The Troubles at Chelsea

If Chelsea owner Roman Abramovic still had an ounce of interest, love or concern for his club then Phil Scolari's sacking was inevitable, it was just a matter of when rather than if.

It just so happened to be mid-season when the axe finally fell on the Brazilian coach but no-one would have been surprised had the decision been put on hold until the summer.

Sacking Scolari, mid-season, like Jose Mourinho, is a strange one. Clearly the chiefs at the Bridge lost faith and trust in the 2002 World Cup winner but questions dangle over the whole saga.

What if Abramovic had forked out the extra few million to secure Robinho's services in August? What if Deco hadn't picked up that injury in the warm-up to the Manchester United home game? What if tenacious midfielder Michael Essien had never returned from international duty with a season-long injury? What if Steve Clarke hadn't packed his bags and set off to the east of London to aid Gianfranco Zola at West Ham? What if Didier Drogba had ignored that Burnley coin and stayed injury free?

Chelsea fans began to turn on Scolari after a disappointing goalless home draw with Hull

Luck wasn't on Big Phil's side and now he's getting the tabloid headlines 'Big Phail Scolari', it all seems a tad harsh on a very experienced football man.

Chelsea managers are always going to be compared to Mourinho and in many ways Scolari's sacking can be compared to the Portuguese's, if that's the only similarity between the two who have taken up the hot seat under Abramovic's watchful eyes.

The Special One left due to a fall out between him and the owner but, it seems, on face value, that Scolari's relationship was fine between himself and the boardroom boys. That's if there was even a relationship as Scolari revealed, around a month ago, that he had only met Abramovic 'two or three' times since he took over in July.

But what if Scolari demanded what he was shown in the brochure that lured him away from the luxury of international management to the nitty and gritty day-in-day-out domestic football? Perhaps the 60 year old demanded the transfer budget he was promised in signing his Chelsea contract and was utterly refused it, having to make do with an unhappy and inconsistent Ricardo Quaresma on loan.

This is all just speculation but I find it difficult to find the logic behind sacking such a highly regarded coach just seven months into the job, for football reasons alone. So Chelsea aren't living up to expectations, sitting fourth in the league and not looking like they will progress much higher this season but the bookies still have Chelsea high favourites for third position and a chance of them slipping out of the top four was very slim.

Roman Abramovic and Guus Hiddink have a close relationship

This point has even stronger emphasis when you begin to hear the rumours that Chelsea are lining up a 'loan' or 'interim' managerial signing to take them up to the summer troublesome free. The name rumoured is Guus Hiddink, a well respected and talented manager - but then again so is Scolari.

This short term option surely makes Carlo Ancelotti the favourite to take over at Stamford Bridge in the summer, after Roman Abramovic's attempts to bring the Italian in after Avram Grant's departure last summer failed miserably, especially when you realise that the AC Milan manager has a clause to let him go at the end of this season.

There's no doubting that Chelsea hero Gianfranco Zola will be on the wish list for Chelsea fans who still remember the days when he graced the Stamford Bridge turf but maybe the Chelsea club owners are concerned that it's a little too early for the Italian to start gracing the Stamford Bridge dugout.

Whatever goes on behind the scenes at Chelsea and whatever decision they come to regarding a new temporary or permanent coach, they have to have plans for a long term manager to start his work sooner rather than later as the rocky ship in west London needs to steadied quick.

The Beautiful Game's Sole Criticism

Football, especially the English Premier Division, is subject to much praise and, of course, rightly so.

Not only does the game involving 22 players, a rubber ball and two goals create such vast entertainment that rivals Hollywood and possesses huge passion and culture that undermines the billions in Bollywood but it also unites the world in a way no other organisation can relate too.

The United Nations (UN) goal to create political stability and disperse poverty world wide can boast 192 members and was founded in 1945, after World War Two killed its final soldier. Meanwhile FIFA, with the goal to create stability in football world wide, shadows the UN's member total with 208 associates, furthermore the head body of football was founded in 1904 and survived, unharmed, through the World War years.

So football does, correctly, receive praise after praise after praise and long may it continue.

But when a criticism is discovered, buried amongst the praise, it comes in hard and powerful. They say money makes the world go round and for many years football ignored and proved the cliche wrong as football enjoyed some of its finest spells in years where shillings were hard to come by. Now-a-days shillings are even more scarce as the rolls of millions and billions, swept in, by wealthy, affluent business men from abroad invest their change into clubs and change the face of football.

Jack Walker may be the typical Englishman, but when he invested his millions into the small club of Blackburn Rovers in 1991 the northwest club stormed up the leagues and eventually won the Premier Division in the 1994-1995 season, something which would have been hugely impossible without the Walker millions.

The money men from Abu-Dhabi are the latest group to take over a Premier League club

Roman Abramovich came over from Russia to London and invested millions, of his billions, of oil money into the financially struggling Chelsea. The Kings Road club became Kings of England just two years later and have enjoyed an abundance of success thanks to the Russian.

Then other businessmen with an eye for a profit realise the money available in the booming Premier Division and they quickly jump abroad their private jets to snatch the club off a struggling English chairman and walla the club is reborn with virtually any superstar footballer within their reach.

The Glazzers, who took over Old Trafford and spurred more success into the club, preceded Hicks and Gillett's Liverpool takeover, which has, ironically, resulted in more starvation of trophies.

Then it was Manchester City's turn and the Royal family of Abu-Dhabi, who invested almost £100 million worth of players in just five months with success for City almost inevitable.

So, why is this so bad? For football it's brilliant - a chance to cement itself as the world's greatest sport but it is the fact that this money is being thrown around like a reality Monopoly game into a sport which really doesn't need it that has created the criticism.

In an era of recession, an era of a credit crunch and with world wide poverty still not cured these billions should be ploughed into the UN and other needy organisations with not a second thought - but then again, without the influx of money, would football really rival Hollywood? Would a two-horse title race between Arsenal and Manchester United, year-in year-out, be as entertaining as a five or six or even seven horse race now Chelsea, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester City have millions, rather than pennies, to spend?

Whatever your opinion, there seems to be no end to the billions being piled into football.

Rafa Plays Into Fergie's Hands

So much has happened since my last blog entry that I could write all day and still have surplus news, well not really news any more I guess.

The best place to start has to be in the Liverpool press conference room where Rafa joined previous title-hoping managers, Wenger and King Kev, in the mind-games malarkey with Fergie. Fergie always wins, perhaps so often that his kosher is in need of doubt?

The premeditated statement was appropriately labelled 'Rafa's Rant' but the Spaniard was just the voice of many people's opinion and he will have certainly won a few friends last Friday afternoon, even if his one with Fergie died out.

We all know how much whiskey-nose Fergie loves his red wine after a match and I wouldn't be foolish in suspecting that Rafa will not be on the Scot's invitation list for a post-match beverage when the two title contenders clash on the 14th March.

Meanwhile Chelsea face a tumbling season which started so well and Big Phil is becoming the latest manager to face a media rollicking after a string of poor results put the World Cup winning coach under scrutiny.

Rumours of a rift between the English contingent and the foreign imports are surfacing and despite the Chelsea camp denying it wholeheartedly the performance on Sunday does not show much evidence to the claim.

Big Phil has problems to deal with at Chelsea

The London club were spineless and with little options on the bench in the offensive frame of mind meant that when they went one down it seemed impossible for Chelsea to grab any momentum and crawl back into a game they thoroughly deserved to lose by the full time margin.

Another rumour lurking around the back pages is Roman Abramovic's reported loss of interest with his toy that has progressively tired as each year has wore on in his 5 year reign. The evidence behind this? The fact that, seemingly, the Russian billionaire is unwilling to invest any more millions into new singings, that are desperately needed to save any title hopes. Furthermore, the £12 million raised from sending left-back Wayne Bridge up north to the blue half of Manchester has, reportedly, gone straight into Roman's savings. The credit crunch could be hitting Roman's empire more strongly than others, but a simple £20 million for a new forward is surely still pennies to a multi-billionaire?

On the other hand, Chelsea's target of becoming self-efficient and to break even by 2010 could play a substantial part in the lack of spending but another Chelsea goal, of becoming the world's greatest club by 2014, would indicate the need for expenditure.

How exactly do you measure becoming the world's greatest club? Winning the World Club Championship would, theoretically, indicate this but ironically the clubs in competition for this supposedly prestigious trophy are not of a world-class status.

So winning the Champions League in 2014 would prove that Chelsea are the world's best club? Maybe in that particular season, but no Champions League winning team has retained the trophy which would surely be needed if Chelsea are to gain prestige amongst the trophy saturated cabinets occupied by the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid.

One guidance in setting targets tends to be to make them measurable. Is becoming the best club in the world by 2014 measurable? I'm not convinced it is and if it is, Chelsea have a long way to go before scoring that goal - or any goal for that matter!

Grayson Moves Down A League

Leeds United have named Simon Grayson as their new manager following Gary McAllister's sacking on Sunday.

But Grayson's old club Blackpool are considering legal action against Leeds after they refused the League One side permission to speak to the 39 year old and denied a resignation request by Grayson just hours before he signed for Leeds.

Grayson started his playing career with Leeds in 1988, staying for four years, but only making two first team appearances. The former defender went on to serve for Aston Villa and Blackburn before hanging up his boots after spending three years with Blackpool.

Grayson won promotion from League One with Blackpool

Grayson is considered one of England's finest young managers after his success in guiding Blackpool into the Championship, where they currently sit 16th - 8 points from the drop zone.

Meanwhile Leeds have been struggling in League One this campaign and Saturday's 3-1 defeat to MK Dons marked their fifth successive defeat and McAllister's final game for the The Peacocks.

Grayson's new club sit 9th, with automatic promotion looking out of reach as we enter the festive period. Grayson's first fixture comes at Elland Road on Boxing Day against top of the table Leicester City and Ken Bate's new man will be looking to turn around the results before promotion becomes too audacious for the Yorkshire side.

The Special One Returns

Jose Mourinho usually gets his way and so when the Champions League draw for the last 16 was unravelled there was a certain inevitability about it.

Mourinho's Porto defeated Manchester United in the same round en route to lifting the prestigious European trophy in 2004 and the Portuguese will come up against his old foes again this year.

Earlier in the week Mourinho revealed that he hoped to get an English club in the next round, with Liverpool being the other possibility.

But despite Mourinho's instinctive confident personality the pressure will be far greater when he takes his Inter Milan side to Old Trafford in February compared with what he experienced 5 years ago when he was still just a face in a crowd of European managers.

Now he is at the forefront of one of the biggest clubs in the world, at a club who are desperate to win the Champions League after a longer wait for England to bring the World Cup home - the Italian aristocrats last won it in 1965! His former Champions League winning side were underdogs, never considered a bet to win the entire thing and so the pressure wasn't there.

How times have changed. English football fans, and especially the English press, feel that the Portuguese is really one of their own and was heavily tipped to succeed Steve McClaren when the England national team job became advertised.

Mourinho has a good record against Ferguson

The press and Mourinho exert a mutual relationship of love. The media relish his press conferences and Mourinho marvels in the attention. 'The Special One' is box office and he will revel in his first return to England since his departure from Chelsea just over a year ago.

Although Mourinho will take the back pages, there are mouth watering reunions around the draw. Another former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri, now Tinkering the Juventus side will see a return to Stamford Bridge before welcoming his former employers to Turin.

Chelsea will be delighted to have avoided Barcelona who are on top form and sit at the peak of La Liga but Juventus will be a stern test. Ranieri was much loved by Chelsea fans but will want to make a point against his old club who kicked him out unceremoniously after the Italian guided them to second place in the Premiership and semi-finals of the Champions League.

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez will make a return to Real Madrid, who are now managed by ex-Spurs boss Juande Ramos. Ramos, like Ranieri, will be keen to make an impression and prove he is no hapless figure he so often cut at White Hart Lane.

Finally Arsenal will encounter Roma and the London club should, if they play to their best, put the tie beyond Roma's reach in the first leg but with Arsenal's inconsistency this season the tie could swing in Roma's favour early on.

But despite all the exhilarating fixtures, only one man will be making the back pages this February.

Real Lead Race For Diarra

Real Madrid are the first team to place a bid for Portsmouth's Lassana Diarra but there are many other top clubs sitting in the auction room.

The Spanish club's £20 million bid was accepted by Portsmouth and the 23 year old midfielder is set to leave the south coast club.

But Pompey's Premiership rivals Tottenham and Manchester City are also interested in Diarra who has had spells at both Chelsea and Arsenal.

The £20 million price tag may prove to be too steep for Spurs despite their desperate need for Diarra's tenacious abilities.

Diarra is dubbed the new Claude Makelele

On the other hand, Manchester City, who look set to spend big in January after their takeover will not be set back by Madrid's offer and could fire a bidding war for the Frenchman.

The lure of playing for Real Madrid, and immediate Champions League football, could sway Diarra's decision in favour of the La Liga champions and Portsmouth will naturally be reluctant to sell to a Premiership rival.

"When you talk about Real Madrid the other teams are no longer important, all the others take second place," said Diarra.

1966 Was A Great Year For English Football - Gianfranco Zola Was Born

"He is a genius"
- Richard Attenborough -

What do you need to become a legend? The question is almost impossible to answer and ambiguity wouldn't do the question justice.

But whatever characteristics you need to become a legend, Gianfranco Zola possesses them beyond belief.

Individual skill must take on a primary role in defining a football legend, Zola has this equipped. The ability to create something out of nothing may be an overused cliche but Zola has this box well and truly ticked. Striding your team to victory in the biggest games and on the biggest stage is something the little Italian did so often. Scoring memorable goals, innovative assists and individual moments of brilliance was the forefront of Zola's philosophy. And finally a warm, kind and magnanimous personality to light up the the dressing room. Mr Zola has all these and more qualities which is the reason why he is regarded as a Chelsea and football legend.

And it was a good job too that Franco had this wonderful magnanimous personality, his ability to sway around and away from world-class defenders left him vulnerable to ravaging challenges from hopeless centre halves.

Zola has scored many memorable goals in his 599 professional appearances including the winner against Stuttgart, for Chelsea, after being on the pitch for just 21 seconds, in the wonderfully cyclically named Cup Winners' Cup Final (so yes, Zola and that 1997 Chelsea team did, indeed, win the Cup Winner's Cup Cup - why isn't there a trophy called that nowadays?).

The Chelsea number 25 scored 192 goals in total and over half of them must have been exquisite and memorable. His neat and stealthy mid-air back-heel flick which instinctively found the Norwich net from a Graeme Le Saux corner has cemented itself in many Chelsea fans' minds.

Zola celebrates his winner against Stuttgart

The goal, in his debut season for Chelsea, against aristocrats Manchester United - and in goal the impervious Peter Schmeichel - will be remembered for many years, not just because of how sweetly the goal was taken but because while the Italian was in his trademark dribbling subconscious, leading to the goal, he completely miss-guided defender Denis Irwin and sent the Irishman humiliated on his backside. Magic.

Zola's 80th and final goal in Chelsea blue came against Everton when the Italian lobbed the helpless Everton goalkeeper from outside the box. It was true Zola.

But his closing article was one of the most memorable moments in one of the most memorable games in Chelsea's history. It was the closing stages of the 2002/2003 Premiership season and Chelsea were up against fierce rivals Liverpool, a Chelsea win would secure The Blues the much financially needed place in next year's Champions League. Chelsea won 2-1 and pipped Liverpool to 4th position. The result ultimately secured Roman Abramovic's millions as the attraction of Champions League football must have been a defining reason as to why the Russian chose the Kings Road club.

Zola, now well into his 30's, came off the bench 20 minutes from time and one moment of individual and world-class natural skill left three Liverpool players in his wake as he weaved in and out of them near the Stamford Bridge touchline that left both sets of fans applauding and Chelsea fans bellowing the widely heard Gianfranco Zola chant.

Zola, being the man he is, promised the small Italian team Cagliari his services before he retired and despite Abramovic's plea to keep him, Zola left and made 44 final appearances and 21 final goals before retiring in 2005.

Zola's Chelsea shirt number 25 has been retired and in 2004 he was voted Chelsea's best ever player by the fans. In the pre-season of Jose Mourinho's first season at Chelsea Zola under took a testimonial against Real Zaragoza in front of a full Stamford Bridge crowd.

Legend. Magic. Exquisite. Zola.

Full Name: Gianfranco Zola
Date of Birth: 5th July 1966
Place of Birth: Oliena, Sardinia
Did You Know: Zola played with the legendary Diego Maradona while the two played for Italian side Napoli

Gianfranco Zola Compilation #1 - Youtube

Gianfranco Zola Compilation #2 - Youtube