Wow, what a season its been, truly memorable, for both good and bad reasons, rollercoaster doesn’t really sum it up. Season was ended in proper Chelsea style, with sacking a manager in an extremely disrespectful way, after he took us to the brink of European glory. That’s all for another time, but now its time to look to 08/09 season, and what a busy summer its gonna be at the Bridge.

First off, before we start looking at players (though, the signings of Bosingwa and closing in of (it seems) Robinho seem to suggest differently), we need a new manager to look for! It seems there are 3 main names appearing as faves, Mancini, Rijkaard, and Sparky.

Start off with Hughes, who would have been an outside bet, but has the support of many fans, and has a decent track record with Rovers. Hes proved he can get a decent signing in, and has built up a strong, and very physical team at Ewood. However, for all that, would Roman wanna get someone in who hasn’t won anything? And someone who might struggle to bring the “sexy” football that he seems to want so bad? Seems unlikely to me, though I would be pretty pleased if we appointed him.

Mancini, hes won things in Italy (albeit in a weaker Serie A than normal), and might be able to bring a bit of spice back into the team, but again theres question marks over if he can do it at a club like Chelsea. Again, personally, I wouldn’t be too pissed if he got hired, though it would take him a little time to settle in I would assume, and if Roman would be willing to give him that, who knows.

Rijkaard seems to be the fave out of everyone, hes won the biggie, and built a team that was arguably the most attractive to watch in many years, built from a team of home grown, and international superstars, something that Roman would kill for. Problem with him however would be, he is hardly the most well liked person at Chelsea, and it would take him a little while to win many fans over, but if he gets the side winning, it’ll be enough to win us over.

All in all, as long as the person hires Zola on the coaching staff when they join, he’ll be a hero and will be given as long as he wants by the fans to start to win things. That’s all he has to do to win us over.

Lots of players should be leaving in the summer as well. The first, and prob the biggest name will be Drogba, who has gone from being a diving prick, to a hero, to an utter fucking Cnut, all in the space of a few years. Cant see many people shedding any tears once he goes, and its very much time for him to pack his bags. Gonna be hard to replace him, but has to be done. Sheva is another player set to go, can see him going back to AC myself. One of the rightbacks might have to leave as well with Bosingwa coming in, with Paulo recently signing a new long term deal, looks like out Brazilian will be fave to leave. Unless Chelsea, again, wanna keep up their recent track record of giving out long term deals, only to ignore them. Another player that has to see the door is Malouda, been an utter waste of space, and looked out of his depth. Ben-Haim and Sidwell are both deadwood, and flogging them off has to be done. Question marks will be over a few other players, such as SWP, but cant see others going.

Onto the small matter of summer signings now. A lot depends on who we would hire, with each wanting to bring their own methods in, and their own players. Cant forget Ivanoic, no matter how easy it is to, who will slot into that 4th center back spot in the squad. Bosingwa is already a done deal, and that will be the nth time we’ve attempted to sort out that right back slot, which seems the common summer theme since Romans come. Robinho for £28mil is also the other deal that seems on the cards. Personally I don’t think we should sign him, don’t think hes strong enough for the Prem, and without a change of tactics to suit him (4-4-2) cant see him working too well. We might need another winger as well if Malouda packs his bags, deffo if SWP does. Not sure who we could sign, however if Mr Frank takes the job, maybe a cheeky bid for Messi? Can dream, right? Cnut Kenyon has said we will make 3 major signings this season, no idea if Bosingwa is included in that, but expect a few more shocks along the way. Oh, and we also have a habit of signing some random nobody, so expect that as well.

About all I can think of for now, geezer on SSN just said he reckons an appointment of a manager will be done around 6th/7th of June, so that’s when everything will start moving. Til then, it’ll be just sit and wait, and read endless stories about managers being spotted near Stamford Bridge.

Hopefully, 08/09 will be remembered for going that one step more than 07/08, and hopefully god of gods (excluding Zola), JT, will be able to banish those memories in an emotional night in Rome.

Thanks to Dan for letting me share his thoughts.

Filed under: Rants