You wanna try supporting West Ham, a team that kicked off the careers of Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick and Jermaine Defoe, before watching them disappear from Upton Park. Not to mention players like John Terry, Sol Campbell and David Beckham, all of whom started out at West Ham's under 17 Academy and then left before actually moving to the first team. Pretty frustrating, all in all.

Don't forget Yossi Benayoun! ;]

I was just listing the players that started their careers at West Ham. I sort of respected Yossi for wanting to go to Liverpool when he said it was a childhood dream to play for you, but he's already talking about being unhappy with the rotation system and that he wouldn't mind a move to a 'middle ranking' team. Sounds like a bit of cunt now.

the champions league draw is about to start

edit:

ah, i messed with the time zone, the draw is over now:






kaka was nominated uefa club footballer of the year.

Group E looks fun:

Barcelona
Lyon
Stuttgart
Rangers

Are Sporting and Man. Utd. going to be grouped together indefinitely, all the time?

Liverpool could be a high-profile casualty. That's a tricky group.

I don't expect a favourite of mine, AEK Athens, to overturn their deficit to Sevilla, so I'll be left rooting for Dinamo Kiev to do well.

I'm so relieved that we have no Aston Villa fans here on the board. Of course, there are far worse teams to lose to, but Villa are just... rather annoying.

All in all, a rather naff weekend for the Chelsea, especially with Liverpool going top for the first time since the mid-1980s.

I'll admit, I watched match of the day 2 so I could see Chelsea defeated. But really, you deserved it. Anyway, who saw the complete humiliation of Derby County at the hands of Liverpool on saturday? Huh? Huh?

I missed it. I was in London for a Sonic Youth gig.

I was still in London too, I just watched highlights later on..

6 - 0 wtf?

i try to keep up, but i'm a premier league outsider. i didnt watched any of this season's matches yet.

chelsea it's still not out from the injury crisis, uh?
anyway, it was no big deal... it happens.

I predict a season-long injury crisis for Chelsea. I think that the demands for success that are being heaped on the players are going to be a little bit too much this year. John Terry, for instance, is a dedicated madman and will play through any pain, but one day, and I think that day may come soon, his body is going to say "no more". But I notice that The Special One is already starting to make his excuses for a poor season, saying that it's not just going to be the "big four" pushing for success. Sounds like an insurance policy to me.

3 ALL AWAY TO FULHAM

what apotent team of future champ league stars we have....


...irony factor is up to reader!

WTF indeed!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oOXQ8bdIIuw

CHELSEA STATEMENT

20.09.2007

Chelsea Football Club and Jose Mourinho have agreed to part company today (Thursday) by mutual consent.

:eek:



Well, not that huge a shock, actually...

football bores me

Well sod off out of this thread then.

Parting company four days prior to Man U.-Chelsea...
That's putting pressure on both teams, all of a sudden, MU not knowing how angry Chelsea's gonna be in their will to dedicate their game to their parting coach.

The timing couldn't have been worse as far as the fixture list is concerned.

The story is that Avram Grant, the "director of football" will be taking over permanently. It's a bit worrying how little information about him can be found by googling his name. All I've managed to get about his managerial career is:

What has Grant won?

With due respect, a domestic Toto Cup with Hapoel Petah Tivka in 1991, a League and Cup Double with Maccabi Tel Aviv (1995) and another Toto Cup with Maccabi Haifa does not make the most convincing CV.

Grant did better with the Israeli national team during a four-year tenure from 2002 to 2006, helping the country to remain undefeated in the World Cup Qualifiers only to lose out to France and Switzerland despite four wins and six draws.

The question is whether he jumped or whether he was pushed. Very weird timing either way. I'm no Chelsea fan but it's sort of sad to see the back of mourinho, a real character in an increasingly bland premiership.