Some good news to start of this little round-up of the stories doing the rounds is that Mikel’s father has been found.

Michael Obi was taken ten days ago and Mikel received a hefty ransom demand last week. Despite his anguish, Mikel played for Chelsea only a day after learning of the kidnapping.

Upon hearing the news, the Nigerian’s management company issued the following statement; “John Obi Mikel would like to thank everyone in Nigeria, his family and friends, Chelsea FC and their fans and his agents for their total support during this terrible time.”

Throughout the ordeal, Mikel has continued to play for Chelsea prompting Andre Villas-Boas to praise the midfielder’s mental toughness. Mikel spoke after the Stoke match, stating; “I wouldn’t want to let the club down, and if I didn’t play that game I think my mum would be very sad”.

On the transfer side of things, it looks like the Modric chase is still well and truly on. Well, to most except Harry Redknapp that is. Surprised at the news of our deal for Mata, he first thought that it would end our interest in his Croatian mid-fielder.

The Spurs boss said; “I’ve not heard of another bid. When they signed Mata I thought that might be the end of it but people tell me they are looking still to bring Luka in and really strengthen their team. ”

He added; “He is a great lad but is just a bit confused about where he is at the moment in his football career. For me the quicker the transfer window closes and we can get on with Luka being here the better it is for everybody.”

Yet team mate Niko Kranjcar has waded into the situation claiming Modric should be allowed to go, no doubt endearing him to the Spurs support, but also with an eye on opening up a space in the team for himself.

“It is Luka’s decision to make and something he has to go through with the club” said Kranjcar. “No one deserves to judge him if he decides to go because he has given three fantastic years to the club. He has played every game with his heart and if he gets an opportunity or the club decide to sell him, everyone should support his decision.”

Finally, a quick word to our back up goalkeeper; Henrique Hilário, who had a good game against West Brom and made some excellent saves, keeping us in the match at vital moments.  The goals of Anelka and Malouda won it for us, but if it wasn’t for our Portuguese stopper we certainly wouldn’t have claimed all three points.

With pre-season now under way, footballers have returned from their summer sojourns, managers are again in gainful employment, and journos are pumping out their usual ill informed rubbish.

Well, part from those who used to work for the News of the World at least.

So we find ourselves raking over the news wires looking to see what changes may be afoot in the coming weeks as Villas Boas starts to imprint his management style upon the players we have, and directing the board in attaining those he wants.

With Thibaut Courtois already signed and promptly loaned to Atletico Madrid, and a deal looking all but done for Oriol Romeu, many supporters seem distinctly underwhelmed.

Now I’ve never been one to hanker for Chelsea to sign every ‘next big thing’ that comes along, especially if that involves a conceited Brazilian teen with a mohawk hairstyle, and to be frank the whole transfer rumours and roundabouts that seem to generate more column inches each season than the actual football played really annoys me.

So why is it then that every time I dip into forums to see what’s being discussed, is there an abundance of nigh on psychotic supporters screaming for Roman to open his wallet to the tune of £100million, every time the transfer window opens?

Before you keyboard warriors jump down my throat, I agree we may need a few new signings, as does any reasonably minded supporter. Yet the calls to replace half the squad are just plain silly, and it seems many a fickle fan are taken in by the oft repeated words that our squad is past it and wholesale changes are needed.

We need an out and out wide man, that much is clear.  The injury to Essien whilst a set-back is not a major disaster, and could prove to be a blessing in disguise for a certain Josh McEachran, but a creative mid-fielder should also be on the list, according to most anyway.  So we’re up to two players, maybe three at a push.

But where else, seriously do we need to strengthen? Bearing in mind that any non UK based player will inevitably have first season syndrome, and after three matches be written off by the same fickle fans that called for his signing in the first place?

Cech arguable had one of his best seasons last year, in defence we’re spoilt for choice in almost all positions and up front, well if we can’t cut through them with Torres then we’ll batter them with Didier, and Sturridge isn’t a bad backup, nor is Kalou either.

So the midfield needs some work, but we knew that already. Yet we still have an impressive list to call upon; Lampard, Ramires, Benayoun, Mikel, Malouda, Zhirkov, and with Essien still to return from injury, although quite what level he’ll be able to reach is yet unknown.

So who then? Well the bids for Modric have been reported far and wide, which is unusual for Chelsea as most transfer dealings in recent years have left even the most well connected journos off the pace.  Which is what makes me think Modric is not the player we’re after to fill the ‘creative’ role we apparently don’t have, especially at the prices being quoted.

Twitchy Redknapp recently stated that; “I think he is worth an awful lot more money than that” when asked by a pundit if £35 million would be enough to buy the Croation, adding that; “Everyone wants Luka. Just ask Alex Ferguson what he thinks of him, ask Roberto Mancini at Manchester City – they all want him. He could play for Barcelona.” Yet apparently we’re the only ones who’ve bid, so it seems not everyone wants him, Harry, and I seriously don’t think we do, either.

Harry and the Spurs board are living in cloud cuckoo land if they think he’s worth that much, when it’d probably buy you a Sneijder instead, and what would be even funnier than nicking Spurs best player would be to leave them with him on their books, especially unhappy, and tarnished in Spurs fans eyes after the comments he made about Chelsea being a bigger club.

The bottom line is that we need to be patient, Villas Boas has only had command of the squad for a few weeks, and if signings are needed they will be made, as they have in the past and they no doubt will again. The new gaffer said as much when interviewed on Chelsea’s tour of Asia, stating; “Everyone knows how frenetic the market gets in the last weeks of August, it always happens like that.”

He added; “I understand the fans want and expect new signings and radical changes, we are trying to put a halt to that because it is valuable that we are assessing things.  We are not making decisions lightly, we are pondering every situation in order to go to the market with the things that we really need and not to go into the market chaotically and make mistakes.”

Speaking of mistakes, and to close this piece on a sore point, why is it that our distant fans on these pre-season tours seemingly get far more preferential treatment than those of us based back here in Blighty?  

I don’t begrudge any supporter the chance to meet the players they support, yet it seems that those overseas get signing and photo sessions, stuff dished out to them and are generally are fawned upon to a far higher degree than you and I who fork out each week. Look at the stark differences to how our supporters were treated in the Portsmouth match, to those who turned up against Malaysia.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important that there is a link between the players and fans, and that contact IS available, but if it’s being done overseas to such an extent, then not repeating it over here is just another slap in the face from a football board who increasingly don’t give a stuff about those who put the most in the coffers each season, and it needs to change.

Ever since Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea Football Club in June 2003, one rumour has persistently risen and fallen as regularly as the tide; that Chelsea will leave Stamford Bridge.

Many reports have, over the years, linked us with a move just up the road to the Earls Court site.

However a recent story in the Daily Telegraph put those rumours to rest once and for all, stating that the site owners had revealed a plan to build 7,500 new homes as part of the regeneration of the 77-acre plot.

This of course leaves very little room for any stadium on the Earls Court site, not even one as laughable as Loftus Road, and more importantly for us means that Earls Court is no longer a viable facet in this story.

Now, leaving aside all the well documented potential issues with the Chelsea Pitch Owners, what we’re going to look at is what’s been said, what’s happened, is happening, and how the situation has changed in recent months.

When Ken Bates unveiled his vision for Stamford Bridge it seemed an unrealistic target and one that was a million miles away. Those of us still contributing our hard earned to the blue buckets of the ‘Save The Bridge’ campaign were simply happy to still have a team and a stadium to call our own.

The modern ground and 42,000 capacity was way beyond what many of us could have ever dreamed of some ten years earlier, and having been almost bankrupted by building the East Stand, many were sceptical.

With all due credit to Bates, not only did he foresee it, his drive, determination and at times his sheer bloody mindedness saw the project through many fights with local councils, planners, residents and more, to deliver on his promise of a top class stadium, with a little help from Matthew Harding, of course.

The difficulty in expanding Stamford Bridge has however, been a thorn in the side for the Abramovich regime ever since the day he bought the club.

With a limited site area, only one exit way from the ground, and due to the ever increasing reach of the health and safety brigade, regulations have put paid to any expansion and has actually decreased the capacity by a few hundred over the years.

With United having a capacity of 76,000 at Old Trafford, and Arsenal now able to seat 60,000 at the Cameldome, Chelsea are lagging behind by over 18,000 on Arsenal, and 34,000 on United.

In financial terms, averaging out at £40 per ticket, Chelsea are earning £720,000 less than Arsenal, and £1,360,000 behind United. Over the course of a season calculating league games alone, this works out to £12,960,000 extra revenue to Arsenal, and £24,480,000 for United.  That’s the cost of a new Didier Drogba, every season.

With this in mind, and the fact Chelsea need to generate more funds as part of UEFA’s financial fair play initiative, something has got to give. Naming rights are a short term financial shot in the arm, but will only go a very short way in addressing the disparity between the incomes of our club, and those classed as our primary challengers for silverware at the end of the season.

Now this isn’t just the opinion of your average two bit blogging hack, even our Chief Exec agrees; “The difficulty the club’s got is that we’re competing against Manchester United and other clubs who operate from larger stadiums than ourselves” said Ron Gourlay at the tail end of last year.

“There are three revenue channels: broadcasting, where we compare well with our competitors; commercial, which is sponsorship, where if you look at the last figures posted Manchester United were about £66 million, we were £61 million and I think Liverpool were about £54 million.”

“The biggest challenge is match-day revenue and we’re limited with a capacity of 41,800″ noted Gourlay; “It’s very important that if there was ever a move for the club, it would have to be in a close location and that’s never really opened up. I’d prefer to stay at Stamford Bridge, although we could fill a 55,000 or 60,000-seater stadium on a regular basis.”

Now the key point here is that there has never been a viable location for our ‘new’ stadium. With Earls Court now out of the equation, Imperial Wharf, Chelsea Barracks and also Battersea Power Station all previously considered, but ultimately turned down for various reasons, options for the move were dwindling.

However that all changed, and we have been led to believe that the club are looking at two sites that have recently been earmarked for total redevelopment and regeneration, that could comfortably house a new stadium.

The first is White City (adjacent to the A40) as rumoured by Telegraph recently.  The local regeneration and development plan can be viewed on the Hammersmith & Fulham website.  We’ve taken a Google Map of the area to show how it compares in size to our current stadium, and that of Wembley too.

Clearly the site is large enough to house a new stadium, albeit a slightly tight squeeze if the new stadium is to be larger than our current one, and the area benefits from good transport links with White City (central line) & Wood Lane (Metro/circle lines) tube stations nearby, this also neighbours the Westfield Shopping Centre which has itself only recently opened after a massive redevelopment.

The second area, and the one we’ve heard is the more likely candidate for the new site, is at Old Oak Common, just north of the neighbouring Wormwood Scrubs Park , between Old Oak Common Lane and Scrubs Lane.  The redevelopment plan for this area can also be viewed on the Hammersmith & Fulham website too.

This is close to the existing Linford Christie stadium, also has good transport links surrounding it in Willesden Juntion, North & East Acton stations, and as the area will be undergoing wholesale regeneration, it’s expected there may be more stations in the pipeline as the area is surrounded by existing railway track. Crossrail is also likely to place a station there.

Both locations are roughly 4 miles (as the crow flies) from current Stamford Bridge location, yet are closer to Wembley than Stamford Bridge, and not far at all from QPR’s ground; Loftus Road, prompting some fears about an eventual ground share should it happen.  The NW10 postcode for the Old Oak Common site could itself be a sticky point for supporters.

Now with the areas of land being relatively cheap in comparision to Stamford Bridge, and Old Oak Common especially inviting investment rather than being sold as prime real estate, and with the land value in SW6 among the most valuable in UK, the affordability of the project starts to become very viable.

There is a very real possibility that the sale of land in SW6 could itself generate the funds required to not only buy the land in new location, but also got a long way in funding the build of the new stadium too.  From a financial perspective, and remember that is Gourlay’s prime outlook, a new stadium looks not only possible, but cost effective.

Even if the net outlay is something approaching £200million once the sale of Stamford Bridge is completed and the new stadium built, then this cost could feasibly be recouped within only eight years, and as UEFA allows spending on stadium development and it doesn’t count against a club in their new financial rules, there aren’t many barriers in the way of this project.

The whispers we have also heard about the move is that the club have commissioned Lord Norman Foster of Fosters & Partners to design the new stadium, his experience includes Wembley, and he is also down to redesign Barcelona’s Camp Nou, as well as building the flagship stadium for Qatar 2022.

We’ve heard that the club will look to announce this news once the season has ended.  If this is to happen, what’s vitally important is that the supporters are consulted and we get to have a sufficient input in the design of the new stadium.

Roman and the board need to understand that leaving Stamford Bridge is a highly sensitive issue for many supporters, we don’t want an identikit stadium to those at Wembley and Emirates, soulless arenas where people spectate rather take part in the match and its atmosphere.

If we are to move, it MUST be to a stadium that meets not only ambitions of Roman and the board of directors, but also that supporters will be happy to call their home for the next 100 years.

So by now you’ve seen the image of the banners hung outside Cobham this morning, allegedly placed by a disgruntled Chelsea supporter.

Yet I’m sat here thinking there’s more to this than meets the eye.

Why was the banner a day late? If the supporter in question was fed up with the Wolves result, why didn’t they place it the morning after the match?

Ok they could have been late back from The Midlands, but still…. wasn’t it placed during the early hours anyway?

Equally, it’s a little convenient that there was a press conference due only hours afterwards, where the country’s media descended onto our training ground for the build up to our FA Cup match.

The predictable ‘supporter protest’ questions came early and Carlo handled them in good grace; “If it’s only one, there’s no problem. In Italy, it’s different. You can find outside the training ground 1,000 people not happy. It’s difficult to fight with 1,000. With one, you can manage.”

Echoing sanity, Carlo reasoned; “For a manager, it is important at this moment to have the support of the club, of the players, and obviously of the fans – minus one.”

What’s also fishy, is that almost all of the mainstream, and not so mainstream media have almost identical stories on what we’ve called ‘Bannergate’. Check out NewsNow, seriously, it’s almost as if they’ve all been written together.  As ever, the football is secondary to the headline.

You won’t find any Murdoch titles there, because he threatened to sue NewsNow and such sites for aggregating ‘his’ news, then cut them all off anyway and hid his content behind a paywall. Suits me, you’ve got to be a special kind of idiot to read that trash AND pay for the privilege.

However having played the media game a while, I’m all too aware of how it works. The journalists at the conference do exchange notes, and agree to a common theme for the next days news.  There are notable exceptions, but most are like pack animals, and they move together almost in unison, in all that they do.

It was especially apparent when Jose was manager, as his words could be snipped and quoted to fulfil any journalistic desire, yet Carlo is more coy and until recently, they’ve not really been able to get at him.

It’s widely known that the headline hunting tabloids will stoop to any depth in order to print something sensational. Phone tapping, entrapment, theft, coercion… in order to grab a few headlines, would you put a staged protest past them?

I certainly wouldn’t.

The club today announced the immediate departure of Ray Wilkins from the coaching staff at Chelsea FC.

A statement on the Official Chelsea Website read; “Chelsea Football Club chief executive Ron Gourlay has announced today that the board has decided not to renew Ray Wilkins‘ contract. This will take effect immediately.”

Chief Executive Ron Gourlay said: “On behalf of everyone at the club I would like to thank Ray for everything he has done for Chelsea Football Club. We all wish him well for the future.”

Since then, the official site has put a nice piece about Ray’s many times with us, but still very little explanation in terms of the reasoning behind his departure.

Speculation is already rife as to the nature of any replacement, with names such as Clarke, Poyet and Di Matteo tagged for a return to SW6, to whispers of Maldini being reunited with Ancelotti at Stamford Bridge.

The assistant manager position at Chelsea has in recent years provided a link to the club and it’s roots, whilst in the hands of managers who maybe weren’t so familiar, or not such a long term proposition. Someone ‘Chelsea’ to help steer the ship.

Ancelotti appears to have won over the fans, he’s certainly more popular than any since Mourinho, yet will it be his choice as to who he brings in as his number two? Or that of the club in keeping with the policy of imposing some kind of conditions on the appointment.

Will it be a name we know, or a coach not many has heard of? Could it be someone Ancelotti has worked with previously and selects on skill-set alone? Or will the club want someone they know and with the link to the Chelsea’s history?

Could it be that Gianfranco Zola is the perfect middle ground?

There’s no such thing as a forgone conclusion in football, so we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves, however tomorrows match appears on paper as one sided as you can get.

With our 100% home record and 14 goals scored, with none yet conceded, and Wolves having only taken one point away from home, form would suggest that another three points is in the offing.

Didier Drogba will return to lead the line after missing the Villa and Moscow matches, and Jose Bosingwa will also be making his first start for Chelsea in over a year. Daniel Sturridge is also expected to make the squad.

“Everyone is excited about seeing him play,” said Ancelotti of our Portuguese right back, “I hope everything will be okay of him. After one year we have to be patient with him but he had a fantastic period of training and he is fit 100 per cent.”

Malouda and Anelka are expected to start alongside Drogba up front, however Kakuta could get still the nod ahead of either of them with both having played the majority of the match in Moscow.

Alex and Ramires are still both missing with thigh and ankle injuries respectively, which should mean Zhirkov will continue on the left of midfield alongside Mikel and Essien. Frank Lampard is still not yet 100% after his hernia operation, however isn’t far from a return to action.

Carlo said of Lampard yesterday; “Now he is training individually and everything is okay, he is training very well. The next step will be to train with the team during the training session and after to play. I don’t think he will be able to play from the beginning against Blackburn but I think the game after that he can play.”

Ivanovic should start centrally alongside Terry, with Ashley Cole and Bosingwa completing the defence, with Cech of course in goal. Should the match run to form and we end up a few goals to the good early on, we may even see some more playing for the likes of McEachran, Bruma and Van Aanholt.

Wolves striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake said of his teams trip to Stamford Bridge; “All games in this league are difficult but we know these may be more difficult than most. Chelsea are obviously a very good side. Not only can they score a few goals but they are hard to break down.”

Chelsea hate figure Stephen Hunt is doubtful as he continues his comeback from a foot injury, Kevin Doyle is sidelined with a knee injury, with Ronald Zubar and Jody Craddock both doubtful with ankle problems. Chelsea loanee Michael Mancienne is unavailable due to the loan deal between the clubs.

That match kicks off at a super rare 3pm Saturday, and you can follow us for updates on Twitter.

Reported to UEFA already and we’re only two games in, some things never change.

Just like that of European referees, this time Belgian Frank De Bleeckere who seemed intent on continuing what almost feels like policy now, in making what we’ll kindly refer to as ‘odd’ decisions.

This time though, it’s not a manager, player swearing or criticising officials, the opposition or UEFA in general, but our stadium security staff.

Marseilles security chief; Guy Cazademont, alleged that he was “grabbed around the waist” by Chelsea’s security officials as he was removed from Stamford Bridge before last nights match, with the French club vowing to refer the matter to UEFA.

A Chelsea statement on www.chelseafc.com said; “There were a number of incidents at Tuesday evening’s game involving the away support, all of which are being fully investigated by Chelsea Football Club. We won’t be commenting further until those investigations are complete and the results have been shared with UEFA.”

There were allegedly a number of issues both inside and outside the stadium, that seemed to be the result of actions by Marseilles supporters, we can’t vouch for what happened outside but in the Shed Lower, we were certainly subjected to coins and other such items being thrown from their direction.

In the main their supporters were loud, jovial and good natured, even if we couldn’t understand most of what they said, and we know that it would have been a small number of idiots ruining it for the rest of them.

Whether Marseilles complaint is a valid one, or just a smoke screen for their supporters actions, remains to be seen.

As another round of Premiership matches kicks off again for the weekend, and with our boys not playing until tomorrow afternoon, here’s what’s being said and written about our beloved blues.

Taken aback by the shock horror of a decent piece on Goal.com, we start with comments from ex-player Alexey Smertin, with interesting insights about his time at Chelsea.

The former Russian international spoke of his relationship with Roman, stating; “I talked to him probably more than any of our guys because we speak the same language, at every game, even away from home, he would come to the dressing room and would be wide-eyed, like a child.”

“He would want to know what the players were thinking during specific parts of the game and why they made certain decisions.” Smertin added; “That is why I definitely respect him. He loves football. As an owner, he is far from the team, I only ever saw him just after a game. He knows he is not a manager.”

Speaking about Roman’s rumoured interference with the team, he states that it doesn’t happen; “In Russia, it often happens that the chairman comes in to a dressing room saying, ‘Let’s do this’ and makes orders to the players. Roman Abramovich is different. He is a proper owner. He is addicted to Chelsea, I’m sure he will be the owner for many years.”

So from nice words, to the rantings of an increasingly senile United manager. Yes our old Salford Scot; Alex Ferguson is ramping up the mind games a little earlier than normal this season with comments that we’ve had an easy start to the season. We can’t argue that our opponents haven’t been the toughest we’ve faced, but let’s look a little deeper into it.

He said; “They’ve certainly had a very easy early start to the season, there’s no doubt about that, There are big games coming up but they’ve had a good start nonetheless and you can only deal with the games that are in front of you.” Indeed we can, and we have. Unlike United who, to be fair, have had a pretty easy start too. They’ve just buggered it up.

We’ve played West Brom, Wigan, Stoke, and West Ham in the Premiership, all teams in the bottom half, and Zilina in the Champions League, a team we were expected to beat, and did just that.

United have faced Newcastle, Fulham, West Ham and Everton, all teams (Fulham apart) who are also in the bottom half, with Rangers their opponents in the Champions League. They failed to beat both Everton and Fulham, throwing the games away late on, and they couldn’t score at all against Rangers.

So looking at the run of matches side by side, they’re almost identical and as Ferguson said, we can only beat what’s in front of us. Well, we can. United seemingly can’t. Despite this, Ferguson still went on to claim; “Our form, I think, has been very good!”. Not as good as ours, Alex.

Anyway, enough of the United baiting, as fun as it is, and onto our mercurial England mid-fielder and Premiership Player of the Decade; Frank Lampard. As you’ll all probably know by now the hernia operation he had a few weeks ago hasn’t yet fully healed and as such he won’t be lining up against Blackpool.

However it’s not his injury that we’re focusing on here, more a comment from Charlie Adam of newly promoted Blackpool. He said; “When we won at Wembley I got a text message from Frank. He wished me all the best and said it would nice to see me in the Premier League next year. That was when it sunk it with me what we had achieved and it was a magical moment.”

Showing what many of us already know about what a gentleman of the game Lampard is, he added; “The fact he took time out from preparing for a World Cup to send a text like that summed up what we had achieved. He has achieved so much in his career it was amazing to think he was following what we were doing when he had a World Cup on the horizon. I will always have kind words for him.”

Adam went on to explain how he’d met Frank on holiday in Dubai, and how he’d picked his brains on the Premiership for several hours with Frank more than willing to impart him with his knowledge; “I asked him so many questions. It was just great to chat. We just spoke and it was interesting to hear what he had done and what the players at Chelsea were like as well. I wanted to know what he had done in his life to get where he was now. We will probably have a quick catch-up after the game and then it’s on with the rest of the season.”

In other news, Spanish super striker David Villa in an interview with The Guardian about his club, country and more, listed John Terry as the best defender he has ever faced. Villa said our captain was the best; “Not just because of his reputation for being tough, but because he is a great defensive player.”

Considering the defenders the Spaniard has faced in his career, that’s some accolade.

It’s been a quiet couple of weeks for us here at TheChels, we’re not ones to get over excited with the overblown hype each time the England team plays, especially due to the rank hypocrisy in the media coverage of their star player and his indiscretions with hookers. At least this time they’re not drawing their pension though.

Never mind that Rooney has scored more times off the pitch than on it since March, oh no, Sir Shrek of Salford has been given a far easier ride than our Captain was, and before all you cyber warriors run to the keyboards to tell me how JT shagged a team mates bird and this is ‘somehow’ worse, go and do some research. This interview is a good place to start.

Ok so we had our own little joke at the story when it first broke, however looking at Vanessa’s interview recently, and knowing the way the media work, yes they did make it up.

Two and two often equates to whatever number Fleet Street need, especially if that number also happens to be someone’s voice mail. The News of the World, and indeed any paper owned by the dark overlord; Rupert Murdoch, will make more from lies and sensationalism than they will lose when later sued. As papers are now, in the main loss making, they have to try all they can to increase sales.

So why the easy ride from the media then? Quite simply, they like Rooney as he plays their game, and he is their choice for future England captain. Think Capello picks his main man? Not without coercion. If he did, Terry would still be captain.

The Sun and a vicious hate campaign saw nicely to that, yet with rumours of Gerrard’s infidelity safely locked behind a super injunction that seems to be continually extended, the rank hypocrisy in the media and indeed the England set up as a whole means we at TheChels can’t get excited about it one bit, and we’re glad when our lads don’t play.

So onto other news and it seems the posturing from Marseilles this week about their ‘attempt’ to sign Drogba was nothing more than a load of old tosh, with Carlo stating today that no such bid was forthcoming, and even if it had, or will in January, the answer will be a resounding no.

There may however be moves in the offing for Yuri Zhirkov, the man Carlo once saw as a ‘rib eye steak’, however if you look past the ‘Play me or I leave’ sensationalist headlines from our ‘friends’ in the main stream media, the comments tell a different story; “I’ll certainly get a chance in the next few months and I’ll try to use it completely” said the Russian.

“We are currently in brilliant form and getting past Malouda and Cole is problematic. Everyone understands about the competition: once you are on the bench you can be there for a long time.” He added; ” I will definitely get a chance. The thoughts when you are watching your team play are always the same: you support, worry and your soul wants to be on the pitch to help.” That sounds like he’s leaving, doesn’t it?

So it’s back to the Premiership this weekend with a match against Wet Spam on the cards, Avram Grant will again cross Chelsea’s path and one would hope he’s feeling charitable, as we could do with a few more goals this week as our goal difference could do with a boost, don’t you think?

Lampard is out tomorrow but Kakuta may just play, we at TheChels have been following the developments of the young Frenchman ever since the furore surrounding his transfer and hope that he’ll get the chances his undoubted skills deserve.  In Carlo we trust.

Speaking of the amiable Italian, Ancelotti has just won the Manager of the Month award for August after our fine start to the season, let’s hope it’s not a curse as has so often been the case recently as we must keep the pressure on at the top of the table.

Have you found our NEW Chelsea Supporters Social Network? http://thechels.me

It’s been a few days now since our 6-0 opening day victory over West Brom, and as ever with Chelsea, there’s been plenty to talk about.

We start with the news that our French striker, Nicolas Anelka has been banned for 18 international matches, all but ending the 31 year old’s international career.

Anelka was sent home from the France World Cup squad for allegedly insulting coach Raymond Domenech during the half time break against Mexico.

France captain Patrice Evra was also banned for five matches for leading a training ground revolt over Domenech’s decision to send Anelka home.  As well as Anelka and Evra, the French Football Federation also banned Franck Ribery for three games, Jeremy Toulalan for one, with Eric Abidal escaping any punishment for his part in the boycott.

We at TheChels.net feel that although this punishment seems extraordinarily harsh, the upside for Chelsea is that the player will no longer be travelling away during the international breaks, meaning he should be fresher for our matches. Don’t worry Nico, we still love you even if the FFF don’t.

In other news, Brazilian wonderkid Neymar, reported to be the subject of Chelsea’s interest, has been in the press for a number of reasons, not least with Santos shouting loudly to anyone that will listen that we’ve been a naughty club and have tried to ‘tap up’ their player, an accusation club Chairman Bruce Buck strongly denies.

“There was no tapping up from Chelsea and I want to be clear on that.” Buck said to talkSPORT. “We are looking at several young Brazilian players and he is one of the players we have been looking at. Whether he becomes a Chelsea player at some point, who knows?”

“We are still looking at some things, whether they happen or not I don’t know. Carlo is happy and confident with the squad we have. If there is another player or two – great, if not we’re fine with what we have.”

After the indignations of the Ashley Cole affair and to a lesser extent, Gael Kakuta, for which we were exonerated of any wrong doing, and with the fact that Buck, a lawyer, is reportedly involved in the negotiations with the Brazilian club, we feel that the noises from Santos are nothing more than trying to extract more money to sanction the deal, reniscant of Jean-Michel Aulas’s tactics some years back during the Essien transfer saga.

With the media latching onto the ‘naughty Chelsea’ angle, Fleet Street editors have had their reporters ringing around anyone with the most tenuous link to Neymar to get their quotes, and in some cases (yes Daily Mail, we mean you) not bother with them at all, as in the case of Robinho and Pele, who they claim have advised Neymar to avoid Chelsea, without any comment from either stating as such.

As with everything the mainstream media writes, we’ll take it with a very large pinch of salt, and would advise Neymar of only one thing, a piece of advice from the mouth of an ex manager of ours ‘Big’ Phil Scolari; “Listen to what Pele says, and then do the opposite.” Wise words indeed.

Finally we take a look at another Brazilian, one already now settled into his daily routine at Cobham; Ramires, with news that the midfielder has elected to wear the number 7 shirt. Now we Chelsea supporters know the problems this shirt has had in the past, only too well.

With a list of players including; Adrian Mutu, Winston Bogarde, Andrei Shevchenko, Ricardo Quaresma as players who’ve, shall we say, not performed as expected, and also players such as Bjarne Goldbaek and Bernard Lambourde who weren’t the greatest players we had on the pitch.

In fact we have to go as far back as John Spencer to find a player who performed to a level expected, playing regularly, making chances and scoring goals (who will ever forget the solo effort against Austria Vienna?), but Spencer last played for us 1997, meaning the number seven shirt has had a less than illustrious history for nearly 13 years.

We hope that Ramires is the one to break the curse of the Chelsea No 7, and finally return a number so often synonymous with great players, back to it’s rightful place at Stamford Bridge.

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