PL shit that doesn't need it's own thread.

[SALTIRE]

Yeah he's became an Israeli citizen and has moved to Tel Aviv. I certainly thought Conte would've been punted and Sarri installed by now, and now this with the stadium happening? Something is going on.

 

[Bilo]

Conjecture of course but, as I asked in the Conte thread, what effect is Abramovich's current visa issues going to have on what already appears to be a waning interest in the club? I think we may have just had the answer.

Well he isn’t going to invest another few hundred million in infrastructure in a country he isn’t allowed to work in that’s for sure.

This could very well spell the end of the Abramovich era Chelsea.

 

[Pagnell]

Which given that his input into the club never appeared to be about investment or a realistic prospect of return, will surely be slightly worrying for fans and club alike. Who's going to pick up the debt the club owes him, which currently stands at a reported £900m+? Never mind the money he will want for the club itself. Or will be walk away at a massive loss?

 

[big mean bunny]

Effectively put himself on the owner version of 'holiday mode'.

 

[HarvSFC]

Things have looked odd at Chelsea since they won the league. Signing players like Danny Drinkwater, Ross Barkley, Davide Zappacosta and even Giroud (Although an improvement on Morata) weren't ever going to help them retain the title, and now we've seen it couldn't even get them a top four finish.

Conte also seems like he's just waiting to be paid off, and a few years a go Abramovich wouldn't have hesitated in pulling the axe. So, it's not looking great for them.

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

Which given that his input into the club never appeared to be about investment or a realistic prospect of return, will surely be slightly worrying for fans and club alike. Who's going to pick up the debt the club owes him, which currently stands at a reported £900m+? Never mind the money he will want for the club itself. Or will be walk away at a massive loss?

I know the Abramovich walking away scenario has long been an oppo fan fantasy but I think you're getting way ahead of yourself here (I mean, there's no genuine suggestion from anywhere that he's contemplating pulling out eg http://www.skysports.com/football/n...ted-to-chelsea-despite-stadium-plans-stalling).

I would assume that he's trying to convey a message to the government and that it reverts to business as usual if he gets his visa.

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

Things have looked odd at Chelsea since they won the league. Signing players like Danny Drinkwater, Ross Barkley, Davide Zappacosta and even Giroud (Although an improvement on Morata) weren't ever going to help them retain the title, and now we've seen it couldn't even get them a top four finish.

Conte also seems like he's just waiting to be paid off, and a few years a go Abramovich wouldn't have hesitated in pulling the axe. So, it's not looking great for them.

Not really. The two most recent transfer windows don't really represent any kind of a departure from the sort of business we've been pursuing over a number of years.

 

[Pagnell]

I know the Abramovich walking away scenario has long been an oppo fan fantasy but I think you're getting way ahead of yourself here (I mean, there's no genuine suggestion from anywhere that he's contemplating pulling out eg http://www.skysports.com/football/n...ted-to-chelsea-despite-stadium-plans-stalling).

I would assume that he's trying to convey a message to the government and that it reverts to business as usual if he gets his visa.

I think you're deliberately playing down a real possibility here.

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

I mean, you could spend all day idly speculating about the worst case scenario for any number of clubs. Chelsea are not remotely close to THE BRINK at the moment, no matter how much it might cheer fans of other clubs to image they are. So yeah

 

[Pagnell]

No one suggested that you were close to the brink. Rather that something has changed, which given your owner's current situation isn't surprising.

 

[Jamie_SFC]

Not worth doing a thread about it as I doubt there's many, but season ticket holders - what's your renewal prices like?

Saints made my mind up very easy by freezing ours, so £575 for me - which will now go towards my summer holiday as that is hideously overpriced given the last two seasons where we've been the worst value for money in the league at home, and to add to that it looks like away supporters will continue to have £10 cashback on entry to St. Mary's Stadium.

 

[AnkleBiter]

£249

That Saints prize is a joke, £575 when you've just finished 17th and have hardly excited the fans by keeping Hughes. Certainly not going to galvanize the fan base, that.

 

[Jamie_SFC]

Forgot to mention, renewal prices are the same as new season ticket prices, so no reward for loyalty.

Our fans have moaned but many of them end their rants stating that they will still renew so they're the problem.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

£540 here, frozen for what'll be the 4th year. Considering the supply/demand issue, I'm quite happy! I am in the cheapest part of the ground, down the side stands it's a bit more expensive.

That's a really good price up at Huddersfield.

 

[Bilo]

I know the Abramovich walking away scenario has long been an oppo fan fantasy but I think you're getting way ahead of yourself here (I mean, there's no genuine suggestion from anywhere that he's contemplating pulling out eg http://www.skysports.com/football/n...ted-to-chelsea-despite-stadium-plans-stalling).

I would assume that he's trying to convey a message to the government and that it reverts to business as usual if he gets his visa.

You have a way of putting your head in the sand, what with this and your refusal to see how the Chelsea dressing room is seemingly dysfunctional.

Your owner doesn't get a visa in the country he's supposed to operate. Meanwhile, the modus operandi at Chelsea is seemingly changing. For me to buy into the whole visa won't affect Abramovich's ownership it would take the complete opposite, because the very baseline is that of course it will be affected, and of course he is significantly more likely to back out now.

Instead, he's investing less, the club is operating differently (Conte would've been sacked weeks ago five years ago) and he pulls out of the stadium project. Yes, this could be a coincidence. But the far and away more reasonable assumption is that it has everything to do with the visa situation, because him continuing to operate as he always has despite it is the extraordinary outcome, not the other way around.

 

[SALTIRE]

He's withdrawn his visa application.

 

[Pagnell]

And has been told he can't work on his Israeli passport. Interesting times ahead for Chelsea I suspect. Or business as usual if you're Pineapple.

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

You have a way of putting your head in the sand, what with this and your refusal to see how the Chelsea dressing room is seemingly dysfunctional.

Your owner doesn't get a visa in the country he's supposed to operate. Meanwhile, the modus operandi at Chelsea is seemingly changing. For me to buy into the whole visa won't affect Abramovich's ownership it would take the complete opposite, because the very baseline is that of course it will be affected, and of course he is significantly more likely to back out now.

Instead, he's investing less, the club is operating differently (Conte would've been sacked weeks ago five years ago) and he pulls out of the stadium project. Yes, this could be a coincidence. But the far and away more reasonable assumption is that it has everything to do with the visa situation, because him continuing to operate as he always has despite it is the extraordinary outcome, not the other way around.

My head's in the sand because I don't agree with yourself and Pagnell? That seems rather uncharitable, not to mention arrogant, if you don't mind me saying so.

I explained very clearly in the other thread why I don't believe that a squad, which has changed quite considerably since this charge first reared its head, and has won four domestic trophies (including two league titles) in the space of four years, is particularly dysfunctional (as an aside, the media would surely be creaming themselves if Liverpool ever experienced such levels of dysfunction!) That's not to say that everything's fine and dandy - slipping from 1st to 10th is something which ought never happen - but my contention was not that everything's cool; rather that things are likely rather more complex than the lazy 'player power' analysis served up by way of explanation. In the same thread I actually wrote a rather lengthy post on where I believed the blame lay for an underwhelming season.

As for the 'Roman might walk' stuff, I'm not even sure how I ought to respond to that really? I mean, you and Pags are clearly trying to elicit a "yes, it's very worrying!" response but although I'd never try to claim that the visa issue and the stadium being put on the back burner (no a huge surprise, costs had been spiralling) were good news, I don't exactly see any point in worrying until there are further developments. What would it achieve? If (worst case - and by no means likely - scenario) he sells up, some other rich tycoon might well take over (I mean, let's be honest, Chelsea is a very successful club in the capital, it's not exactly an unattractive prospect). Sorry that I'm not going to join you in salivating at the prospect of everything going tits up.

It's highly amusing that opposition fans who once pilloried the club for spending loads and rashly sacking managers are now dishing out dire warnings because we're err... not! The reticence to invest vast sums has been going on for some years now in which we've attempted to get the ball rolling on a new stadium (do you not think the two things might somehow be related?!) and the manager thing doesn't actually stand up to scrutiny. If you have a look back it's actually rather unusual for Chelsea to relieve themselves of a manager at a point other than the end of the season. In the Abramovich era Chelsea have only ever sacked two managers in the latter half of a season (as opposed to at the end) and they were Scolari and ABV. Both were performing worse than Conte at the time of their sacking (in a PL which was considerably less competitive) and neither had built up the credit of the Italian as they hadn't won the league title the season before. The manager who's most analogous to Conte is Carlo Ancelotti, with an excellent first season followed by a slightly underwhelming second (he was sacked at the end of that season just as I imagine Conte will be). In terms of win percentages Conte's record (65%) is excellent and second only to Mourinho version 1 (67%) in terms of reasonably long term permanent managers. Considering the lack of readily available top class managers in the latter half of a season, why would anyone imagine he'd be readily discarded? The club were still in contention for top 4 until the end so little point in changing.

As it happens I do think this is a challenging time for the club, with lots of questions as to the approach going forward but, much as I'm used to the relentless negativity in Chelsea-related discussions, there are some occasions where it feels useful to try to provide a bit of a counterbalance.

 

[JimJams]

You got rid of Jose at Christmas too...

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

Yeah, I explicitly referred to the latter half of the season though. Jose wasn't comparable to Conte as the former was dismissed when the club were 16th (!) and one point above the relegation zone (!). In fact, it's probably quite instructive as to how bad Conte would have to have been to have been to be sacked early doors.

Mourinho (1st incarnation) and Di Matteo also departed early on in a campaign.

 

[Abertawe]

Yeah, I explicitly referred to the latter half of the season though. Jose wasn't comparable to Conte as the former was dismissed when the club were 16th (!) and one point above the relegation zone (!). In fact, it's probably quite instructive as to how bad Conte would have to have been to have been to be sacked early doors.

Mourinho (1st incarnation) and Di Matteo also departed early on in a campaign.

In theory is everything ticked with the redevelopment of SB - planning permission and that?

If Roman does go you can't imagine Chelsea will be short of buyers.

 

[HertsWolf]

£540 here, frozen for what'll be the 4th year. Considering the supply/demand issue, I'm quite happy! I am in the cheapest part of the ground, down the side stands it's a bit more expensive.

That's a really good price up at Huddersfield.

Season ticket prices not the only thing frozen in time in Bournemouth, to be fair.

 

[Pagnell]

If Roman does go you can't imagine Chelsea will be short of buyers.

You'd have thought so, but you need to remember that the club owes him over £1b, and that's prior to any valuation he puts on the club itself I imagine. The amount of interest shown by buyers will surely very much depend on how and if he expects that debt to be serviced.

If the stadium was already in place they would hold a massive appeal to any potential buyers. But with that additional expense of that to be taken into account before the club can be taken to the next level?

 

[markwwfc1992]

My season ticket has gone up £90 so £449 for this season. Nice to see some ST holders on this part of the forum, I presumed it was full of plastics

 

[Bilo]

My season ticket has gone up £90 so £449 for this season. Nice to see some ST holders on this part of the forum, I presumed it was full of plastics

what the fuck

When my club went up back in 2004 they tried to double it and this was considered a major scandal.

 

[Pagnell]

My season ticket has gone up £90 so £449 for this season. Nice to see some ST holders on this part of the forum, I presumed it was full of plastics

What's worse, presuming an entire forum fan base is "full of plastics" or presuming a fan who doesn't have a season ticket can be fairly pigeon-holed as being a plastic? Ah, questions questions.

 

[big mean bunny]

Going to the games is overated. All I need is my fantasy football stats sites and football manager. Seeing the actual games gets in the way of all the maths.

 

[markwwfc1992]

What's worse, presuming an entire forum fan base is "full of plastics" or presuming a fan who doesn't have a season ticket can be fairly pigeon-holed as being a plastic? Ah, questions questions.

Not an entire forum, just the fans of the usual teams where you would consider their fans as plastic. Your Man Utd's, your Chelsea's etc.

 

[Skinner]

Every club has plastics, Wolves will sell out every week next season, empty seats galore 3 years ago, so there's no point coming up here with your superior attitude.

 

[Super_horns]

Rather serious us allegations about PG from Toure..

Or is this his agent talking again ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44364542