José: Bad season for Blues

Mon, 26th May 2008

Former Chelsea manager José Mourinho feels sorry for the Blues but insists they have had a bad season because they have failed to win anything. Chelsea sacked Mourinho's successor, Avram Grant, on Saturday evening after the west London side lost the Champions League and Carling Cup finals as well as finishing second to Manchester United in the Premier League.

Mourinho, who left Stamford Bridge in September 2007, told the Observer when asked if Chelsea has had a good season: "That depends on your philosophy of leadership.

"In my philosophy it was a very bad one because in football 'almost' means defeat and Chelsea almost won the Carling Cup, almost won the Champions League and almost won the Premier League. Almost in nothing.

"After two titles per season for the last three years there were zero titles this season, which in my philosophy means a really bad season. Maybe in the philosophy of a loser this was a great season, which I respect.

"I am very sad about what happened. In the last two years this team lost a Champions League final and a Champions League semi-final on penalties. The supporters deserve more, (the players) and some others deserve happiness. I still think of them as my boys.

"I believe that after an empty season new success will come to Chelsea. And I will always be a Chelsea supporter."

Chelsea TV Exclusive: Buck to the Future

Sat, 24th May 2008

With thoughts moving on from the Champions League Final and ahead to challenges to come, chairman Bruce Buck has outlined some basic intentions.

He was talking on Friday night's Live From Stamford Bridge on Chelsea TV. responding to views and questions from supporters. The summer transfer aims were discussed.

'So there is going to be some movement just to get the squad down to the size we think is optimum. In terms of other transfers generally, every year we want to tweak the squad a bit so there will be some changes but I don't expect there to be massive, wholesale changes.'
Specifically on Didier Drogba, the chairman commented:
'Didier is a superb player generally. There have been some comments reported to be made by Didier over that last year that maybe he would like to leave Chelsea. On most occasions he has said that he has been misquoted.

'Now that the season is over, we have to sit down with him and see what the story is and what his future is. He is a great player, I hope he stays, but that is a decision the club and Didier will have to make collectively.
'This year he has had some niggling injuries but we know he can change the course of a game, as he nearly did in Moscow.
'As I have said, he is a superb player but if you are a world class player, which he is, you have to avoid the silly red cards, the ones that come about over nothing - and I think Didier will be sorry that he got that red card.'
Buck responded to queries about the team management situation as well as assessing the season as a whole.

'I really can only say what Avram said on the plane yesterday (Thursday) to a bunch of journalists - which is there is no news.
'We have had a great season. In the four competitions we were in, we were runners-up in three of them.
'But we have very high expectations at Chelsea Football Club and a couple of second place finishes is just not good enough us - so although we never would have thought in September when José Mourinho left that we would be able to make it into a Champions League Final - as we did, and that is fantastic - Chelsea is here to win trophies so although it was an excellent season, we are still disappointed.'

Lamps: We'll Be Back

Thu, 22nd May 2008

Frank Lampard, the first Chelsea player to score in a Champions League Final, believes that the better side lost out in Moscow on Wednesday evening, but is adamant that the Blues will return stronger for the experience.

The midfielder calmly slotted home our equaliser on the stroke of half-time in the Luzhniki Stadium after Cristiano Ronaldo had given Manchester United the lead, and then converted his penalty in the shootout, only to see team-mates John Terry and Nicolas Anelka miss.

Lampard freely admitted it was a bitter pill to swallow, but backed his team-mates to recover from the disapointment.

It's a small, small detail that loses you the game. No one can deny that after 30 minutes of the game we completely dominated,' he began.
'The best team didn't win, but let's take nothing away from Man United, they are a fantastic team and they've gone and won the Champions League, but it's very hard to take when it happens like that.'
Playing just weeks after the death of his mother Pat, Lampard was able to put the defeat into context, but was full of sympathy for his team-mates.

Terry had the chance to seal victory for the Blues, but at the crucial moment lost his footing, and saw his spot kick clip the outside of the post and bounce clear. Having missed in a shootout while playing for England in the World Cup two years ago, Lampard could empathise with how his captain and close friend was feeling.

'John is Mr Chelsea, he is Chelsea through and through and wants this more than anyone. I just want to say that not many centre-halves will stand up and take penalties, and that's testament to his character as a man.
'At the end of the day it's a game of football - we'll be back.'

Drogba wins Footballer of the Year

Sun, 2nd Dec 2007

Didier Drogba has won the BBC London Footballer of the Year award 2007. He becomes the fourth consecutive Chelsea player to win this prestigious award following in the footsteps of Frank Lampard, John Terry and Joe Cole.

Pete Stevens, Sports Editor and Chairman of the selection panel, said: 'Didier was the unanimous choice of the panel.
'He has had an exceptional year proving that he was not only the leading striker in the Premier League, but also in Europe.
'His thrilling style of play and spectacular goals played a large part in the Blues success in winning two Cup Finals.'Didier took first place from Arsenal's young Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who was runner-up, and Tottenham Hotspur's captain Robbie Keane who finished third.

Still More to Come

Fri, 30th Nov 2007

Avram Grant has expressed his desire for Chelsea to be successful in all competitions this season, and reiterated his pleasure with the football being played by his side.

Our unbeaten run in all competitions now stretches to 13 games, in which time we have scored 30 goals, and Grant believes there is still more to come from what he considers a strong squad.
'If you are speaking about the game on Wednesday we played very well, and the last two or three months we are playing good football,' he said.

There is an ambitious streak that runs through the Israeli, and he confirmed he is looking for Chelsea to be challengers on all fronts this campaign.
'We want to succeed in the Champions League, the Premier League, the FA Cup, everything,' he said.

Grant will be hoping the run continues tomorrow as we look to make it 70 league games unbeaten at Stamford Bridge, against a West Ham side that is unbeaten in six games.

Hammers manager Alan Curbishley has reason to be a happy man at the moment, particularly with ex-Blues forward Carlton Cole, but prior to tomorrow's meeting has suggested the top teams such as ourselves receive preferential treatment from referees.
Grant disagrees, and uses the examples of John Mikel Obi, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien to support him.
'I don't think he believes that, it's a psychology war,' he suggested. 'He [Curbishley] can say everything but we can see the facts. Three red cards against us in the last three months, not one of them was a red card, so if this is a privilege, I don't want to think about it.'

Grant confirmed that there was no news on the injury front, as the group that travelled to Norway are all fit, and none of the injured number are fit to return. There was though encouraging words on Michael Ballack, who appeared for the reserves on Monday evening.
'I think a few weeks,' Grant said, when asked when the midfielder's return to first team action may be. ' He is fit now, it's just a matter of conditioning and to make sure everything is okay with his ankle.'

Avram Grant was also happy to have guaranteed qualification from Champions League Group B, as well as considering Sunday's FA Cup third round draw.
'It's good to qualify one game before the end because we have a lot of games in front of us, three games in a week, except next week, so it's good,' he said.
'We want to succeed in all the competitions, it doesn't matter if we hold the FA Cup or not. You can't belong to the big clubs and not succeed in competitions. We have the chance to do it. First we have a game tomorrow, and then we take care of the others.'