Herbie von Smalls

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that's an explanation, not an excuse

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i think they said on the radio that chelsea won't be able to lift the title on the date predicted by moronho

it's showboating. if they manage to win he'll proclaim his own genius. if they lose he'll remind us how he can afford to employ such tactics when the league is all but sewn up

strikes me as very arrogant tactics by moronho to take off two players within the opening half hour. huth's also come off at half-time, so they're left with no subs should any of their players be taken off injured. i hope fulham clatter terry and lampard and then take chelsea to the cleaners.

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i can't say what his vision of the club is specifically, other than it should get to the top of the football pile in the shortest time possible whatever the consequences for the game as a whole. how else could a club like chelsea, who haven't looked like winning the league for fifty years or so, suddenly dwarf all their rivals on the domestic front in the matter of two or three years? the club is in his image because he has chosen someone like peter kenyon to carry out his grand plan. he has also sanctioned the appointment of the manager, again not someone blessed with much integrity or respect for the game as a whole, but someone that can make things happen, and quickly. as for LFC, David Moores has shaped the club in his own image. he has appointed Rick Parry and sanctioned the choice of manager, both of whom have professed to respecting the heritage of the club and committed to working to restore Liverpool to the top of the pile once more. there is still some degree of acknowledgment of the importance of the long-established fanbase - from the likes of rubberstamping the new banner, to working to change the date of the blackburn fixture. i don't see much evidence of that at chelsea.

are you serious? do you think he's given kenyon and co. carte blanche to run the club however they want, or do you think he's given them instructions to make chelsea the biggest club in the world, whatever it costs? he may not have a very high public profile, but to suggest he's just sitting back writing cheques seems a bit naive.

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i don't know about other people, but i'd settle for someone that maintains the heritage of the club, rather than trying to remould it in their own image - like abramovic at chelsea. i can't see that there would be many investors willing to pump in tens or hundreds of millions of pounds without wanting to stamp their own mark. from what i've read of robert kraft, he would've been someone i'd have welcomed with open arms - given his track record with the new england patriots. but that door looks to have been closed. i haven't heard or read of too many others of that calibre, so i'm happy to wait for moores and parry to get the best person available.

i know what you mean. i saw this on sly sports news and from what they said (briefly), it seems the mirror were at pains to be as specific as they could about the nature of their sources, without actually naming them... as opposed to simply tacking it into the article without further clarification. here's the sunday telegraph's take on the matter: Jose soap opera heads for Milan By Roy Collins (Filed: 19/03/2006) In pics: Premiership action Your View: Football fans' forum As ridiculous as it might sound, whispers inside Stamford Bridge suggest Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho could be on his way this summer, an impression that owner Roman Abramovich's vote of confidence has done nothing to refute. If anything, it has fuelled the rumours, as has the defence of Mourinho by chief executive Peter Kenyon, with his hollow references to Jose being a bit of a misunderstood wag. Kenyon has at least not repeated his infamous breakfast media briefing of two years ago, when he spelled out that Claudio Ranieri, though on the verge of qualifying for the Champions League final, was Melba toast. But familiar rumbles inside the club suggest that Kenyon and Abramovich have fallen out of love with Mourinho who, despite having a second successive Premier League title in the bag, has become almost a laughing stock in recent weeks. Of course, with the amount of spin and counter spin that continually muddle the messages from what passes for a Chelsea PR department, it is difficult to know whether they are serious or simply trying to scare the increasingly maverick Mourinho into line. But the word is that Mourinho is in trouble and while the ditherers at the Football Association continue their long, drawn-out process of holding "informal talks" with potential England managers (they are only up to the C's), Chelsea might pinch Dutchman Guus Hiddink from their short list. Mourinho himself, sulking after the Champions League defeat by Barcelona, which brought widespread criticism of both his tactical prowess and his sportsmanship, is also said to be fed up with taking all the flak for his unloved club. So he might be tempted by an approach from Inter Milan owner Massino Moratti, who failed to lure Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez as a replacement for dead coach walking, Roberto Mancini. Moratti is promising the new man £50 million to spend on players but Mourinho's ego would be more attracted by the challenge of restoring Inter as Milan's top club. Mourinho is not shy when it comes to putting himself forward for top jobs. In an interview with Germany's Bild last week, he said that he would like to manage Bayern Munich and Portugal one day, though presumably not at the same time. And asked whether he believed psychologists had a place in football, he replied: "Not at Chelsea. I am the team psychologist."

did you not have any views on the prospect of thaksin shinawatra becoming a potential investor?

that wouldn't be enough for me to dismiss it totally out of hand. there's still plenty of scope for such a rift to be played out behind closed doors and sorted out in the summer, whilst maintaining a united public front in the meantime.

teehee. i don't know what to make of it myself. the paper has gone to great lengths to emphasize the strength of its sources, but i find it hard to believe that no-one else has had a sniff of this.

nice hedging there, squire

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the sunday mirror is running with an exclusive on its front and back pages that everyone's favourite manager is set to leave these shores after a series of rows with abramovic. the paper is claiming to have three 'top level' sources - a senior member of the backroom staff; someone high up on the executive side; and a 'leading premiership figure'. supposedly he's heading for inter milan and hiddink is being lined up as replacement. chelsea's response? it's bulls*** and they won't dignify it with a full statement.

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my claim to fame is making a fool of jim platt, who was then the middlesboro' no.1 and norn iron second choice keeper, in a penalty kick competition at the age of 9. taking phil neal as my inspiration, i managed to wrongfoot him three times out of three. not quite a claim to fame, but one of my most satisfying footballing feats was when i was cycling through a park and a stray ball was ballooning its way into my path. i sped up and got to the ball just in time to swing back my weaker foot and volley it sweetly back to the group of lads 20-odd yards away. they gave me a round of applause for my efforts.

i thought you always wanted the 'right investment'?

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maybe, just maybe, Liverpool is the only place where anelka does actually feel a genuine connection and maybe LFC is the only club that he feels motivated to give it 100%. i'm wary myself, but if Rafa's that impressed, surely it's worth a shot on some kind of Fowleresque incentivised contract.

i'd kinda assumed that the krafts had dropped all interest in the club and stadium. is there any mileage in them having some kind of financial interest in the stadium after all?