I get the pleasure of being first response on the account that everyone else is either asleep or working...

Personally, I am already sick of the endless rumours so have turned off checking for latest updates any more than every 3rd day. I have much more interesting things to think about like my birthday, my partners birthday, my new car arriving next Friday and then going away to the Clare Valley for the weekend in my new car with my new girlfriend... maybe when I get back I will find that Lampard has decided to stay and accept the measily $140K for 4 years, Drogba is suddenly back in favour once he realises noone else wants to pay him the same as Chelsea and we have signed Robbie Keane in a swap deal for Anelka...!

So for now I will leave the rumour mill to those who know how to turn it and come back when the dust has settled and the friendlies are under way.

Maybe it is a sign but the 'funny code' I have to enter to post this comment is LEMEN... describes nicely some the rumours...

KTBFFH

Lol, I think there is a bug the counter for # Comments shows -1 !!!

Still silly season, and I guess we'll learn nothing player-wise from BPS today either.

According to todays Mirror "Scolari will allow Andriy Shevchenko, Florent Malouda, Claudio Pizarro, Steve Sidwell and Carlo Cudicini to leave Chelsea." Which isn't half bad, but I'd be worried about letting Cudicini go. I dont think Hilario would be my choice as a number 2, and unless Rhys Evans gets the chance, a new keeper could well be on the cards (but please Phil, not Ricardo).

Clive mentioned yesterday "As far as CFC goes it's all strangely silent, I think someone is beavering away quitely behind the scenes to probably produce some more quality signings."

I'd love to say I agree, but as I've said before, I can actually see it being very quiet on the players coming in front. A few of the players on the periphery will leave for sure, but I think it'll be a real struggle for us to attract top names this summer. Regardless of the size of the transfer pot Roman has so loving put to one side for Phil.

First of all, I'm happy that Drogba is staying quite. I would have expected more news /rumours about him but Adebawhatever seems to be of bigger interest for some clubs. That's good....he's not half as good as Drogba but some clubs are willing to splash out more than 20Mio......another sign that the fans are simply the best scouts.^^
Dunno about Kaka...I think it could actually happen. The fact that we got Scolari and Milan won't play in the CL next season could make him consider a move. On the other hand we already signed Deco for whatever reason(he just like Adebayor....overrated and shit when somethings on the line) and don't know what our midfield will look like if Lamps stays. Ballack definetely wants to win the CL...that's why he came to Chelsea but if we fail again to win it I could imagine him leaving us next year even when he's not really appreciated by many clubs because of his lack of titles due to unlucky defeats.

Anyway, what I have seen so far proves the cynical comment earlier.....Arsenal, Barca etc. sign players when they are fresh and still.....formable. We buy them when they are made man and got nothing to prove anymore.


We shud get: - another goalkeeper....preferably German ^^
- Samir Nasri.....but I guess we got Deco for this task -_-
- Huntelaar( get rid of Anelka and Pizarro)

Many more people to offload: Cudicini, Ben Haim, Deco ;-). Malouda, Makelele, Sidwell and the mentioned strikers. And....Sheva needs to stay!

It just wouldn't be summer without a Roberto Carlos to Chelsea rumour. Ten years running I reckon.

LINK

Morning all,

Hope Suffolk was good Pete... Loving the Roberto Carlos rumour - he really is ever hopeful, isn't he?

Looks like the transfer market is showing signs of starting to shift - always believed that there is an element of the domino effect about it. Imagine that LGF will be running the rule over the squad in the coming weeks and deciding what he wants to do (a degree of that may have happened already).

Lampard is a tricky one - be a big wrench for us to lose him, but a serious money 5 year deal at 30 years of age is far from ideal. No doubt this one will continue to run and run...

We need a good player + 1 more big name signing this summer. 2 players in total to add to our Sporting collection of Portugese. Who will those 2 players be? Lets wait and see. Kaka would be a dream come true. Robinho is SLIGHLY more realistic. Arshavin is easy to get and my personal favourites are Silva and Van der Vaart. The next 3 weeks ahead gonna rock with loads of transfer merry go rounds with Scolari being unveiled later on. Exciting days ahead...

@PETEW #5

You seem to have a fundemental misunderstanding of our recruitment policy. Until now Roberto Carlos has been too young and inexperienced.

However, he may now just have developed into the sort of player we are looking for.

"Chelsea Football Club can confirm it has received an official approach from Internazionale to discuss the possible transfer of Frank Lampard. Contrary to reports no financial offer was made.

Chelsea FC has informed Inter this morning (Tuesday, July 8) that we will not enter into any discussions regarding the transfer of Frank Lampard."

LINK

Oh Dear Rent-A-Quote Galliani is at it again trying to square his "astronomical" claim re Kaka with Leonardo's statement yesterday:

LINK

Can our readers with Italian connections tell us how this idiot is viewed domestically - he [almost]makes Kenyon seem like a genius to me...

I see we've issued an official refusal to discuss with Inter transfer for Lamps on the website too.....

According to the official site, "Chelsea FC has informed Inter this morning (Tuesday, July 8) that we will not enter into any discussions regarding the transfer of Frank Lampard."

Well. That was quick.

You are back from your hols Nick - getting the Frank link in there quickly - still doesn't say if he's signing a new contract or seeing out his last year before leaving. Perhaps LGF will reveal all at his press conference?

Interesting news on Lampard. Still not sure how Essien, Mikel, Ballack, Deco, Lampard are all going to fit into one system. We can now corner the market in centre midfielders as well as centre backs.

Suffolk was great. I saw a barn owl.

Personally, I kind of hope we do sign Roberto Carlos one day, just to make him happy. I've never seen a player so desperate to join one club for so long.

It was luck, blueboydave. ;-) I just happened to be perusing the official site at the right time.

I guess the club wants Lampard to make the decision - we certainly don't need the money and could keep him for the remaining year of his contract. The rules regarding buying out the final year of a contract still confuse me - Kenn wrote a lengthy post about it a couple of years ago and I haven't got time to read it again at the moment - I think he concluded that it's a pain in the arse. :-)

LINK

I read somewhere that Jose is expecting Lampard to join Inter next summer so I'm not expecting Lamps to sign a new contract any time soon.

The debate is on. Essien, Lampard, Mikel, Ballack and Deco. Who will play and how will they play? Its hindering the progress and growth of Obiwan. Im confused as everyone is. That leaves me with a question: Does Scolari knows what he is doing or he has something up his sleeves? I pray that its the latter.

I think the buying out of the contract thing is actually far more fraught with problems than it looks on paper - the Scottish chap (whose name escapes me) that was embroiled in it had an absolute nightmare from what I recall.

One way or another, it seems to be approaching the "sh*t or get off the pot" moment for all parties involved.

I've contacted OleOle regarding the latest bug in the numbering of comments. Also asked about the 'edit' functionality which went missing sometime last week.

OMG, this Blog follows the stock markets and it's now down -12 points!

Even the ChelseaBlog feels the credit crunch now! LOL!

@16 KaiserJonny_II - I think Webster is the name you're struggling for - and when I read the position some where recently - and the link to Kenn's article says the same - the player has to give notice of his intention to buy out his contract 2 weeks from the end of the previous season. Obviously we're way beyond that now so Lamps can either accept a new offer or see out his final year dreaming of TSO next season.

If Lamps wishes to join Inter, Chelsea should really let him go now rather than next season. Maybe Chlesea are just waiting for Kaka before letting Lamps go?

Scolari on Chelsea TV: "I met Frank Lampard and we spoke for 15 minutes, and after this, when we finished, I was very happy because I asked if he wants to stay and he said 'yes, I stay at Chelsea'"

Straight from the horse's mouth, as it were. Scolari's English is pretty good.

"Yes, I will stay at Chelsea"... provided Chelsea can offer him the deal he wanted. I'm not convinced until Frankie's signature is on that piece of paper!

Scolari's english is pretty good already. Made an amazing impression already compared to our last managerial unveiling.

Just watched Scolari's press conference - I'm already enamoured of him. Really, really excited for the new season.

Well, good news on the Lamps front, however I dont expect him to be here beyond next season - I guess he'll play less games as Phil tries to shoehorn 316 midfielders into 3, 4 or 5 positions.

Would have been a nice surprise for him to be unveiled as well as some surprise signings though.

when is chelsea gonna start buying for the future? why do we even have an academy? seems we have it for loans. chelsea buy for the now obviously, why are we never in the market for the young stars, why can't we land the Alexander Pato's or Sergio Aguerro's????? why do we buy so many central midfielders? and sell exellent wingers (ARJEN ROBBEN). I was one who was actually excited about molouda (sorry). big dissapointment to me. i am just tired of all the transfer hoo haa!!!!! keep our money and do it a bit better by PRODUCING STARS NOT BUYING THEM!!!!! push our academy if not then when? our players we bring in do not fetch the same price as we buy them for so we losing.....

Scolari said he's just the so-so one as a manger! LOL! We'll call him 'TSSO' - The So-So One then! :-)

Is every Chelsea manager for all of eternity going to be asked 'are you the Special One?' Let's do recent history.

1988-91 The Scouse One
1991-93 The Sozzled One
1993 The Car Dealer One
1994-96 The Weird One
1996-98 The Shexy One
1998-2000 The Bald One
2000-04 The Pretty Useless But Ultimately Rather Endearing One
2004-2007 TSO
2007 The Oh My God Thank God That's Finally Over What Was I Drinking Last Night One
2008-?? The So-So One

I thought LGF/TSSO was impressive in his press conference on SSN - and good to hear him so positive about Lamps and Drogs.

Is there a time warp in Cobham though - SSN had the "200% in my plans" comment about Drogba on the scrolling yellow banner a good 4 minutes before he actually said it "live"????

@PeteW - I admire how managers endure the banality of the questions they're asked in these press conferences. Most are like the worst job interview you could possibly imagine only ten times more cringeworthy.

@BlueBoyDave - LGF said the same things about Lampard and Drogba in his interview with Chelsea TV, so SSN jumped the gun somewhat.

Waiting for the press conference to start, I was reminded of just why I stopped watching SSN a few months ago.

More Lampard news from their website: "Massimo Moratti says Inter Milan have made a financial offer for Frank Lampard, despite Chelsea saying it was only an approach, rather than a firm bid. The Inter president is now considering his next move after Chelsea said they would not enter into negotiations."

Most are like the worst job interview you could possibly imagine only ten times more cringeworthy.

"Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?"

"On a beach, picking my arse and not answering stupid questions..."

So Big Phil did OK in the press conference then? That's scuppered the "thickie foreigner who can't even speaka da lingo" line from the hacks then.

I feel a bit, shock horror, *disappointed* that DD isn't going.

Dont get me wrong, he's been a great servant and is a great striker, but to me he has these 'niggles' that are increasingly becoming part of his game. I still can't forget what a Number 1 *expletive* he was in Moscow as well.

With the sort of ridiculous figures being banded about for Adebayor, surely we'd entertain the thought of letting him go for £30m-odd.

Not that Pizarro or Sheva would do anything near as good a job as him, and the chances of us signing anynone else appear slim.

I echo PeteW's sentiments as well. Is that the best the press can do? For ever and a day any new Chelsea manager will be asked "Are you a Special One" .....thinking about the goons who write for the tabs.....yep, thats about the summit of their intellectual capability. I'll see what the anti-Chelsea hacks like Patrick Barclay and Richard "Wanker" Williams have to say , but no doubt they'll tow the usual 'morally corrupt, obscenely rich, no class, no history, dubious Russian ownership, uncertain European club record' path they have so faithfully trodden since the RA turned up with his 'ruthlessly exploited innocent Russian proletariat' cash filled platinum juggernaut.

LGF has grown on me though, despite my early 'No to Scolari' propaganda. I like his style thus far, his no-nonsense, no bollocks approach to the media which I assume he has also shown to the players. He looks comfortable and unfazed and ready for the challenge, all criteria to which the unfortunate Uncle Avram looked a million miles from. A couple of good signings and the loss of some detritus and I can see the EPL title being a 2-horse race again.

@31 chelseablog - I wondered if he'd said the same thing in his Chelsea TV "exclusive" - but can't see it in the supposed transcript that's now available on the website, which is much less emphatic. Almost suggests PK/ a suitable flunkey was standing off-camera with cue cards to remind him of his script ;-)

Fifty - we apparently had him up at £24m but no one wanted to pay that for him. I guess at his age plus with the issues he has, people wanted more around the £18-20m mark.

I guess if you cant off load him tell him he is 200% in your plans and try to get the best from him.

However if he and eto'o were upfront A) that would scare the hell out of teams and B) imagine the monumental moaning !! Like two jimmy Floyds up there! :)

I wouldnt worry if chelsea gets some more forwards after letting drogba go but Lampard will b missed

I've been scrolling down looking for Jose Musumba's contribution -- surely the only way we could get to negative 12 in the number of comments is if he chipped in? (his were usually worth about minus 50).

I wasn't initially in favour of a Big Name appointment (let alone one whose first name is actually "Big"). But oh my Lord it's such a relief to have a proper manager again! What a weird season that last one was.

I must say that i was a little disappointed to see lampard stay. I'm aware of his huge contribution to the club over the past years, but i think his best years are behind him and the transfer fee he would demand would be immense. with the signing of deco the midfield is much too crowded. one of those big egos is going to be spending a lot of time on the bench. essien will play a lot as defensive midfielder or as a fullback again, which i believe is a huge waste of talent. as for drogba, lets hope he returns to his 06/07 form under a competant manager.
I think the best signings for chelsea on the transfer market are arshavin to play a supporting striker role, robinho(although his lack of size worries me), and david villa(if only to keep the torres/villa combination from ever happening). I'd like to see Le Sulk leave, and maybe Malouda will pull a Ballack and rediscover his form in the second year with us.

Ps, What does LGF stand for?

Drogs and Lamps staying would be a good move to appease the fans. But it looks like its gonna take quite sometime for more new players to come in. And he dint give a single clue on who he will sign before the window closes bloody hell.

39. chocolateleprechaun - LGF stands for "Le Grande Felipe". Scolari mentioned somewhere that he doesn't like to be called "Big Phil" so Tony came up with "Le Grande Felipe" in one of his comments and it stuck. :-)

Lampard could yet join Inter. His agent told Sky Sports News that the contract situation remains 'completely unresolved'. LINK

Agree that Essien's talent is wasted in the Makelele role and at right-back.

I too would love to see Arshavin at the Bridge. Today, his agent said that Arshavin is likely to come to England but only to play for one of the Champions League clubs - let's hope he doesn't end up at Anfield, Old Trafford, or the Emirates!

Isn't Steve Kutner a mispelling?

Although we're at comment 43 the counter on the previous page shows minus 12.

I guess this must be how Leeds felt last season ...

Chelsea seem to be very decisive this summer. Minutes after receiving a frankly pitiful £7.95m bid for Lamps, we've rejected it!

Well done Kenyon. Now tell them to shut the fuck up and don't waste our time with ridiculously low bids.

All these claims and counter-claims from Chelsea and Inter are just parts of the negotiation process. I still think Lamps is gonna move on to Inter this summer; it's the golden opportunity for him to play European football in Italy while Jose is there to look after him.

Either now or never!

I think Frank will stay. It sounds to me like what happened is that Frank went to see LGF and told him that he wants to see out his career here; LGF passed this on to the media in his press conference; then Frank's Mr. 10% saw the press conference and panicked, thinking that his negotiating position with Chelsea had gone belly up because his client had admitted to the club that he didn't want to leave, which means that it would be harder for Mr. 10% to demand a 200k-per-week contract, which means Mr. 10% will only be able to buy the one yacht instead of the two he was counting on.

I suspect at some stage Frank will tell his agent just to get it done.

But then I also thought the club was going to appoint Sparky manager, so I obviously know nothing (ergo about the same amount as assorted hacks, rumour-mongering websites and desperate 24-hr sports news channels).

OK, just watched this in full

LINK

I'm sold.

The So-So One is funny! :-)

LINK

I could get to like this guy .......... he has humour a bit akin to TSO. Of course, he also has nigh on the same surname as me so he IS special lolol

Am i hearing things? Scolari did pronounce Chelsea as Chelsia or something. He's adding some flair to the club's name already before he's doing it on the pitch.

Very impressive display by all accounts.

Reminds me of the charm offensive initially put on by Jose..... I wonder how long it will be before the Hacks turn on him and he spends all of his time trying to prove he isn't an irrational lunatic! My guess is the first piss-poor refereeing decision!

I like the cut of his gib though, his English is far better than we all expected, Clarkie has stayed, he wants to keep the backbone of the side, and he is probably strong enough to keep DD in line).

Far more positive that the 'Normal One'...... However, if his benchmark is to finish better than one kick away from winning the Champions League he is unlikely to have much security in his job.

Scolari wants to keep the spine of this team intact which is a very good thing. But what kind of players he adds around the Chelsea core remains to be seen. I get the feeling that his concept and perspective of the transfer market is pretty old. Before the 'obvious' targets snapped away, he better act fast. Hopfully in a weeks time as he said in his press conference that he needs to know the players better in training.

Scolari on the squad : “Now I have 32 players. But now is the time to change the team. One will come and one will go, three players might be wanted by other teams.

“I want to work with 23, 24, 25 players. If I have 30 players I can’t bring them in from the youth side. The players know this.

“When I spoke to them yesterday, I said, ‘There will be 23, 24 or 25 who will stay. That is the maximum I will need’.

“After this, is not my business. Contracts are not for me. That is for the players. After this happens, some players might say ‘No, the coach didn’t say this to me before’. But all the players know I want to work with no more than 25.”

That means 7 players must go, Im assuming these will be 1. Florent Malouda 2. Khalid Boulahrouz 3. Alcides 4. Steve Sidwell 5. Claudio Pizarro 6. Wayne Bridge (I would like to keep him but his best decision would proberbly be to go) 7. Claude Makelele or Carlo Cudicini (retirement)

It would appear from Soccernet that Sidwell will go to Aston Villa, which raises and important beef I have with the top clubs recruiting middle of the road players to fill the "stand-in" role for the clubs stars. It doesn't make sense both from a player perspective and club perspective to have players like Sidwell on the books to fill in when the stars need a rest when they would normally be playing a key role for the 2nd tier clubs in the league. It will always end up with these players getting bored and moving on in a year.

I would much prefer to see these understudy roles filled by up and coming youngsters from reserves and youth teams to promote an internal succession system where the junior players get their chance to learn from the senior players by filling in when the need arises. This would also slow down the need to loan these junior players out so they can get a look in playing first team football.

If I was Chelsea coach, then I would be looking to offload all these mid range players and replace them with our 'junior stars' thus offer the opportunity for our academy to genuinely develop the first teams stars of the future.

Thoughts....

KTBFFH

TSSO ... love it! Although LGF is pretty catchy too. The perennial roberto carlos bollocks made my day. Sounds like exciting times ahead... bring it on.

Chelsia!

Lampard agent: Chelsea future unresolved
tribalfooball.com - July 08, 2008

Frank Lampard's agent admits his future at Chelsea remains "unresolved".

Reacting to comments made by Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari that he wants Lampard to stay, Steve Kutner said: "I would just like to make the position clear. Felipe had a very amicable chat with Frank who told him he always envisaged ending his playing career at Chelsea Football Club.

"He also told him that unfortunately the terms for a new contract cannot be agreed with the board despite discussions having been ongoing for over two years.

"This, coupled with everything that happened to Frank at the end of last season, means his position remains completely unresolved."

Pretty funny video about the whole Lampard saga on Youtube: LINK it's got a lot of bad language but it's worth a look.

Sorry bad like from before, works now: LINK

Exactly how stupid to Inter think we are? We spent £10m bringing Deco from Barca, so why on Earth would we be willing to accept any less for Lampard?

I fear for all the 'he wants to stay' comments, and the supposed abger from Lamps that this has been said that he'll be off, but if thats the case at least make them pay for him.

I'm beginning to feel a bit nervous about the squad. If it needs to be trimmed to 25 then we'll lose a few players, but there wont really be holes that will be filled by new signings. We're so close to having the ideal squad, one or two World-class signings is all that's needed.

@ 61 - Fifty - hear hear. Accepting £7.95m for a player regularly knocking in 20+ goals per season whilst we happily dish out £10m for a player who doesn't would be bizarre and I hope we continue to tell Inter to fuck off. It seems that maybe we are learning to throw our weight around a bit and not have the piss taken anymore. The position to be in is one where the players want to come, rather than having to be persuaded by large carrots and stupid transfer fees.

If Frank wants a 5 year contract then why not just give it to him and if he becomes a shite player simply tear the thing up and let him go? Contracts in football, as we all know, are worth little more than toilet paper and mean as much as a "pro-green" or "pro-peace" statement from George Bush.

maybe Roman does want a Russian in the team, but it might not be the ones touted in the papers. if we are actually letting go of Cudicini, i think Igor Vladimirovich Akinfeev would be a gud buy, wot say?

@FIFTY

We bought Deco for only 7.95 million pounds(10 million euros). Inter offered the same price too for Lampard.

7 players to leave:

1) Boulahrouz
2) Ben Haim
3) Alcides
4) Sidwell
5) Pizarro
6) Wright-Phillips
7) Makalele(retirement)

And there got be more than just 7. Did the article said AT LEAST 7 players? Really hope Carlo stays. Just look at the number of centerbacks we have now. We need to ship out as many as possible. 4 will do. Not 7.

After Scolari's unveiling, all things Chelsea seem to have gone crazy:

1. Scolari appeared to inadvertantly call Lampard's bluff. By saying that Lamps wanted to stay for many years, he provoked Lampard to start a row with Kenyon, which is being reported in EVERY newspaper, and then he flushed out the truth which appears that Lamps wants to leave. His agent immediately came out saying that his future is still unresolved and it appears that Lamps has no intention of staying: LINK

2. Transfer rumours have gone into overdrive with a MASS EXODUS of the rubbish: LINK

Going from 33 to 23 means 10 out: Boulahrouz, Belletti, TBH, Maka, Sidwell, SWP, Malouda, Pizarro, Sheva and for the last player out... LAMPS! I hate to say it but he looks to be a gonner.

3. Scolari wants to promote our best youth players into the 23 man squad: LINK

This means we could see Scott Sinclair, Rhys Taylor, Mancienne, Michael Woods, Franco Di Santo all playing a role. It should also mean that our only existing amazing youth player, Mikel, should be given more games.

4. We don't want Fatty Ronaldinho but instead we want Robinho: LINK

5. The press seem to love us again: LINK

On a side note... Rafa thinks that despite being skint he will be able to win the league with Gareth Barry, and that he could actually get David Villa!!!! He must be smoking the same stuff Carragher's on, when they say that they'll win something!

@62 ChelseaTony - agree entirely. On reflection I think LGF [or are we switching to TSSO?] was very shrewd in his comments on Lamps and Drogba yesterday.

He made it very clear he wants Frank and Frank said he'd like to stay for years - so it was up to the suits [and Frank's agent] to sort out the contract details which is not his responsibility. It seems incredible that we'll happily chuck mega-millions at new wonder signings who may well join our long list of miserable expensive failures while quibbling over a few grand a week and/or an extra year on the contract of our 20 goals-a-season midfielder who gets lots of assists too.

Equally on Drogs he made an unequivocal if exaggerated statement that he'd like him in the team next season - so if Didier decides he's still in I-want-to-leave mode then we can rightly demand a decent price from interested clubs.

Good to see he is keen to give youth players a chance too - perhaps not entirely stuck on short-term after all then?

In conclusion we appear to be losing Lamps, whilst Didier will only leave if we can get a replacement. The newspapers think that if we don't get Eto'o or David Villa, Didier will stay. We'll be left with a much younger and smaller squad, just like Jose had when he swooped in 4 years ago. The only DEFINITES so far are:

Cech
Bosingwa/Paulo - Ricky/Ivanovic - JT/Alex - Cole/Bridge
Mikel/Essien - Ballack/Deco
J Cole/Kalou
Di Santo

We can't be sure if it'll be Carlo or Rhys Taylor. Will Lamps stay? (NO - despite me wishing he'll stay for ever and ever!) Maka and Sidwell look to be out. Malouda and SWP should leave. And who knows how many of Sheva, Pizarro, Anelka and Drogba will stay? And after Scolari said that he likes to promote from the academy, who'll get in the first team? Sinclair, Kakuta, Woods...

Before we leave for Asia, we should see 10 outs and after naming only 16 DEFINITES, we should see 8 ins. This could count as youth promotions, new contracts for the likes of Lamps and Didier or star signings like Robinho and David Villa. It'll certainly be another crazy summer at Chelsea, as always.

I wonder how the propoganda machine that is ChelseaTV will react to Lamps apparent determination to leave? They'll deny everything and say that after rejecting an £8m offer, he'll stay. Their policy of burying their heads in the sand when there's a controversial story will be enforced, yet again tonight. And where was Greenberg. Do we have a new press officer?

Well PS did look rather cool, and yet tough yesterday in the media spotlight, I was certainly impressed with his approach to all things football.
And on a side note, the more I see of him the more he looks like Gene Hackman, so we could win an Oscar this year!

DOGbar n Frank aint Really loyal to the club that made them who they are, to make it even worse it seems that they cant be their OWN men .it happens they have their "MASTER"(interbased) who happens CALLS THE SHOTS for them to start barking alot . If ROM AND us the fans feed LUMPS ..the guy gets fat to his head to the extent he cant think !!
we really showed him loyalty during his funeral
we have never booed him while he is playing for ENGLAND
i dont think he can be loved anywhere mo than chelsea ....
FRANK SHOULD JUST BE FRANK TO HIMSELF
DROGBAR SHOULD ACT HIS AGE CESC LOOKS MORE MATURE THAN HIM WRT DESICION MAKING

Afternoon,

The official Aston Villa site says they have agreed to sign Steve Sidwell, subject to a medical. The deal should be concluded within the next 24 hours. LINK

One down, several to go.

I see comment numbering still hasn't been fixed, looks like I'll have to email OleOle again. Bah!

As much as I love Frank I feel a 5 year contract at his age is outrageous and we need to draw the line. In 3-4 years he may not be up to the Premier League yet we'll still have him on our payroll. The number of players we've had on our books that are either over the hill or simply don't want to play for us is excessive - Veron, Crespo, Sheva etc.

Players are taking the piss and what with rising fuel costs, food bills and tumbling house prices they need a reality check.

@65 haberdashers - I'm confused where this current first team squad of 33 [32 was the quote I saw] comes from unless you count the 4 reserve players we registered for CL purposes only who've scarcely got a first-team appearance between them [ Taylor/Cummings/Hutchinson/Sawyer] - so the cull isn't quite as massive as suggested.

Set your bullshit detectors to stun level boys and girls - a Peter Kenyon interview is promised on the official website at 1pm today while Bruce Buck is talking to ChelseaTV tonight!!

@Mark (71)

Have to say I agree - big risk to take and if he isn't cutting the mustard in 2 years time, no-one else in football will take on his salary. In theory he's one of the very few players we should consider giving any kind of longer term deal at 30 years of age, but 4-5 years at that money just seems crazy to me.

Don't blame the bloke for wanting the best deal for what is most likely to be his last contract - just not sure it should be us that pays the money he's after. Set the precedent and plenty more will want the same when their contracts are up for renewal.

Aside of anything else, Scolari has just taken on one of the biggest roles in world football, has just over a month to prepare for the new season and will need to know one way or another who is staying and who is going sooner rather than later. We can't go into August with this hanging over us - as I've said before, Frank is rapidly approaching the "sh*t or get off the pot" moment; take the (very lucrative) deal that is apparently on offer, or book the flight to Milan and see what they have to say.

And it has to be said, let's get away from the per week nonsense when talking about salaries; 130k a week for 4 years is £27 million.

In amongst all the smoke and mirrors around the "15 minutes of Frank" is TSSO (LGF) showing real political ability and stamping his authority on the club already?

The cock up theory of history is right more often than not but it would be nice to think that cuddly uncle Phil has arrived, looked at the stand off between Lampard's people and the CFC suits and thought "Not on my watch you don't".

This has been going on too long. Yes Frank is a great player, yes there's still plenty in the tank. If he feels Chelsea owe him something above and beyond what a player of his age and standing is being offered (4 years at £130K FFS) then tell us why. Can he really feel let down by that offer?

What is so key about the 5th year? Every year players sign deals for x years and a year later sign an extension. Why not take what's on the table if you're committed to the club and see where you are in years time? If you want out then Chelsea get money and you get your wish.

Yes these contract matters are complex but there comes a point where plans for next season are being affected by the uncertainty. The 5 year requirement smacks to me of setting the bar where it can't be reached.

TSSO looks to be a very cute operator if yesterday was all about flushing out the real intentions. "Lets all have a tear up and sort it out now" seems to be where we are heading with this. Then he can hold his hands up and say "I'd only just arrived, my English is not so good etc. etc.

The last thing he wants is a season with FL playing but speculation every other day about going or staying.

BlueBayou (75)

The 5 year requirement smacks to me of setting the bar where it can't be reached.

I think you may well have nailed it in one sentence.

@BlueBayou - Hear, hear. As much as I love Lampard he's rapidly becoming the villain in this saga. He obviously doesn't want the fans thinking he's being greedy or disloyal but at the same time, if reports are to be believed, he has been offered a four-year, £27m contract (at 30 years of age). Can anyone see Inter giving him five years? I can't. His agent says Lampard's now in an "untenable position" because Scolari told the world that he wants to stay. Untenable?! Do me a favour. Either accept what's being offered or eff off to Inter. (I'm feeling grouchy today.)