Corvinus85 Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 Well as someone who's liked Chelsea since before the Abramovich era, I'm glad. Now the Newcastle guy above doesn't have a leg to stand on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 1 hour ago, Corvinus85 said: Well as someone who's liked Chelsea since before the Abramovich era, I'm glad. Now the Newcastle guy above doesn't have a leg to stand on. All 14 of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 Comfortable in the first half, but with Elliott coming on and giving the ball away a lot and Morton coming on and being entirely useless, things got a little more tense in the second. Thankfully no extra time needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 4 hours ago, Corvinus85 said: Well as someone who's liked Chelsea since before the Abramovich era, I'm glad. Now the Newcastle guy above doesn't have a leg to stand on. Find me the good billionaire sports owner. We'll probably be waiting until the end of time to find one, at least through a US fan lens. The sale is going to be really interesting. I was listening to a brief breakdown of the situation and it sounds like it will be the most expensive sale in sports history (it will be a good bit more than the Denver Broncos of the NFL, which are also on sale and expected to net around $4b). Abramovich has a lot of leveraged debt (around $2b) so some of that may also drive up the price and the new owner(s) will also have to account for the eventual need to build a new stadium which sounds like a bitch to do in London. Players' salaries will also become interesting because unlike with sports here, the new owner(s) can't shed salaries for a period of time to make up some of the losses due to the threat of relegation. Honestly I'm not sure Chelsea is a good asset to purchase unless you're crazy rich and value the prestige of ownership over potentially significant short-term financial losses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercenaryChef Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Henry>Bergkamp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 26 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said: Find me the good billionaire sports owner. We'll probably be waiting until the end of time to find one, at least through a US fan lens. The sale is going to be really interesting. I was listening to a brief breakdown of the situation and it sounds like it will be the most expensive sale in sports history (it will be a good bit more than the Denver Broncos of the NFL, which are also on sale and expected to net around $4b). Abramovich has a lot of leveraged debt (around $2b) so some of that may also drive up the price and the new owner(s) will also have to account for the eventual need to build a new stadium which sounds like a bitch to do in London. Players' salaries will also become interesting because unlike with sports here, the new owner(s) can't shed salaries for a period of time to make up some of the losses due to the threat of relegation. Honestly I'm not sure Chelsea is a good asset to purchase unless you're crazy rich and value the prestige of ownership over potentially significant short-term financial losses. Another complication is the fact that Roman Abramovich does not own the pitch, nor the freehold to the stadium. Both are owned by The Chelsea Pitch Owners, a non profit set up by Ken Bates to safeguard the future of the club. Also, Stamford Bridge is smack bang on top of Fulham Broadway tube station. This dramatically complicates the stadium redevelopment. And with a capacity of just over 40k, they really do need to upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 25 minutes ago, Spockydog said: Another complication is the fact that Roman Abramovich does not own the pitch, nor the freehold to the stadium. Both are owned by The Chelsea Pitch Owners, a non profit set up by Ken Bates to safeguard the future of the club. Yeah, that was mentioned, but I don't really know much about it. I'm also ignorant about how ownership affects the lower levels and academies. Quote Also, Stamford Bridge is smack bang on top of Fulham Broadway tube station. This dramatically complicates the stadium redevelopment. And with a capacity of just over 40k, they really do need to upgrade. This was touched on and the conclusion was serious renovations would ultimately be a bad idea. You mentioned the location and they were saying there's just not any room to expand there and that the increase in gate revenue would never cover the costs in time for the next upgrade unless they dramatically increased ticket prices*. Building a new stadium would be ideal, but there may not be any existing properties that would be suitable which means buying existing property, knocking everything down and then building the new stadium. I can't imagine what that would cost assuming London is probably one of the five most expensive cities in the world to develop real estate in. *Out of curiosity, why are EPL match tickets so cheap? A family of four is easily paying over $1,000 to see an NFL game in person and those probably won't be very good seats, for comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Nice that Liverpool could rotate so much and still win. Minamino is our cup specialist it seems. Jones played well until a thigh strain forced him off — hopefully not too bad. Gomez did pretty well aside from indecisive positioning for their goal. Ox needs to be hypnotized or something. He’s obviously much better than his last few showings — he needs a mental re-set. Liverpool advancing to the next round means the PL game against United will get deferred by a few weeks. That probably helps them because it gives them a break in a run of tough games. In fairness to United, they’ve become better organized and they’re conceding fewer goals now. But the goals have dried up a bit as Ronaldo and especially Rashford seem badly off form, just as Cavani is injured, Greenwood faces prosecution and Martial was loaned out. They went from having too many forwards to no-one able to finish their chances. Mean reversion will help them eventually get scoring again, unless a new circus about a new manager helps to throw them off kilter again first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 10 hours ago, MercenaryChef said: Henry>Bergkamp I asked my brother last night, Henry or Bergkamp. His reply: Oooh, that's a tough one. He thought about it for a while and then said Henry. He added the qualifier that if I were to ask him next week, he might say Bergkamp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 I do think Henry was better but the non-flying Dutch man is my favourite non-United player ever so eh. In other news, Sky with an atg apology. https://twitter.com/mumbosteve/status/1499108439687114758?t=bsetp4-VEWiKLZeLB-7Ktg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 I have asked r/gunners. Actual Arsenal fans. So far we appear to be around 60/40 in favour of Bergkamp. Loved these comments: "Henry was a force of nature. Bergkamp was nature itself." "Henry is king but Bergkamp is god." I suspect Thierry will win out in the end. But it's clear that some of the comments made yesterday bear no resemblance to actual reality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 14 hours ago, BigFatCoward said: All 14 of you. Rudd Gullit Chelsea was a lot cooler than ‘we’ve won it all’ Chelsea. As a casual Arsenal fan who grew up in the 90s I have to say I’m a lot fonder of Bergkamp than Henry too. Henry might have had more impact over his time at the club but Bergkamp in that 97/98 season (surely the best season to be an Gooner, even better than the Invincibles) was immense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 BTW - According to Henry, Bergkamp is the best player he's ever played with. Better than Messi. *runs away* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercenaryChef Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 2 minutes ago, Spockydog said: BTW - According to Henry, Bergkamp is the best player he's ever played with. Better than Messi. *runs away* thierry was just being modest and having a dig at messi all at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rorshach Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 I'd pick Henry over Bergkamp, but seriously ... you're picking above top shelf anyway. For Everton, I'd settle for something not in the reusable bin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Some really juicy stuff in today's Times: Quote Harry Maguire’s continued selection in Ralf Rangnick’s starting line-up has been privately questioned by members of the Manchester United squad. The 28-year-old United captain has struggled this season and his dip in form has not impressed some of his team-mates, who have aired their grievances among themselves at the club’s Carrington training ground. They felt that some of the defender’s performances did not meet the club’s standards. What a mess. This is a terrible look for United, but great for everyone around them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 If Eddie Howe doesn't win manager of the month I'm smashing stuff up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 2 hours ago, Spockydog said: I have asked r/gunners. Actual Arsenal fans. So far we appear to be around 60/40 in favour of Bergkamp. Loved these comments: "Henry was a force of nature. Bergkamp was nature itself." "Henry is king but Bergkamp is god." I suspect Thierry will win out in the end. But it's clear that some of the comments made yesterday bear no resemblance to actual reality. I'd imagine the split is similar to the Newcastle split for Shearer v Beardsley. Pragmatism v beauty (even though there is nothing beautiful about PB either physically, or as a person). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 1 minute ago, BigFatCoward said: I'd imagine the split is similar to the Newcastle split for Shearer v Beardsley. Pragmatism v beauty (even though there is nothing beautiful about PB either physically, or as a person). I hear you. Although, Ginola was better than both those guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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