of German towels reserving sunloungers on hols among the obvious ones :)) I find myself strangely sympathetic to them in the Euros and I can only assume it's the Ballack factor. At least, I hope it's that....God forbid I'm becoming a "European"!!

There was an interesting interview with Ballack in the Observer last weekend - basically, he pretty much picked the formation against Portugal himself. Think he's going to make a fantastic manager one day - definitely worth us considering for the future (if Kenyon and Buck ever think about the future, that is).

Boo sell outs :P

Site looks fine, plus getting the server paid for etc is always good.

I always wondered if having some forums would be good for this place, rather than everyone discussing things below news posts. Eg post a new forum thread with the news each time you post.

Cmon Russia :x

Yay, i'm now officially part of the new blog. Had to change my name from habs to haberdashers.

The new blog looks good but like everyone else the lack of comment numbers and the time of each post leads to greater thinking, which is not good for those looking to relax into a world of chelsea, without having to engage brain. Still haven't fully explored oleole but it seems like a new world compared to chelseablog.com.

As for tonight's game, i'd love Ballack to get to the final and hopefully receive a winners medal, because his career so far seems to make him one of the most talented losers, ever. However, i have a strange feeling that Turkey could do it. They may only have 13 fit players and their star man tonight will be Kazim Kazim, but their luck and crazy tactics seem destined to take them to the final, where they'll be beaten by Russia. I'll go for a 2-2 and then pens.

On a side issue, have you seen our lovely new away kit:

LINK

We look very smart in all black, but does that mean our flourescent yellow has been scrapped or is it now our 3rd choice kit? And in the main picture we have Lamps, JT, Ballack and Cech. Does that mean that we'll be basing our side around them next season and that SuperFrank will stay?

Still very little transfer talk. It appears Kenyon's been distracted by having to turn up to court and defend himself against claims that he's called Roman a fanticist, not living in the real world, after Paul Smith was 'only' offered a £175,000 salary and started complaining. So, just another day in the life of the craziest run club in the world!

Just clicked on one of those green arrow things. Don't know what i've just done, so sorry if i've ruined something to do with Benjami.

Just found this picture to brighten Fergie's mood:

LINK

It's nice to see that Rooney's keeping in shape by smoking a packet of fags. I didn't know that was part of a modern footballer's fitness regime!

Habs(I can still call you Habs right?)

I hope we keep the yellow shirts, I wanted to be a traffic director;)

Thanks for all the kind words. The current niggly problems will get fixed. I know for a fact that comment numbering will return because I can enable it in the CMS, but the formatting is all wrong in my browser so I'll wait for that to be fixed. Hopefully properly linked URLs will return too.

As for Euro 2008, I guess it all depends on which teams reach the final. I will be supporting the Germans tonight because I think they deserve it more than Turkey. While what the Turks have achieved is remarkable - they've only been ahead for a total of about two minutes in all their matches - I haven't enjoyed watching them play. And I haven't forgiven them for knocking Croatia out of the tournament.

I'm getting behind the Russians to win against Spain - sorry Blue Bayou! They've been a breath of fresh air and hopefully they can get some revenge for the 4-1 drubbing they suffered at the feet of Spain in the group stages.

If both Russia and Germany get to the final, it's Russia for me.

@PeteW

Agree. Ballack's definitely got what it takes to be a top class manager.

Now I'm Dezmond instead of Desmond. I like it, it's edgy. And to second Haberdashers thought, what are the arrow thingies?

Mike12



Yeah i'm still habs and i for one enjoyed the bright yellow kit. It brightened up any dark awayday at the likes of Wigan and Blackburn.



By the way, do you
know what those green/red arrows mean on the side of the comments?

@Dezmond - [Edit: Chris explained the functionality a great deal better below.] I will probably disable this in future posts. Currently, disabling it messes up comment formatting.




If Fifty's still around - signing up for an OleOle profile seems to enable you to edit your comments. I see an 'Edit' link on my new comments when logged in.

Regarding the arrows, I've seen a similar function at BlueChampions, Urban Dictionary etc. The arrows are there for you to 'rate' a comment's worth - the green up arrow means that you agree with a comment, or that even if you don't you believe it is particularly well-written and worthy of someone else taking a look at it. The red is usually reserved for spam or personal arguments that contribute nothing to the debate. If you're indifferent towards the comment, just don't touch the arrows.

I get the impression that here, positive numbers in the rating are good and negative numbers are bad.

Habs

No idea! When I click on them they just grey out.

@ Mike12: That's to stop you spamming a comment with positive/negative feedback. You can only vote once on each comment, and you can't vote on your own comments.

Chris

Ah. Thanks.

So any Chelsea news from the journos? I think they want to link us to Ronaldo next............................................................................. God no!!!

By the way, you can just call me mike

Fingers crossed for Ze German tonight...

Thanks Chris

Alright then I am on board (registered) as well.

Re Euro 2008 I am like you Nick backing Ze Germans tonight and Russia tomorrow
and The Ruskies for the trophy (sorry Bally!!) Although I don't have any issue with the Turks knocking out the Croats!!!

Still a bit concerned we signed the wrong manager from the Euros (Guus), but excited nonetheless with the prospects of our Phootball with Big Phil!! :-)

Guess we'd all agree to back both Germany and Russia to win their semis but I'm really torn for the final. I want to see Ze German get a winner's medal at last - but thought Russia were
spectacular against Holland and won me over that night after I'd started out wanting Holland to win.

Perhaps I have to hope for a German win - if only to stop several more millions going
on Arshavin's selling price.

You're right Nick – registering gets you an [incredibly small ] edit box to work with – though it does weird things to formatting……

@blueboydave - I'm just emailing OleOle now with all the minor things that need fixing with the comments. Editing a comment also messes up its formatting, which is annoying! ;-)

It'll all get fixed in the coming days.

Thanks for being patient. :-)

So has anyone noticed that the goalkeeping color isn't much different than the away kit color? I like the whole "Legion of Doom" look, and the Lev Yashin keeper kit, but isn't someone going to complain?

I'm registered now too (not that anyone knew who I was before)

I'm starting to feel pressured into registering as everyone has started doing it.

I'd better go up to the loft and see if I can find an old photo of me looking young and handsome for my profile...


yes yes I know it will be a fruitless search

Sorry, Mike - just being specific!

@ CB_Groy: I thought that the away kits for outfielders and keepers were too similar as well, unless the lighting on the pictures is just deceiving our eyes. I'm curious as to how that one's going to work out.

Greetings everyone.
Things gone very quiet on the transfer front.
Ronaldinho wants to go to AC Milan and Arahavin has his heart set on Barca,besides that no new news.

Just signed up.
Name change from Lynn to Evillynn
Hope the new look site will bring us luck for next season.

Im a part of the new blog now

@ Chris

Na, it's okay! No worries

No wonder Kenyon hasn't signed anyone,he's been appearing at an employment tribunal.I hope there are other people working hard while he's busy elsewhere.
Can't wait until Mr.Scolari,he doesn't like being called Big Phil,starts work,the silence regarding new players is drivin' me nuts.

Allo? Allo? Anybody there?... Just testing...

My account has disappeared

@ Evillynn

I can click on your profile, but it's a male. I didn't know you're a man!

Shouldn't be so evil!

I'm back
Sorry Simon to disappoint you,blame my parents.

@ Evillynn

You broke my heart! I thought you were a busty blonde female!

@SIMONT

Many apologies,but if it's any consolation my Mrs is a busty blonde,so you were nearly right.

Congratulations to Ze German! What a game of football?! Just when everyone thought the Germans would be too hot to handle for the Turks, they raised to the occasion and very nearly silenced the pundits and critics. Tough luck on them but what comes about goes around. Hope Ballack can finally be a "grand slam" winner.

well let's see how it goes in new home :-)

This blog looks great!

@Jang - Yep, good to see Ballack get his chance in the final. Germany were rubbish tonight though; on that performance they will struggle against Spain or Russia. But they do have a habit of
bouncing back and making us look silly!

Actually felt sorry for the Turks - their second string played so well and made the German back four look dodgier than it usually does, even Lahm was
given a torrid time. Took his goal well though.

Good to see you here, Blue_Mikel.

Thanks, Lance. We're getting there, still a few bugs to squash but we're getting there.

Edit:
Comment editing being one bug that needs stamping on. ;-)

Apparently ballack also was instrumental in suggesting changes to the german midfield to klinsman in their world cup campaign. Makings of a future chelsea manager?? Ja.

43- I would absolutely take Ballack as a manager. He seems to be a great leader, and to have an excellent tactical nous, even as a part of the game. I'd be fine with Felipao for a few years, Ballack moving into an assistant position after he retires after the 2010 World Cup, only to become the gaffer...

On the transfer front, I feel no news is good news. It seems the front office has learned that "Chelsea is linked with X player" only leads to losing initiative and larger transfer fees. We should see something interesting very soon. I wouldn't be surprised to have the unveiling later that day after the Big Phil show on the 1st, or perhaps the next day.

new thing looks good to me. it's been ages since i joined anything on the internet ;)

been away for a while - job priorities so i didn't have the time to comment on big phil's
appointment(not bad) and croatia loosing to turkey (pretty bad). what upset me, appart from loosing to a lesser team, is the fact that some of young croatia's players, whom i'd love to see in
chelsea, had to go home to early.
if we were just so lucky to sign the 20 years old ivan rakitic...

Just checking in to see it all works. But have to comment on Ballack-Low relationship (there post-match hugging and whispering into each other's ears suggests it is close). Ballack changed the system to cope with Croatia according to his own interview. The 5-man midfield they started with last night was the continuation of his tactics that Low went along with. It is designed to get Ballack into forward positions behind the striker, losing the inept Gomez as second striker in the process. This is clearly where he likes to play and where he has had his most successful seasons in the Bundesliga. Obviously Chelsea haven't played this system other than in a few games where Joey Cole has been used there to sometimes good effect. Although it is kind of how Lampard gets his goals, though he comes into that position from a deeper midfield role where he prefers to be more involved. If we are signing Deco, who is a specialist in this position, Ballack will again find himself challenged to play deeper and do more defending - though, in fairness, he does work hard for Germany. Ballack has said the two years in the Prem has made him a better player. He is certainly growing as a leader for his national team and has proved his qualities for us during Lampard's absence. he wants to end his career with us. He is happy with his wages (who wouldn't be), he is not hassling for more of anything, his agents don't make trouble. I'm glad we have him. In fact, I'm delighted we have him. He seems to be a stable influence, along with JT, around which the rest of the team can function. Unfortunately Lampard's people are not so happy. It gives Chelsea's top brass more confidence to face down the threats and hints at Lamp's leaving. I don't want to see that. But it is good to think that even if it happens it won't be a disaster, and may even liberate some of the other players in terms of occupying potential scoring positions.

In a slow week there are some good contenders for Silly Season Story of the Month:

1) Pig with Snout in Trough (1) - this Nonentity-called-Smith we apparently employed as seat-warmer till Kenyon's "gardening leave" was over at ManUre who was stupid enough to believe Kenyon's alleged verbal promises of mega-bonuses for the use of his cheeks.

2) Pig with Snout in Trough (2) - Sidwell - fresh from his forgettable 7 Leagues starts + 8 sub appearances [ only memory I have is of him manically clogging ex-colleagues v Reading until he was substituted before getting sent off] - who rather than being grateful for the chance to resurrect his career elsewhere thinks he should get the remaining 2 years of his contract paid up as compensation.

3) Arsenal to Sign Crouch as Adebayor replacement - OK, no contest really (3) wins!

What does Arseblog make of that?

Blue Bayou

Great shout on the name, I reckon 'Phifty' couls be the way forward.

Am I going mad or have the red and green arrows disappeared from this post ?

Fifty - your eyesight is fine - I think Nick said he didn't like the idea and would get them removed.

We know how to diss idiots with more subtlety than that...

"Phifty" sounds like the one to go with.

Oooh, I've always wanted an avatar. Stone me!

At this rate of progression, I'll be on Facebook in time for the 2012 Olympics.

Morning gents,

The OleOle web people fixed things overnight - comment numbering is back and formatted correctly and comment posting seems to be working fine for me.

Page load times aren't as quick as they would like - something to do with the number of comments on posts.

@Fifty - I don't intend to use the comment voting functionality in future posts unless there's a demand for it. The little arrows still exist on all posts previous to this one but have moved position.

@BlueBoyDave - The comment editing box has been increased in size.

@PeteW - And a fine avatar it is too. As for Facebook, you'd have to hold a gun to my head to get me to sign up. And that goes for MySpace too!

I spoke too soon - comment submission is still flakey for me. We'll get it fixed.

Edit: Are comments posting properly for you?

@ 38. Evil Lynn

You're not male, you're not female... According to your profile pic, you're just an empty stadium! :-)

Nick, I still had to reload the page to see my comment appear.

My commenting is working fine

Nick / PeteW,

I too am nonplussed by the whole MyBookFaceSpaceParty thing.

The missus is on Facebook for 'something to do' while she continues to nuture Chelsea's future captain at home.

I've got friends, real ones that I can speak to via the technological wonder of a telephone or via electronic mail.

She makes me feel like a Techno-phobe. At 28.

Forgot to mention that the web developers are also working on linking URLs in comments.

@Fifty - I'm a hardcore geek and still I refuse to sign up for FaceSpace. I have no desire to 'socialise' with people from my past, particularly school. I cannot imagine anything worse. The people I liked at school I'm still close friends with.

@Mike12 - The comment posting issue could be something to do with the load on OleOle's servers, hence why it's working for some and not others. It's a bit annoying but it'll get fixed.

Well I've registered, but every time I try and log in in tells me my information is incorrect, and I know it isn't because when I registered I checked everything was correct on my profile. So I don't know if I've gone missing in Cyberspace? and it's big in Cyberspace no one can hear you scream!

Hmmm I think I've sorted it out but I don't find the page particulary use friendly, probably it's me and I'll take some time to get used to it.

I've registered too.

As a (very) occasional contributer, and an avid reviewer of this blog over a long period of time, I too congratulate Nick et al on their endeavours thus far, and I wish them all the best for their future efforts!

As a lifelong supporter who, for reasons of geography, doesn't get to actually see any matches (although I have missed very few on the telly in the past few years), the insights and opinions expressed on this blog are priceless - its the best way (way better than the official site) for fans like myself to feel connected to the club and its passionate supporters.

Cheers!

p.s. I had to reload to see my post as well - obviously a "bug"!

Nick (are we still allowed to call you Nick? Should it be ChelseaBlog all the time now?),

That is the argument I unsuccessfully have with the Missus. Anyone I count as a friend is someone I'm still in regular contact with, I have their phone numbers or email addresses.

"But you can post photo's on it". So. Bloody. What. I really dont want half the virtual world staring at me outside the Bellagio or getting soaked by Shamu at SeaWorld. If I want people to see our photos, I'll send them.

Bloody hell I sound grumpy. Have we signed any more over-the-hill, past-it, has-beens to stupid money contracts for 5 years ??

Clive, I'll get the missus to check SpaceBook to see if you've turned up there. Don't worry, we'll get you back, honest.

Pete - I too have popped my avatar cherry (just hope it works now...)

Facebook and all that jazz - for the kids, innit? Us elderly folk prefer books to have words and informed comment in them, not a load of teenagers arranging Skins parties and Pete Doherty lookalike contests.

I am feeling rather Germanic today. Come on ze Deutschers!

The old goat formerly known as Jonathan Dyer.

Nick - thanks to you and the OleOle geeks for so swiftly making things start to look more like our old home.







I resolutely avoid all Facebook/Myspace-type thingies
and only

registered here to get rid of the constant re-entry/reading test when I post and for the edit function.







For those unsure you can give virtually no
info whatsoever when registering

and then ignore all other aspects apart from this blog if you want - though if you add your favourite club/players it

will pull into your home
page items you might want to look at.









I'm still getting the posting hiatus though - but the edit function is much more sensible looking... though it still
put all these silly spaces in your comment......

BlueBoyDave,

Thanks for ths insight.

So all I need to do is create an OleOle account. But wait, I can add photos and videos. I can join groups, send people messages and 'poke' them. I can tell you my real name, where I live, what I watch and listen to, what I eat, what websites I visit, my credit card number and pin and other interesting stuff about me.

It's bloody FaceBook with a mask on !!!!!!

JD (well, not JD anymore I suppose. Everyone is becoming someone else. It's like a gender re-alignment surgeons dream) - any thoughts on a continued appearance in the Observer next season ??

Another contender for Silly Season Story of the Month:

4) Grant Offered Georgia Job - Former Chelsea boss Avram Grant has been offered the job as coach of the Georgia national team, the country’s football association has confirmed…

Hopefully Roman can get a win tonight from his Russian side. I'll be supporting them in the final (if they get there) just because Roman deserves to win at least 1 European title.

Bad news, in that Barca have approached Arshavin. We need Roman to start tapping him up whilst offering him some ridiculous wages, in order to tempt him away from the Nou Camp. If Barca do get Arshavin, we'll be left with Deco and where will that leave Hleb? Wenger's already bought 2 of his replacements in Ramsey and Nasri so does that mean Hleb will end up at Inter or Bayern.

I've also just seen that Avram's been offered the Georgia job. I think he's finally found his level. Spot the anomoly here:

Israel manager - Unemployed - Portsmouth director of football - CHELSEA MANAGER - Georgia manager.

I appreciate the rescue attempt Fifty, but don't look for too long otherwise you could miss the start of the season. As far as seeing a picture of you standing outside the Bellagio, surely that has to better than seeing you inside the Bellagio with all those glass flowers on the ceiling, I preferred the Venetian myself ;)

Fifty

I understand all your concerns and share them. However to be asked to prove I'm human as part of the registering process was priceless.

Nothing like a bit of metaphsical enquiry to liven up the day.

Scolari's made his frist official signing and what a good one it is too:

LINK

That means we should be able to see the old Petr Cech after Lollichon was shown the door!

LINK

Hire this guy and watch Ashley Cole score..well..score goals too!

Testing ... testing ...

Good gracious, there's a character limit on my posts?? Surely this is illegal discrimination against the concision-challenged?

Having poked around the oleole site, I'm even more impressed that you (Nick) have managed to retain the character and style and look of the blog.

Wonder where Average will end up after the Georgia gig goes belly-up? Madagascar? Bhutan?

@Fifty (65)

Hopefully the Observer thing continues - I'll be at more games next season too. Stands to reason that they will refresh the pool of content writers every now and again, so
we'll see.

Re Grant's potential new role; I am reminded of the Charlie Daniels' Band "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", for some reason.

Very much looking forward to tonight's game
(which probably means it'll be a huge anti-climax); some great players on display. Quite fancy the Russians, purely on the basis that Spain have to bottle it at some point which is a bit flimsy
really.

Liking the use of avatars people, keep it up - handsome bunch, we are...

The old goat formerly known as Jonathan Dyer.

I know i'm a bit late on this but i haven't been on the blog for a couple of days and look what's happened while i've been missing!

Well done NICK, great job. The blog looks gawjus!!!
You've even managed to resurrect CLIVE!!! :))

I'm a bit worried as some have said, about the occasional knobhead coming out of the woodwork but other than that, this is really exciting!!


Regarding the game tonight, i have a feeling that Spain will win but i'd love to see Russia go through.
The prospect of a Germany/Russia Final has me foaming at the mouth...almost!!

You've even managed to resurrect CLIVE!!! :))





Ahh... Have you missed me Lolli? nice to know someone has, I could have died and not even have got a blog eulogy.

PS
Nice pic Lolli you will certainly become the bloggers favourite :)

@ CLIVE

Of course i missed you!!! I was going to ask where you were last week but thought it was perhaps a bit nosey of me..welcome back anyways!! x

p.s thanks for the compliment, very sweet of you..:)

Maybe I was a little hasty about Arseshavin - Steve Sidwell is starting to look preferable. Let Barcelona have first option.

Perhaps we just witnessed the reason why Arshavin went unnoticed by the scouts for so long... I'd still take him though. Barca might drop their interest now. ;-)

You'd have to say that Spain are favourites on tonight's performance - Germany will need to up their game somewhat.

Thanks, Lolli. I apologise on behalf of OleOle for the slowness - my guess is they're struggling under weight of traffic due to the Euro semi-final.

@ 79. NICK

No apologies, please..it's understandable that comments are going to be slow to post but i'm sure we will all cope!! Loving all the new facilities you've set up. Well done you!!!

Knew Spain would win tonight..i think they'll have more of a fight on their hands with the Germans however. There's no way Herr Ballack and co. will put in another lacklustre performance like they did last night..at least i hope not!!!

I foresee a Spain win but HOPE for a German win..

Hmmmmmm, I go away for a few days working and you change sites to try and lose me, eh?? well, I have found my way here and it all looks good to me.

Good to see a Chelsea blog on here at last! Hopefully more chelsea fans around now:), i was getting annoyed at all these arse and yids everywhere!

I was BTBJ by the way

Looks like barca might knock a few million of arshavin's price the way spain's barca players bossed him. You might even say the arse has fallen out of it ...

This was nice: The Guardian on the incredible German running man ...

"When it comes to distance travelled Germany's captain has been top of the list in every match he's played. He covered over 33 kilometres in the group stage and another 12 against Portugal - the equivalent of going from one goal-line to the other every 45 seconds. What makes this so amazing is that Ballack - in obeisance to Cloughie's dictum - never appears to run anywhere, ever.

In fact he rarely breaks into anything that even resembles a walk. Most of the time he is either standing still, or sauntering around in an apparently aimless manner, like an Edwardian boulevardier taking the evening air in the vague hope of bumping into that pretty young thing he met at yesterday's tea dance. Ballack gives the impression of playing with a striped blazer tossed nonchalantly over his shoulder and a silver-topped cane in his hand. How he is putting in more yardage than Torsten Frings, football's answer to a border collie, is a mystery. Even when Frings isn't in the side. (Paradoxically against Turkey Ballack appeared to run about a lot more than usual, but actually covered less acreage).

It would be easy to conclude from this that, since Ballack is a star and all stars are said to know when the cameras are on them, the midfielder simply waits until the lens is trained elsewhere and then embarks on a mad series of what Joe Royle used to describe as "little doggies". Either that or he's on castors. Or - and this might explain how he finds so much space in the penalty area all the time - he is the proud owner of Siegfried's cloak of obscurity and is invisible to us for most of the match.''

BTW, thank god the euros are nearly over. the time difference here in bangkok is brutal ... 1.45am start for most games. Makes getting through the next day at work rather a bore ... i've got dark

circles on my dark circles

Score one for me !!! 9 / 1 on a Germany v Spain final, a huge win of £18 plus my £2 stake back. And they say it's only the bookies that win ;-)

Spain looked pretty awesome second half, and the catalyst was the nipper from the Airline Stadium. If he doesn't start in the final, then Aragones is a bigger chump than I thought (although he must be a shoe in with Villa missing out through injury).

I think it'll come down to which defence is less-rubbish. Germany have conceded a few goals on the way to the final, but both back 4's look pedestrian at best, save for Lahm and maybe Ramos.

Let's just hope, for footballs sake, it is as good as the majority of games so far. It's almost been great with no England - no worrying about Austria sticing 4 past us, or losing in the knockout stages would we have surprisingly qualified. Had that been the case, I get the feeling a lot of people wouldn't have tuned in to see some great games.

Good luck 'earning' your wages Mr Capello, from what I've seen over the past few weeks, your work is cut out.

I have to admit I've not watched one game of the Euro's a self imposed sabbatical of football over the summer. Besides internationals have never really grabbed my attention at the best of times,although I have kept up to date with matches and players performances on here and other footie sites.

The one thing I will say with the hype surrounding Arshavin, I recall a certain Mr Poborsky grabbing the attention of the footballing world and Manure buying him, It didn't turn out so well if I remember rightly.

The article quoted by #84 BlueinBangkok reminds me that I believe it was Peter Schmeical (sp?) who quickly latched onto the way the stats are compiled and spent the time when the ball was up the other end (quite a lot of the time generally) doing shuttle runs in the box to ensure he was always the top goalie in the stats for distance covered.

Now I'm not a betting man but can you bet on football stats? If so this is wide open to abuse. Bung a player a few quid to do a lot of unneccessary running, pile the money on (particularly if you can get a spread) and away you go....

It would be more difficult to get a player to run less as this would mean he would be in danger of getting it in the ear from the manager. However chasing every ball even when we all know its going out, well thats just commitment.

So while the Italians and Portugese have spent their time engaged in crude match fixing the EPL has gained a reputation for a fast furious hard running game...

Now why would that be....

@73 Limetreebower - jeez, see what you mean about the rest of OleOle - I've just had a browse around some of the blogs and before I lost the will to live it seemed to consist of defunct/dormant ones plus lots of individual obsessives mostly talking to themselves or a few 606-level nutters in ugly looking formats - and does the world really need literally dozens of Arsenal blogs in one place?

The lack of new rumours about us is getting eerie - still I see Not-Big-Phil has flexed his muscles and told all our lazy non-Euro 2008 players to get back to work a week earlier than planned.

And isn't it kind of the next Georgia manager to put the world straight by revealing it's really Yuri Zhirkov we're interested in from Russia - he'd obviously know what Not-Big-Phil wants. ;-)

Clive - I'm flabbergasted - you haven't watched a single match of Euro 2008?! That must have taken some doing. I will have watched 27 of the 31 games by the end of Sunday's final, the four group games I missed were played and broadcast simultaneously.

Anyway, I'm about to leave for Cornwall - I'm escaping the rat race for 10 days. A long drive ahead so I'll be offline until later this evening. I apologise in advance if I miss the signing of Kaka!

(And, again I apologise for the slowness of the blog - everything will be running smoothly eventually.)

Nick - what's this "scheduled maintenance" nonsense that happened when I was in the middle of my last post when OleOle disappeared for at least 15 minutes.

If it's "scheduled" wouldn't it be polite of them to give us some warning??

@BlueBoyDave - It's driving me nuts too - I'm no longer responsible for these things.

I expected a few issues with the blog's functionality and design, but I didn't foresee all this slowness and downtime. But, as some crap band sang in the 90s, things can only get better. I hope!

Afternoon all,

Spain very impressive last night - not sure you want to be playing your best football in the semis, but on the face of it they will cause Germany a lot of problems. But Germany are Germany...

Has the Arshavin bubble burst already then? He was poor last night - possibly believing the hype a little too much?

Did I miss something? Was Clarkey sacked as this article seems to imply?

LINK

Celery - very odd way for paper to write something there has definitely been no official announcement nor even much paper gossip about.

The only thing I've seen recently was somewhere buried at the bottom of an article on Not-Big-Phil that he allegedly planned to bring 2 of his current assistants with him which with the story about the Portugese-speaking Coventry nonenity being approached may have led this paper to do a 2+2=5 job?

Driving to Cornwall on Glastonbury weekend. Madness.

I'm in a non-internet part of Suffolk all next week, so will be unable to check out Habs' Chelsea 08/09 team #456-521 sadly.

Go the Germans!

BBD-- Thanks for that.



Also, I see Not-Big-Phil is bringing his own goalkeeping coach Carlos Pracidelli from Palmeiras to replace Lollichon (Daily Mail, sheesh).




That is a big relief for me!! Dunno much about him of course but would take anyone over Christphe, thank you!

Careful PeteW, getting out my way now. You realise they ration electricity. And fresh air ???

I think last night was more than likely a truer reflection of Arshavin - a few excellent performances coupled with some not so good. Let Barca experiment with him.

But please, no Zhirkov. We need more left backs like Father Christmas needs time off.

The lack of player-ralted announcements is a bit of a concern, but isn't the trabsfer window officially closed until next week, or have I imagined that such a thing exists ??

Oh, and Clive, nice to see you scared Lolli off. One comment about her picture and *bang* the door has been slammed.

Zhirkov can play left wing apparently.

I am very much looking forward to my sojourn in FiftyLand.

Oh, and Clive, nice to see you scared Lolli off. One comment about her picture and *bang* the door has been slammed.

Fifty
I hope not, perhaps her pictures might have become "cough" more revealing.
I suppose that will frighten Lolli off now.

@ FIFTY & CLIVE

No, no..not at all. I've had trouble getting onto the blog all day. I finally gave in and accepted defeat after about 5 hours!! The page was downloading and then said "done" but was just a blank, white screen. I had no problems getting onto the other blogs though, so we must be quite popular..hopefully in a good way!!!!

CLIVE, more revealing? I didn't realise this was one of THOSE sites!! Is that why i'm getting so many friend requests?

@ NICK

Enjoy your break. You deserve it x

Lolli and all,

Have you seen the news regarding Lamps to Inter yet??!!

CRAP..........

Lolli - please tell us France Football is a scurrilous rag we can ignore and this isn't true:

LINK

It says Frank to Inter is a done deal if you're struggling with cutting and pasting the link......

Hope it's just media hype,why would we sell him before Scolari takes over on Tuesday?
I know it's Chelsea policy,but the total silence from the club breeds this sort of transfer speculation.It's all very well our players being linked with other clubs,but when it's reported they've signed for someone else,Chelsea should come out and tell the fans what's really going on.

quaresma off to inter too according to an offsite link on goal.com, we better get schweiny now or we'll end up with some duffer or just malouda!

looks like the only sure thing so far is deco :(((

I seriously hope it's not true!!! It's the first i've heard on it anyways!!

Mikel is quoted in the tabloids today saying that he's told Frank and Didier that "life will go on without them at Chelsea" as they're supposed to be in turmoil as what to do about their futures.

I personally don't believe it.
Scolari hasn't met any of the team yet, he's getting together with them next week. As LYNN says, why would you sell one of your best players when the Manager's not even had a chance to talk to him? Also, Scolari has expressed that he wants Lamps to stay..

I'd say ignore it..it's just spin.

@ Lolli - I suspect you're right - none of Sky Sports/Setanta/BBC websites have picked it up yet - so probably nonsense.

Did you find anything worthwhile on other blogs on OleOle - as I said above when I looked briefly this morning my eyes were glazing over at the torrent of ugly-looking mediocrity [and I don't mean their pictures]! If OleOle has capacity problems you think they might junk some of the moribund ones - and possibly ask some of the 48 separate Arsenal ones to combine and actually talk to each other?

97 CELERY



It was reported on Chelsea TV that Lollichon is not leaving the club,so it seems we now have two goalkeeping coaches.

Perhaps he wants two coaches for every
position!



This is from Mail online,quite funny I thought.



"Luiz Felipe Scolari's hardline regime at Chelsea will begin with double training sessions for the first
team squad when they return for pre-season training on July 7.



Scolari has asked chief executive Peter Kenyon to complete the capture of three high profile targets — Kaka and
Franck Ribery remain on the list — before they leave for their pre-season tour of
Malaysia, China and Moscow"
I will be amazed if Kenyon manages to sign any"high profile targets"before the
season starts,let alone before they go on tour.

@ BLUEBOYDAVE

I agree with you 101%. Why are there that many Arsenal blogs anyways? It's not like they have that much to talk about!!!
It was probably them lot that was slowing down my laptop this morning/afternoon!

@ Lolli - exactly, time for OleOle to exercise some quality control to make more room for the new boys & girls in town!

I do think you are a brave [or foolhardy] soul to post what looks like a real photo of yourself on a football website - or will you reveal eventually that this is actually a photo of your best friend/next door neighbour/ Miss Stoke 2006 which you are using as a warning to gullible, testosterone-filled football fans not to believe what they see on the internet ;-)

@ BLUEBOYDAVE

Ha! Ha! No hunnybunch, that IS me..I see the rest of you are all cowards though to not reveal yourselves to the football loving community!
Except me and CLIVE that is!

Hello guys and gals,

Arrived in Cornwall. Weather's grotty down here. Good to get away for a while though.

So while I've been offline, instead of buying Kaka we've sold Lampard! Hopefully there's no truth to the rumours Frank's off to Inter.

Probably won't be online much this evening - there's a PlayStation 3 here for me to play with. Going to check out Call of Duty 4. :-)

Blog seems snappier than it was this morning... thank goodness.

This proves that goal.com is full of crap. LINK

@ NICK

Pleased it wasn't just my computer that was having problems..
Sorry the weather is naff but enjoy your holiday!! x

@ Lolli - setting aside the quaint 30-year-old photos of me with assorted relatives the only recent photos of me are Passport/Library ID cards ones - believe me Not-Big-Phil is easier on the eye. I'm just the shy, retiring type I guess........

@ BLUEBOYDAVE

If the only recent pics of you are passport ones, then i don't blame you for keeping them hidden...i look like a convict on mine. Doesn't help that i was hungover i suppose!
Shy, retiring type? I believe you DAVE..*cough, cough*

108 Evillynn

Thanks for that.

Or perhaps they will hire a third coach for Hilario, that way each keeper will have his own private coach!!!

with this lot (suits) you'll never know I suppose, yeah?

Nick, Thanks for doing this, It makes the blog alot better and should encourage more Chelsea fans to come on here. And the profiles were a great idea and a chance to show our interests and let us know abit more about each other.
Great job and KTBFFH

Now Wikipedia are reporting that Lamps has joined Inter. I hope not

LINK

Thats 3 sources that have this story. Please somebody prove me wrong

Good news, Steve Kutner (Frank's agent) has just rubbished these rumours about our SuperFrank leaving on SSN!

Why would he leave without even talking to the new manager? Why would we only accept £7m as a transfer fee whilst Barca want £10m for Deco? Why would we want to EVER lose the best goalscoring midfielder in the world who guarentees 20 goals a season and replace him with Deco who averages 4 goals a season? It just doesn't add up and the only connection with Frank and Inter is Jose. If that link was so great why hasn't Lamps, Didier, Ricky, Essien, A Cole.. all hot footed it to Milan?

I can't and won't accept that Frank will leave and i believe he will retire at Chelsea. BUT... IF we do let him go it'll be the biggest mistake since letting Jose go. The sight of Lamps arriving back at the Bridge with Jose and Inter, and knocking us out of the CL will haunt us forever if we let Lamps go and the only way to finally dispel these rumours will be to hand him his new contract. Until then there will always be a doubt as to whether he'll definitely stay and we can only hope that we'll be buying players to play alongside Lamps, instead of buying them to replace Lamps.

KTBFFH

Ha! Ha! No hunnybunch, that IS me..I see the rest of you are all cowards though to not reveal yourselves to the football loving community!
Except me and CLIVE that is!

I hope you like my picture Lolli as that's my passport and Chelsea membership one, the only slight difference is that I now sport a goatee :)

@ 122. CLIVE

A goatee as well? OOH!! Yum!!!

@ 121. HABS

I'll second everything you've just said there. Just this minute seen the news on SSN before i go to work. The reporter said he'd spoken to Frank's agent and rep last night and he said; "Unless Chelsea know something me and Frank don't, i can tell you the rumours are categorically untrue. There's not a grain of truth in it."

Lampard..Deco...Lampard..Deco...
Say it to yourself and think about it.
No competition really is there?

It was the same France Football that reported Didier was about to leave Chelsea in January last year remember? maybe their editors dont like us or something. And Quaresma is on his way to Inter according to some reports. Abit disapointed that we dint get this mecurial magician but hopefully now we can get Van der Vaart and Silva.

Lolli
I will be brave and join you with an actual mug shot of myself, but let me master how to use Adobe Photoshop first, then it might not make people laugh or run of in terror :)

Nick - COD4 is particularly impressive on the PS3; has cost many a wasted hour in this house, I have to say...!

I was almost CERTAIN that Lamps would stay but this produces some more doubts:

LINK

They are so certain that he's in Milan to sign his contract and have a medical. They can't simply lie about him being in Milan, can they? Big Phil needs to get to work and secure Lamps to the club. Losing him would be a disaster. He's our vice captain, part of the english core of the side with JT, the best goal scoring midfielder in the world and is a legendary crowd favourite. How could we possibly lose him. Replacing him with Deco would be an idiotic move by the club and the only way to appease the fans would be to bring in two world class attacking players like Arshavin AND Villa. Without Lamps look at our midfield for next season:

Maka, Essien, Mikel, Ballack, Deco. How many goals does that give us. Even if Didier stays he cannot possibly make up the 20 goals we'll be losing every year from Lamps. I know that one day we would have to see the end of Lamps in a chelsea team, but that should be when he retires as an old man at 35. Not when he's 30 and we only accept £7m for him. Why when Barca so desperately want to ship out Deco are they able to demand over £10m and we only want £7m for Lamps? Wenger's asking for £32m for Adebayor while we reportedly only want £20m for Didier. This chelsea trend for only demanding ridiculously small transfer fees is embarrassing for a club who will break even in the 2012-13 season! Just look at the £2m we received for Diarra. Lamps will leave us one day, but that shouldn't be in the prime of his career, for only a couple of quid and when the club don't have any world class replacements lined up.

KTBFFH

The board is irritatingly quite. Those muppets out there, please SAY SOMETHING!

Snazzy.

I've registered!

@128 Jang - perhaps some of our regulars got bored with OleOle's capacity problems and abrupt "scheduled maintenance" downtimes yesterday and are having a day off?

@94 CELERY - I see the Steve Round story has appeared in a few national and lots of local press now with and without a Chelsea angle. The Guardian says:

"Chelsea are believed to have given serious consideration to the idea of recruiting the 37-year-old former Middlesbrough and England coach but, with all new backroom appointments on hold until Luiz Felipe Scolari begins work as the London club's manager, Everton's move for Round appears timely" - which suggests it's a hangover from Average Grant's reign rather than a Not-Big-Phil idea?

A very interesting read in the Guardian on David Dien's take on Big Phil.
Sounds promising if he is given the time to implement. As I previously mentioned he will have access to a large pool of talent in Brazil and Portugal, younger and cheaper to boot. Brilliant!

LINK

Benitez is a great comedian, This had me in stitches LINK

If Ballack is injured as reported, the Krauts have no chance!

In other news: In the The Word mag I was browsing in WH Smith's today, Paul Weller, interviewed on the occasion of his 50th birthday, says he is a Chelsea fan, something I'd never heard before. His dad, who is also his manager, used to take him in the late 60s and he was last at the Bridge 3 years ago when he took his daughter Leah, who is a huge fan of the Blues. I realize this is apropos of absolutely bugger all, but I like to think I was stood on the terraces with the young Paul and his dad all those years ago watching Ossie and Charlie.

118. 13Joe13 - Thanks. We'll get the show on the road, as it were, as soon as I get back from my sojourn in Cornwall.

126. JD - I'm loving COD4 although being a PC gamer I find it difficult to adjust to the PS3 controller after using a keyboard and mouse for years. Perhaps I need a PS3 of my own. :-)

127. Habs - I'm still not convinced Lamps will stay. Drogba could go to. If they both leave some big changes will be required, in player personnel (they're both pretty unique so straight replacements are unlikely) and style of play. It's going to be an interesting season either way.

130. EmmaBung - Welcome aboard, Emma. Glad you followed us to our new home.

134. DannyBrod - Agree. Spain can make do without David Villa but the Germans are screwed if Ballack doesn't recover in time.

There was some discussion in the comments a while back about whether Paul Weller was a Chelsea fan. Now we know he is. 50 years old?! Time does indeed fly.

@ 127. HABS

I agree that anyone who was inclined to take that article seriously would be extremely worried..me included, being a huge Lampard fan. As JANG said though, isn't that the same paper that reported Didier was leaving last year?
I don't know where they get these stories from! It really winds me up! It's probably because Frank hasn't renewed his contract yet and has been holidaying in Spain, so out come predictable headlines,"we have proof Lampard is leaving Chelsea!"
We all know that him and T.S.O have a great friendship but that doesn't mean that he would up sticks at 30years of age, go to a country where he knows nobody and will have to settle into regimes and team play, that could take anything upto 2 years, at which stage he'll be due to retire!!

Even his websites don't say anything on the subject, just that "french tabloids speculate" and i'd believe his websites BEFORE any tabloid, be it French or English!! Tabloids seem to be troublemakers wherever they are in the World don't they?

P.s you would like to see Frank retire at Chelsea when he's an "old man at 35"..God Habs!!! I'm 35..am i old then?!!
Will have to overdose on wrinkle cream! :)

*holidaying in Italy i meant to say!!

Besides, he can't leave..i pre-ordered the new away kit with his name/number on about 2 weeks ago!!

If he leaves, he owes me over £50 quid!!!

As an aside ........ I registered on OleOle but cannot log in. So I clicked on the forgotten link three times now but still haven't received an email from them.

Just tried one more time and have finally managed to get in there

Ooooooooooh, it has changed me name to my nick

@ 138. AUSTIN SOLARI

The servers are a bit slow again tonight i think. Have you tried again since? Go to the very top of this page and you will see "LOG IN". Click on that and the ole ole page comes up. Type in your email address and your password and everything should be fine from there-on. You'll see your name at the top of the page if you're logged on..
As i said though, the servers have been reaallllyyy slow. It's just taken me 10 minutes to log back on!

More potentially depressing news:

LINK

Looks like we'll be calling on the great talents of TBH to see us through next season!

Can anyone still remember his impression of a cruise liner trying to do a u-turn when he attempted to stop Torres at Anfield last season? Well we'll be seeing a lot more of that!

Habs, Goal.com hate us more than I hate Stephen Hunt. They publish crap like France football magazine but when Lampards agent denies the rumors they go all silent. Goal is full of rubbish and Riccy is one of Big Phils favorite players and we DEFINETLY wont let him go. Just to re-assure you that story doesnt even tell us who Alcides said that to and it has no proof whatsoever. Even if he did leave then we would have several centerbacks better than Ben-Haim like Ivanovic and Alex. Dont worry, RA will surely pull out all the stops and make the transfers needed to give us the premier league next season.

I think Alcides is being brought back because he has 1 year left of contract and wont sign another after being loaned out for 18 months and being deemed surplus to requirements. I assume PK wants to sell him. I would too I suppose

I havent heard Alcides say a word for so long since he joined Chelsea. And he chooses now to open his mouth. If you read the article carefully, there is no source and its not quoted from any of the papers. Belive it or not, its up to you. Until chelseafc.com confirms his departure, Ricky will always be my Chelsea hero. He's right up there with Chopper Harris etc.

Ooooh, I see the decorators have been in. Looks nice. Now, off to register.......

The golf hol was great folks, 32 degrees everyday, very brown, very hungover. Thanks for asking....no seriously guys thanks for asking :-)

I am really confused as to whom to support in tonight's final!!! From one side I do not want to support Germans, but Ballack is there and he is Chelsea player. From the other side I do not mind to support Spain, but Torres is there and he is from Looserpool. Damn this is probably what they call conundrum!
Most probably I am going to watch football without supporting any side, but I really wish to Ballack all the best of luck!!!!

Well, that was interesting. Apparently I already had an OleOle account! Still nicely up to date now.

Germany 2 - Spain 1

I was in Spain on holiday for the Spain/Russia game and afterwards can honestly say I've never seen celebrations like it. Even the police were driving around with their sirens wailing gratuitously. If it ever happened here all I can picture is our coppers nicking people and issuing ASBO's. We're such killjoys us English.

Welcome back TONY, pleased you had a great holiday. I jet off next wednesday and can't wait! This rain is getting me down!

I want Germany to win tonight, reckon it will be Spain though. The score will be 2-1 either way.

Does anyone else think that the Ballack "injury" news is a scam on behalf of those little German pixies? Apparently, he'll be given a late fitness test..yeah, right! There's nowt wrong with him!

I hope Ze German has been swatting all night to pass his fitness test.
Ok poor joke I'll get my coat.

Ive just found proberbly the best Chelsea video on youtube.
Check it out LINK

@150 Lolli - what a cynical attitude to suggest Ze German's injury might have been overstated - I think you're right!

Loved the stats box in today's hardcopy Sunday Mirror which showed that ManUre have a better winning percentage in games without Ronaldo than with him over the 5 years he's been there [74% v 62.7%].

I guess it's partly because the "withouts" will include lots of early round domestic cup ties against rubbish teams - still a good stat to bandy at Horseface lovers......

@ 153. BLUEEBOYDAVE

Does that mean the tide is turning against the "God of football"?
Perhaps his shite performances in the Euro's have played a part in all the current negativity toward him?

Tosser..

@blueboydave
Probably yes, all those without contain many games where he even wasn't suppose to appear from the begining.
Anyway I am not going to miss him.
Hope Ballack is fine for tonight game. I still do not know who I am supporting.

I am wholeheartedly supporting ze Germans, mostly because of the utter awesomeness of Herr B, but also because I can't help taking an evil pleasure in the curse that seems to hang over Spain. The Spanish are of course much the better team, but then they always are, aren't they? -- and in the end it still never seems to do them much good. The idea of Torres and Fabregas being held back by Metzelder and Mertesacker is just irresistibly funny.

SSN have just reported that Chelsea have made a £26million bid for Robinho. He's Scolari's prime target apparently..

@LOLLI

If we have bid for him fair enough but why do we always start at a very high price?
If Spurs,Man.City etc.were linked the price offered would probably be half that.
And the question arises why are we putting in bids before our manager takes over on Tuesday?
Germany had a lucky escape with a Torres header hitting the post after Lehmann takes ages to get down to try and make a save.

@158. LYNN

Exactly. Isn't it the Manager who's supposed to make all the moves? Unless CFC are doing the negotiating on behalf of him if he's stated he wants him in the team. As you say though, why on Earth make such a high bid? £26million is a scandalous amount of money, even for RA's standards!!

Germany started really well but have gone off the boil after about 20 minutes. Hope they have a good talking to at half time and come out and play as if they actually want to win..
Spain have had a good first half but i believe the Germans will come out stronger in the 2nd half..

@Lolli/Lynn - I'm sure any bids we are now making are at Not-Big Phil's request. Sounds silly money to me too - but grateful we're bidding for someone under 25 for a change!

Oh well,my sympathy goes to Ballack but too many Germans just didn't turn up.Podolski,Schweinsteiger and both centre backs were outplayed.
I hope this now puts to rest the people who were saying that the Russian and German coaches should have been heading towards the Bridge.Let's see what Uncle Phil has in store for us in the coming weeks.
Well done Spain you deserved it.

I want to say something about this season: as Ballack shares with Drogba award for three lost finals, in this year, I think we fane finished our most unlucky season ever!! Yes Chelsea has got second place in PL, but never in the history of Chelsea we have lost so much in one season. I want to believe that these are the problems of the rich people.

I said 3 weeks ago that Spain would be the eventual winners, i think they've let in the least amount of goals haven't they? The only suprise of the game IMO was that Spain only scored 1 goal, they should've gone at least 4-0 up.

I feel sorry for Ballack and Klose..but the best team won at the end of the day.

You know what? I reckon if England had got to the Euro's, we'd of stood a good chance.
Trust the Germans, French and Italians to have a bad tournament when we ain't there to take advantage!!

Typical...

@162 Blue_MikeL - I'd forgotten Drogs shared the same miserable fate as Ze German - but don't think either deserved to win their international final.

@163. Lolli - sorry, but I doubt Second Choice Steve could even have got England past the group stage.

Hope you like my new profile photo of one of my long lost relatives who never made it back from the World Cup in Argentina in 1978 - entirely irrelevant to the above comment of course ;-)

@ 164. BLUEBOYDAVE

What a handsome devil!!
It's like a cross between Billy Connolly and Jimmy Saville!

OO-er...i've gone weak at the knees! :)

@165 Lolli - Och Aye, now then, now then........

@ 166. BLUEBOYDAVE

Oh dear....

The Daily Mirror are f*cking hipocrites, They have an article called "Why would anyone want to go to Chelsea" how about "Why would anyone want to read the daily mirror. Stupid papers are so anti chelsea its unbelieveable even after Lamps agent denies the Inter deal they continue to write about something that isnt even true. Its sickening

Viva Espana !!

Best team won, no doubt. And Philip Lahm, pretty much the only guy in the tournament who looked like he knew what defending was kind of, well, forgot last night. The were abysmal at the back, truly ordinary at best.

Ballack is undoubtedly their best player, such a shame we didn't have him in this form all last season.

Robinho story is interesting. I tend to ignore transfer fees in any Chelsea stories because they're either completely made up or RA will stump up the cash anyway. Would be a good signing, although I'm sure Real will be holding onto him for any part of a deal that takes the Winker (TM) to the Bernabeu.

I guess with the tournament over, the real transfer gossip can start now.....

Right, let's get cracking and sign some players please.

Robinho ... why not.

Hope this is true ...

Chelsea rule out selling Lampard
tribalfooball.com - June 30, 2008

Chelsea will refuse all offers for Frank Lampard, it has been revealed.
The Sunday Mirror says Chelsea will hold Lampard to the final year of his contract rather than sell him - whatever the price.


A senior insider at Stamford Bridge made the club's position absolutely clear.

"Frank is priceless to Chelsea and is not for sale at any price," he said.

"There are further talks planned with Frank and his people and a very lucrative contract offer will be made to him.

"In the unlikely event he decides to turn down a new contract offer we would rather hold him to the final year of his existing deal than entertain the thought of allowing him to join another club."

Chelsea were astonished to hear of reports claiming their 30-year-old midfield kingpin was on the brink of agreeing a £6m-a-year four-year deal with Inter Milan. The insider added: "Talk of him agreeing a deal with Inter - or any other club - is complete and utter rubbish.

"We have not hand any contact with the Italian club or anyone else and interest in Frank is pointless and unwelcome."

The whole Lampard thing is laughable.

Sure the suits behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge are a ruthless bunch of mercenaries at the best of times, and at the end of the day, it's a business first and our football club second.

Which is whay talk of accepting £7m for Lampard and then spending £12m+ on Deco, who's older, is just ridiculous. They're bad people, but they sure as hell aint stupid - no way would they agree a deal like that.

Robinho would be an interesting signing for sure. Based on last night, I'd like to see us test Valencia's resolve over David Silva (thought he was awesome) as well as that other bloke called David I may have mentioned a liking for.

Oh, and on the Nerd-alert front, I own a PS3 too. COD4 is pretty amazing, particularly when you visualize the enemy as Portugese diving wingers with red boots. A sniper to the head works every time......

Well, a dismal return for the Boys in Blue from Euro 2008, which for the likes of Ze German probably tastes rather bitter now. I mean is the man just desperately unlucky...or is he a jinx? Personally I think next year we need to see a return to winning the EPL so that Ze German et al can rekindle their winning habits. It has been interesting to see that all of the bollocks rumours surrounding transfers for us during the Euros have been just that, a load of bollocks fuelled by a press with fuck all else to write about EPL wise. I mean the latest is that we're after Adebayor? Come on get real. We need maybe 3 in at most plus a new backup keeper. And we need to egt shot of 4 or 5 deadwood/end of career players. For me the outs are Makalele (eoc), Malouda (crap), SWP (enough chances) , Pizzaro (worse than crap)......

...err, on a housekeeping issue first while it's very nice to have real times/dates back on each entry rather than those stupid "x hours ago" thingies is that why the numbers have disappeared again - if so, I vote for having the numbers back, please..

@ Fifty/ChelseaTony - yes I'm really looking forward to some real transfer news from tomorrow instead of all the fantasy rubbish we've had recently - but then I see latest Adebayor rumour and think "still crap rumour time" - until something clicked and the suits strategy suddenly became clear:

1) appoint a separate goalkeeping coach for each goalkeeper in the squad [see above for discussion]

2) buy National Express so every outfield player can have his own coach too [sorry!]

3) buy lots of over 30 year olds to boost the British Pension industry with their final pay-offs as rich pensioners will soon be the only people who can afford to buy a ticket for games

4) buy Adebayor so we have two big, muscular African strikers who flip-flop every other week about whether they love or hate the club who can compete to see how short a gap they can get between contradictory statements in the sports press.....

@Tony - isn't the latest possibly crap rumour that Maka has agreed a 1-year extension to his current one year to go contract?

@ BBD - yes, I believe so, but I thought PSG or someone similar were also in for him. If we keep him then it MUST be as an 'off the bench' safety valve and start blooding Mikel (or Sidwell) into that holding role - and before everyone says I'm mad in keeping Sidwell, the boy hardly had a chance and when he did play he did OK, nothing special but no alarms either. If we're about developing young English talent then he deserves a chance to prove his worth as SWP got enough chances and only inconsistently hit any heights. Whilst I would love to see Bentley lighting up our wing, allowing JC back into a central marauding role confusing the shit out of defences everywhere, why wait until proven elsewhere and then buying them - we got Sidwell on a free and I reckon the holding midfielder with the odd goal role would sit both him and Mikel whilst keeping a 2 players for each position strategy.

Adebayor seems to have developed a very inflated opinion of his own worth; one decent season and all of a sudden its "pay me as much as Henry or I'm off" - what a complete c**t. And you've won precisely what?

Well done Spain; sure I'm in the minority in thinking that the plaudits being showered upon them as the greatest thing since Brazil 1970 are a little OTT, but they were the best team in the tournament by some distance. Germany showed how far you can get with a fairly average side and some decent self-belief (England, take note).

A good Euro champs. though - some decent football, some very shoddy defences on display which helped the forwards a fair bit.

Time for some ridiculous transfer gossip then...?

Ballack was man of the tourney.....

Right, this will probably appear 15 times in a row as I can't seem to post it, so apologies in advance :

BBD,

You're right about fantasy stories. I guess their time has been and gone because the following can't in any way be made up or untrue :

"Barcelona are being linked with a loan move for Chelsea's unwanted striker Andriy Shevchenko, a deal which could suit both parties. The Spanish club would not have to pay a transfer fee, while the Londoners could remove the Ukrainian's wages from their books. (El Mundo Deportivo, 1140)"

The most genuine, realistic story I've read in a long time.

I've crossed everything possible in the hope it's true. Well, at least I feel I'm doing my bit.

Now, anyone for telling the Sun you've seen Pizarro having a medical at London Colney ??????

Afternoon,

Just got in from a pleasant morning outside... I could get used to fresh air.

Spain were the best and most consistent team throughout the Euros and deserved to win it. Germany were poor last night and I found myself rooting for the Spanish, I'm hardwired to dislike the German football team. ;-)

Not sure what's happened to comment numbering - the web dudes probably forgot to put it back after updating the time stamp format. I will enquire about it.

I intend to post a couple of news/links articles a week during the silly season. Not sure I will this week, though - I'm enjoying my hols too much.

I'm having a break from COD4, playing Grand Theft Auto 4 now.

DIABLO III is being unveiled officially by Blizzard! Its not some crazy transfer news but something to brigten up my day.

Nick,

You're just asking for trouble now. I could regale you all day long with all sorts of petrol station + rocket launcher = mega explosion type GTA4-stories.

And they say the game is a bad influence......

We need some real transfer gossip to get stuck into before we turn into bigger nerds and scare the female community away.

@Fifty - what I meant was that from tomorrow - as I think you pointed out a few days ago - we can actually start to see public displays of players with pen in hand poised over symbolic copy of real contracts/ wearing their new club's shirt as a real legal deal has been completed and registered.

Speaking of press conferences - anyone heard when Not-Big-Phil is going to have his first tussle with the British journos? At least it couldn't be as embarrassing as Average Grant's unveiling last September.

Has Grant got a job yet or is he still floating around looking for a new billionaire friend to hoodwink?

BBD,

You forgot kissing the badge. You know how it is in this day and age, sign a contract with a club whose name you can't pronounce but, hey, they're paying you upwards of £75k a week - better show some love.

I think Big Fil starts this week, maybe tomorrow. No idea when Bosingwa will be unveiled - I'm guessing he's still on his holi-bobs somewhere recovering from the Euros. Maybe it'll be a few weeks yet until we see those 'not at all' staged, biros-in-hand type photos. I guess the 1st July only holds relevance to those people whose contracts run to the end (ala Lamps in a years time).

I think Average Grant is still in London. He realised there's more than one Billionaire in charge at Loftus Road and thought he could befriend at least one of them. Not sure if it's his interest in F1 or steel that will get him the job though....

Deep joy at the Spanish victory - almost as deep as the pocket into which I poured the £30 I was given in a moving and emotion filled ceremony at work this morning.

Picture the scene...bloke sitting next to me who was the organiser, proffers a plastic water cup replete with £20 note and shrapnel...'Ere y'are mate, well done...I responded with a 3 hour thank you speech completely off the cuff.

Interesting factoid

When visiting the aged Matriarch on Saturday, we were discussing family history and it transpires that her side of the family from deepest Kerry (The Kingdom and God's own country.... it just slipped his mind for a few hundred years) has Spanish blood. Something to do with the Spanish in Drogheda some few hundred years ago.

Well I always had a soft spot for Spain and there it is in my DNA and lodged in my subconscious folk memory.

It wasn't just the money.

2 final thoughts

Spain, whose time as a Habsburg monarchy coincided with the zenith of their power and influence, win their first trophy in years in Vienna, seat of the great Habsburg Empire. Watching on is a Bourbon king whose ancestors inherited a declining Spain because a childless Hapsburg would not leave it to his own family.

Spain seemed to be the only team who had a consistent pattern of play throughout the tournament. Their pass and move style is impressive. Sadly it reminded me of what Wenger is doing at the Arse. When played well it does seem to be difficult to defend against. Although as has been mentioned, defences were poor in this tournament.

Enjoyed it overall. More good games than has been usual in recent years.

SSN reports that Deco is in London and is in talks with Chelsea

@ KaiserJonny_II - guess Average Grant is too busy organising his lawyers to sue us for the millions he thinks he deserves to decide whether taking the Georgia job would be beyond his ever-growing managerial talent??

"Has Grant got a job yet or is he still floating around looking for a new billionaire friend to hoodwink?"

I bet he's tracking down Nick after making his fortune selling the blog to Ole Ole. Look sharp Nick you're wanted man, but I'm sure COD4 will focus your mind, and improve your marksmanship should it be required.

Wow!! The Chelsea rumour mills are in overdrive today!!

The Mail is reporting that not only is Lamps "on the brink" of signing a contract with Inter, that apparently Uncle Phil has failed in his attempt to keep Riccy who's also leaving for Milan..All according to Alcides who is supposed to be reporting for training next week at SB, after, he claims, CFC want him back "as a direct replacement for Carvalho" (he's been on loan at PSV for 18 months).

Not only that, the Sun reckons that Paul Ince is making Cudicini his number 1 target..

On Blues News on Chelsea TV,they mentioned all the Chelsea players involved in the Euros,including"new signing"Deco.This was before SSN started saying that he was close to signing.Looks like it's going to happen and with Frank not saying he's staying with us,while in Italy on holiday,it seems the board are pulling off yet another blunder in the transfer market.
I think Deco is a very good player but not at Frank's expense,yet again we sell low and pay more for a older player.
Will we ever learn?
How is this balancing the books?

I think Avram Grant should really take up a job as funeral director!

...Or toad breeder!

Chelsea Sign Deco on Two Year Deal---Breaking News

It's on official Chelsea Website

Oh well, Super Frank is leaving then!

@ Lolli

Are you gonna sell your collection of Frank's no.8 shirts on eBay? :-)

@Fifty - see Deco pic on the official website - 2 pens for the price of one a day early - but no badges to kiss yet....

@ SIMONT

No..NEVER!!!

My boy ain't goin' nowhere!!

I won't allow it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I shall chain myself to the gates of Stamford Bridge in protest i tell you!!!!

@LOLLI

I wish I could share your optimism but I think the writing's on the wall,I'm sad to say.

@ LYNN

Not neccessarily. He hasn't said anything of the sort. Ok, he hasn't exactly ruled a move out either but until he comes on TV/releases a statement saying otherwise, i'm remaining optimistic..

@ Lolli

I'll bring you tea and biscuits at Stamford Bridge! :-)

If Lamps stays and I hope to God he does, it will indicate the high ambitions of the club for next season!!!

Having said that on the surface it appears Supa Frankie Lampard will be at Inter next term.

Will be interesting to see where Riccy will end up!!

I think Avram Grant should really take up a job as funeral director! or toad breeder. Too funny man

I have Chelseablog in my blogroll at LINK
Should I change the url pointing to ChelseaBlog??

@ NGARAVIND007

I think you should change it to the new URL.

i like the new chelsea coach scolari! he (i think) is a great coach!