Friday saw the Premier League publish their official Released and Retained lists for the end of the 2011-12 season and in doing so all but confirmed the departures of five Chelsea players.

Didier Drogba’s exit has already been announced and is the most high-profile free agent in the game. He’ll be joined by Salomon Kalou and Jose Bosingwa, whilst two reserve team players will also depart at the end of their contracts.

Swedish forward Marko Mitrovic turns 20 at the end of next month and after a career in London which has largely been beset by injuries, he will be moving on.

Academy top scorer during the FA Youth Cup winning 2009-10 season with 16 goals, Mitrovic often looked very good as the lone striker in a 4-3-3 formation, proving adept at occupying two defenders and being able to finish off either foot and with his head.

Unfortunately, he just wasn’t able to stay fit, as after three different medium term injuries in his first season at the club, he missed most of the 2010-11 campaign with an ankle ligament problem before being absent for much of the last ten months.

Earlier this year, former club Malmo invited him to return to the club in a pre-season training camp, but they extended the offer to all of their former academy players who have departed without making progress elsewhere. There is no great indication where he may end up but a return to his homeland would be amongst the favourite options.

Also leaving is Welsh goalkeeper Rhys Taylor, who moves on in search of regular first team football after proving himself more than capable in League Two over the last two seasons at Crewe Alexandra and Rotherham United respectively.

Taylor, now 22, has long been highly rated in the goalkeeping fraternity and has occasionally served as third-choice goalkeeper for the first team, working with Christophe Lollichon, Petr Cech and others.

However, with Cech showing little sign of slowing down and a host of other alternatives making waves, it’s been a long and uphill task for him to impress at Stamford Bridge and he has reportedly agreed terms with his new club, but is yet to confirm their identity.

He made the trip to the United States with Chris Coleman’s senior Wales squad this last week to play Mexico but remained an unused sub, as he did against Georgia as a teenager some years ago.

Also released but not included on the Premier League’s documents is second-year scholar Reece Loudon. Another who struggled with injuries in the last two seasons, the left sided player spent six weeks on loan at Potters Bar Town in early 2012 and most recently played in a trial match for Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Everyone at TheChels wishes the six all the best of luck in the future. You can read Tweedy’s homage to the legendary Drogba HERE and over the next month there will be appropriate content for fellow European Champions Bosingwa and Kalou.

Tuesday saw the final deadline for European Championship squads to be named, and, injuries pending, we now know there will be nine Chelsea players in Poland and the Ukraine next month.

John Terry, Frank Lampard, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Raul Meireles, Fernando Torres, Juan Mata, Petr Cech and Florent Malouda have been selected by their respective nations and are all set to play key roles throughout June.

Lampard suffered a thigh injury in England training on Wednesday and is a reported doubt, but otherwise the European Champion contingent are fit and ready to contribute.

Chelsea are the most represented club in the Premier League but trail the likes of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in overall contribution to the sixteen 23-man squads.

All bar Cahill have featured in a European Championships before, but for the English quartet it’s a first appearance since 2004, as the Three Lions failed to qualify for Austria and Switzerland 2008.

Then, eight Blues took park, with Cech and Malouda joined by Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira, Michael Ballack, Claude Makelele, Nicolas Anelka and Khalid Bouhlarouz.

In Portugal four years prior to that, Terry and Lampard were joined by team-mates Joe Cole and Wayne Bridge in Sven-Goran Eriksson’s party, and were four of another total of eight including Marcel Desailly, William Gallas and Jesper Gronkjaer.

It means this year’s selections represent an all-time high for the club, and it could have been higher had Jose Bosingwa not fallen out with the Portuguese management. Daniel Sturridge remains on the England standby list.

As an aside, there is also a healthy group of former Chelsea players heading East, with Damien Duff, Yuri Zhirkov, Arjen Robben, Ricardo Quaresma, Fabio Borini, Andriy Shevchenko, Glen Johnson, Scott Parker and the aforementioned Boulahrouz all confirmed.

Good luck to all of them.

Available right now at our online store http://thechels.biz are our brilliant new and unofficial Munich 2012 European Champions t-shirts and tops.

The first design shows two Chelsea lions grasping the trophy underneath a crown. The second is in German and translates as: ‘Your city, your stadium, our cup’, a play on the banners the Bayern fans held up before kickoff.

Celebrate our Chelsea becoming the Champions of Europe by visiting our store now!

Finally, the cup with the big ears resides in SW6.

After Robert Huth on the right wing in Monaco.

After Luis Garcia’s ‘goal’.

After Anders Frisk.

After penalties at Anfield.

After not losing to Barcelona with eleven men on the pitch.

After Ovrebo.

After Moscow.

After everything, Chelsea are European Champions.

Finally.

Chelsea’s 2012 summer tour of the United States of America will include a clash with the MLS All-Stars, according to reports this week.

As revealed by Ives Galarcep of Fox Soccer, the Blues will take on the best the MLS has to offer on July 25th at the Philadelphia Union’s PPL Park.

It marks the second time the club has been involved in the all-star festivities after losing 1-0 to a Dwayne De Rosario goal in 2006. Their latest sojourn across the Atlantic already includes a confirmed match against the Seattle Sounders and one in Washington against AC Milan.

Rumours abound of a match to be confirmed in New York, most likely against the Red Bulls, but nothing is confirmed on that front as of now.

The news is expected to be made public on Wednesday afternoon at 16.30 UK time with a live press conference streamed on MLSSoccer.net.

(Thanks to @SoDakJason for the heads-up on this news. For more on Chelsea’s US tour check out Chelsea in America).

Chelsea’s 2012 summer excursions will take them to the United States as they prepare for the 2012-13 season.

The Blues return stateside for the first time since 2009, having remained in central Europe during 2010 and touring Asia last summer.

Early reports indicate that matches will be played in Washington (D.C.), New York and Seattle during the second half of July. It remains to be seen exactly how many of the first team squad make the trip as Euro 2012 commitments will see many only begin their holidays in the earlier part of the month.

It may, in turn, open up opportunities for younger players, as was the case last year when Billy Clifford and Jamal Blackman joined the senior team in Thailand and Hong Kong.

Opposition is yet to be lined up but Liverpool are believed to also be heading to the USA for the first time under their American owners, whilst Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City are all believed to be in Asia.

In 2009, Chelsea took on the MLS’ Seattle Sounders as well as Italian duo Inter and Milan and Mexican outfit America, and a similarly eclectic set of teams are likely to make up the agenda once again.

Seattle has been a regular stop for the Blues in America, as they beat Celtic 4-2 at what was then called Qwest Field in 2004, but they have also spread their wings across the breadth of the country, playing matches in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Pasadena, Baltimore and Texas, and will now add at least two new cities to that list.

Keep your eyes on Chelsea In America for all the latest news on the tour as information becomes available over the coming weeks and months.

Ian Ridley’s “There’s A Golden Sky” is about as wide ranging and comprehensive a look at the state of football today as it is possible to cram into 260 odd pages. Ridley writes extensively on football with a style that is fluent, lucid and very easy to read and this, his latest book, is both fascinating and informative.

Ridley’s first book, “Seasons In The Cold” written all of twenty years ago, examined the state of a game then considered to be both a reviled pariah and the unacceptable face of sporting culture.

“There’s A Golden Sky” more or less revisits this arena: it re-examines football by looking at the Premier League and the effect of its (quite phenomenal) growth on the rest of football: from the top of the Premiership down to Hackney Marshes on a Sunday morning.

The book initially looks at the state of the game in the 80’s as it explains the emergence of the Premier League. How the sport then had become vilified, the unacceptably ugly face of English culture, primarily as a result of the violence that went hand in hand with English football. (Strangely, despite well documented instances of hooliganism in other countries, it suited many people to refer to football violence as “the English disease”.)

At the time it seemed that everyone, including the British media, took up this concept as an extra weapon to batter football with – such a contrast to today, isn’t it, when football is the darling of the media – but in all honesty it was difficult to argue against it.

Put glibly, the 80’s was the Decade of the Disaster as far as soccer was concerned: not only was there organised violence on a not insignificant scale, but we had Heysel, Hillsborough, and Bradford – names that will stay always in the memory because of the harrowing and traumatic situations that, with hindsight, could perhaps have been avoided.

From my own experience, if you loved football during the 80’s most people considered that you were likely to be a football hooligan. They believed some fans were decent, law-abiding citizens, of course; but these were a minority. As a rule, it was generally advisable to avoid football fans.

Out of this the Premiership was born. And “There’s A Golden Sky” traces Ridley’s journey up and down the country as he investigates the situations at many Premiership clubs.

Interweaved with this, we look at the situation at a number of non Premiership clubs and the effect the EPL had (and has) on them: amongst them, the debacle of ownership at Portsmouth, the longevity of the amazing ex-Chelsea man Dario Gradi at Crewe, Ipswich after the Cobbold legacy, plastic-pitched Luton Town, the rise and fall of Wimbledon… the list goes on.

Ridley’s book does not forget the players either. It opens and closes with Gazza, perhaps the archetypal – but certainly not the only – victim of the sport.

The pressures on players are sometimes quite extraordinary. In many cases these are ordinary young men suddenly thrust into the role of cult heroes, in many cases millionaire stars with a huge amount of free time on their hands and little or no guidance in how to cope with either the pressure or the money.

The toll is taken in alcohol and gambling and the tales told here are often distressing and moving.

There is a chapter dedicated to the grassroots of Hackney Marshes, to me the legendary bastion of Sunday morning soccer, including the unwelcome and perhaps unforeseen impact of the forthcoming Olympics.

Ridley looks at the rise of the women’s game, too, as well as giving us an insight into the referee’s point of view.

Of special interest to Blues fans will be the “What Roman Did For Us”, a chapter dedicated to Chelsea. Focussed mainly as it is on Bruce Buck’s interpretation of events, it concentrates mainly on the background to Roman’s takeover and the parade of managers thereafter.

It is certainly crammed full of information, but to be honest if you are an obsessive reader of all things Chelsea, there are probably a few snippets here you would not have already read, but not that many. I found that slightly disappointing, but I am perhaps demanding too much of a book that is so impressively comprehensive and wide-ranging.

Nevertheless, a good read and I found it highly enjoyable reading someone else’s perspective on the club since Roman’s arrival.

To me “There’s A Golden Sky” offers a real feel for the day-to-day workings and the behind-the-scenes activities of the modern game, and is a glorious insight into the game we, as fans, are part of.

Ridley asks the right questions of the right people and gets beneath the skin of his subjects in an entertaining and knowledgeable way. It is full of facts, anecdotes and interviews – and above all, evokes the atmosphere of the sport we all love.

If there is a better book about modern day football I have yet to read it. Highly recommended, then, both for content and readability.

So, Sam Hutchinson is back.

You’ll all have seen by now that Chelsea announced on Thursday that the young defender has penned an eighteen-month contract after a similar length of time ‘officially’ retired from the game.

Supporters are obviously delighted to see such an obviously passionate young man – and a Chelsea fan to boot – try and make another concerted attempt to take full advantage of his undoubted abilities, yet even the most ardent optimist will have their realistic hat on at the same time.

The odds remain stacked against Sam with regards to having a long career, be it at Stamford Bridge or elsewhere, but in the spirit of cautious optimism, what exactly can we expect going forward?

Since the beginning of pre-season, Hutchinson has played somewhere in the region of a dozen matches, predominantly at centre-back. He can – and has – played at right-back, but with baby steps very much the order of the day, the collective decision to not do too much too soon was taken.

When used at right-back, it’s pleasing to report that there have been no lasting ill effects from the more physically demanding role; particularly in Chelsea’s tactical system which asks a lot of the full-backs.

At the heart of the defence, Sam remains the infectious, spirited leader, but he’s also displayed a high level of technical ability. Certainly, he doesn’t appear to have lost a step in his year away.

A hallmark of his early performances in 2011-12 was the ability to play a long, defence-splitting ball which often ended up in a goal. This was in evidence at Stamford Bridge back in September when he provided an assist for Jacob Mellis against Blackburn.

Thursday’s announcement laid out the short-term plan to gradually increase the training workload from January onwards, and to review things every six weeks.

With twelve or so appearances in 18 weeks to date, expectations have probably been exceeded but there have been ample rest periods built into his rehab schedule and everyone at Chelsea appears to be positive about the years to come.

It’s here where things become interesting, yet just as hard to call. The offer of a new deal is clearly more than a token gesture, and there appears to be real hope that Hutchinson can manage his condition and make strides into the first team squad.

Both Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti saw fit to hand opportunities to him as a teenager, a feat which manages to speak volumes when put up against the club’s recent track record with academy produced players.

The first team squad does currently struggle at the right-back position but anybody looking towards Hutch as a potential short-term solution is probably getting ahead of themselves.

It’ll be the position you’re likely to see cameos in but one would think that any professional career he has will eventually be at centre-back, if only because it’s less stressful on the knees.

Ledley King (who suffers from a very similar ailment) has shown, with middling success, that persistence and hard work will pay off and despite the lengthy spells on the sidelines, the highs always outweigh the lows.

We’re sure that all Chelsea fans everywhere had their moods lifted by this brilliant positive news this week, and have everything crossed for the future. Good luck Sam!

Amidst extraordinary scenes, the Say No CPO campaign saw their will and determination to defeat the proposal put by Chelsea Football Club to CPO shareholders come to fruition.

The West Lower concourse at Stamford Bridge was suitably transformed for such a dramatic occasion into The Great Hall, festooned with black drapes and with banks of comfortable seating, the latter being a consolation as the meeting stretched into a fourth hour with the results of the vote still awaited.

A grey and drizzly day greeted the shareholders as they arrived at Fulham Broadway. They were also greeted by members of the Say No campaign, who were handing out a leaflet entitled “Ten Questions to Be Answered by the CPO Board”, and again the distributors were hard pressed to keep up with demand as almost everyone attending the meeting seemed to want one. Registration opened at 10am, with stewards in attendance to marshal the 700-strong crowd into lines ensuring a steady flow to the ERS desks.

Identification was requested even before the voters got to the doors of the Spackman Entrance, and once inside voting cards were handed out and wristbands administered to ensure that only shareholders were admitted. A strict “no mobiles” policy was implemented, and although the media were permitted to enter the meeting, no filming was allowed.

In fact the meeting began some 20 minutes later than the scheduled start time of 11.30am, simply due to the number of people attending. Finally, at 11.50, Richard King in his role as Chairman as CPO called the meeting to order, and set out how events would proceed.

There were immediately a number of points of order relating to whether a debate would be allowed and whether the meeting would be minuted. Richard King advised that an audio recording of events would be kept.

The first real questions came from Paul Todd, who demanded to know whether club CEO Ron Gourlay was there as a shareholder. Mr Gourlay admitted to having bought a share just two days earlier. Mr Todd subsequently questioned Bruce Buck regarding the voicemails that were left on the phone of a club contractor.

Mr Buck attempted to bat this away, commenting that every effort had been made to contact Mr Todd to arrange a meeting prior to the voicemails being left, and that the club’s press statement was perfectly accurate. Again, Mr Todd pressed Mr Buck regarding the club’s comment that Todd had attacked CPO directors. Mr Buck maintained that this referred to emails and correspondence. He went on to say that he felt personal attacks were unwarranted.

The next questioner, Rachel Baker, asked why there was such a rush to hold the meeting. Mr Buck conceded that they had thought until waiting until the CPO AGM, but considered that giving CPO 28 days notice of the meeting was sufficient time. Ms Baker additionally commented, to loud applause, that she felt the tone of the club’s proposal was patronising.

Questions from the floor followed thick and fast, covering areas as diverse as the club obtaining an Act of Parliament to obtain the lease, and previous planning applications submitted to Hammersmith & Fulham Council by Chelsea FC. A shareholder who had travelled from Canada complained that neither he, nor a number of overseas shareholders, had received correspondence about the proposal from CPO. Bob Sewell of CPO’s commented that any overseas shareholders who had contacted CPO had been supplied with proxy forms by e-mail.

Mr Mark Wyeth QC, cited three breaches of company law with regard to the recent share issue, and called for the club to enter into a Conditional Sale Agreement with CPO whereby should the club fail to adhere to its proposal, the lease would revert by to CPO. This suggestion received considerable acclaim, but Bruce Buck refused to answer.

For those who were watching the platform, it was clear that the body language of those representing both the club and CPO was incredibly defensive, and they had good reason. By this time, every microphone in the hall had a handful of potential speakers behind it. Further questions covered issues that might arise in the event of anything happening to Roman Abramovich, and why the club weren’t working with CPO to identify an appropriate site.

Clint Steele of the Say No CPO campaign was recognised by the Chair. In an impassioned speech, he asked if CPO’s share were stolen today, what happens when Roman’s family eventually sell the club? He pointed out that it was 75 years after Joe Mears originally founded Chelsea FC his grandsons sold the ground to Marler Estates. Mr Steele additionally sought further clarification from Mr Buck regarding planning issues, including walkways, and ground expansion.

In what became one of the defining moments of the meeting, Mr Steele alluded to approximately £200,000 worth of shares that had been recently sold to 20 individuals. Mr Steele asked why would any individual wish to buy such a shareholding unless they wished to vote “yes”, and questioned whether it was ethical to regard these more recent shareholders in the same light as those in the hall, who had owned their shares for many years.

Richard King stated that CPO had sought Counsel with regard to a cut-off date for shares sales and felt that the board of CPO were in a no-win position as if shares had been taken off-sale they would have been criticised in any event.

Bruce Buck caused a stir of anger in the hall at this point by stating that the Club’s research suggested that only 12% of CPO shareholders are currently either season-ticket holders or members of the football club.

Mr Steele maintained that the vote should have been carried out on a basis of one person, one vote, rather than voters being allowed a maximum of 100 votes. He was then invited on to the platform to address the meeting. His next question was the identity of the new bulk shareholders, and asked why CPO weren’t willing to disclose their names to the media. Data protection concerns were cited.

At this point, Mr Steele called for a vote of “no confidence” in the current board of CPO, but this was overruled by the Solicitor acting for CPO. Mr Steele then proposed that an Adjournment be called whilst irregularities such as the recent share issue and loss of proxy form identified at the start of the meeting were looked into, but it was ruled that the meeting should continue.

The next questioner, Ms Kim Holdaway, professed herself unhappy with the “Trust Roman” message put forward by the club, stating that Mr Abramovich had only been associated with Chelsea FC for eight years. She also described the “Roll of Honour” idea as “shabby” and requested that in the event of this coming to pass, it should include the names of all shareholders, not just those voting “yes”. Mr Buck’s answer was that he respected this view, but it did not form part of the proposal put by the club.

There was a call from the floor that a representative of Hammersmith & Fulham Council should have been in attendance at the meeting to explain why the ground couldn’t be expanded, and also the issues surrounding planning proposals.

A West Lower season ticket holder put a variety of points, firstly citing Mr Buck’s description of CPO shares as “souvenirs” and that it was unlikely anyone attending the meeting regarded them as such. More tellingly, Mr Buck was asked if the timing of the meeting was due to the board of the Football Club believing it represented their best opportunity of forcing a “yes” vote, as Richard King had promised to deliver this, and he would face a no confidence vote as the next AGM.

In an aside, Paul Todd requested the speaker to raise the issue of difficulty in selling naming rights at a ground so universally known as Stamford Bridge. Ron Gourlay denied this was a problem. The speaker concluded that the meeting were running the risk of selling the club’s birthright, and, after 2020, there was the real risk that Chelsea FC could, as Marler Estates promised 25 years ago, end up at a “superstadium on the M25”.

Mr Terry Molloy was subsequently recognised by the Chair and asked about the process of transferring the lease to a new Stadium. Bruce Buck stated that he believed that the brand of Chelsea FC was worth a great deal more than it was in 1993 and therefore was worth more than any land it occupied. Therefore transferring the lease was not a viable proposition.

At that point, there were further calls for the meeting to be adjourned with requests for the club to go away and consider everything they’d heard and return with an amended proposal.

Richard King called for a report of the proxy vote following which a decision would be made by a show of hands on whether to adjourn or vote. James Greenbury of Say No CPO asked for assurances from the Chair that if an adjournment was called, a further meeting would be convened to discuss the proposal. Mr King then revealed that as a result of the proxy vote, 1400 of the 1700 votes present in the hall would be required to carry a “yes” vote.

There was then a period of off-microphone legal arguments, and, following a show of hands, a decision was taken to allow a further 10 minutes of questions, followed by a vote on the proposal.

Last speakers cited the gulf between the boards of the football club and CPO and the feeling of shareholders and fans, the reticence to discuss the proposal with fans and a reminiscence from a supporter who had taken his wife to Stamford Bridge on their first date, and had taken his children and then grandchildren to the ground.

Richard King then spoke the Resolutions before the meeting, stating that if Resolution 1 was voted down then none of the other resolutions would be voted on. The representatives of the ERS positioned themselves around the hall and collected the votes. The meeting was adjourned for an hour.

A tense wait ensued for all parties. A number of shareholders continued to mill around the hall, whilst others temporarily left for stronger refreshment elsewhere.

At 2.55pm, those not already in the Hall returned and Richard King called for order. Members of SNCPO huddled together at the back. Around half of the audience had stayed for the finale. Mr King announced that yes votes cast were 61.1%, with No votes cast at 38.4%. Therefore the resolution had failed and no further resolutions would be voted on.

In emotional closing remarks, Richard King stated that he would now consider his future* and described himself as “hurt” at some of the allegations levelled against him. Bruce Buck said that they would accept the decision of the shareholders, and hoped that everyone would come together on Saturday to “beat the crap out of Arsenal”.

The mood amongst the Say No Campaign was one of relief and joy, tempered with the knowledge that there would be hard work to come. However, in a fitting tribute to the origins of the club, they convened in the Butchers Hook where Chelsea FC was formed in 1905.
___________________________________________________________________

The above is a factual account of yesterday’s events. Any errors are mine and I apologise in advance of same. Next week, there’ll be a personal view of the meeting, together a look at where the future may lie for CPO. Follow me @BlueBaby67 on Twitter and continue to #SayNoCPO

*In a dramatic development this afternoon, Richard King resigned as Chair of CPO. Again, more to come on this story.

If it wasn’t enough for the club to show how little they care for supporters with regards to the CPO and Stamford Bridge issue, a piece of information comes our way today that shows this is a growing trend.

The club have started a new ‘upload your photo/videos’ section on the Official Chelsea FC website called ‘All Blues. All Season‘ – we were asked to promote it a short while ago but declined because frankly, the club take the p*ss with their demands of supporter sites and you never get anything in return.  It’s all take, no give.

However if you are inclined to use this new area on their site then please note that in the terms and conditions of use, you are giving up your all your rights (for ever) in anything you upload. This means that Chelsea FC, their agents, partners or anyone they sell images or information to, may use or alter your images or use the video for any purpose they see fit.

From their T&C’s; “4.3 You acknowledge that by posting materials on the Chelsea Site You grant to Us and Our licensors and assigns an irrevocable, perpetual royalty free worldwide licence to use the materials within the Chelsea Site and in any other manner. The licence extends to copying, distributing, broadcasting, and otherwise transmitting, and adapting and editing the materials.”

So you may upload a picture of your youngster in the latest Chelsea kit, and the club can then use this in magazines or promotions the world over without ever asking your consent, nor compensating you for the use of your image either. Would you be happy about your child’s face used on ad boards in Thailand, or Korea, without knowing it?

Those of you who use Facebook will remember a public backlash and outcry in the media about a similar clause in their terms and conditions, and they removed the clause quickly so to avoid public anger, it’s unbelievable that the club has put the same clause in place.

I doubt very much the club care enough or will be hit with as much negative press about their clause, so the best we can do is advise you NOT to upload anything to the the All Blues. All Season part of the Chelsea FC website.