Steve Sidwell finally left Chelsea for Aston Villa last Wednesday in a deal rumoured to be around 5 million pounds. Considering Chelsea signed him from Reading last year on a Bosman, the deal makes business sense especially as we are already well covered in the midfield department. However there were one or two stories in the media a few weeks back that Sidwell was holding out for a compensation from Chelsea. Considering he signed a four year contract last year and is taking a wagecut in moving to Villa, it won’t surprise me if we have made a payoff.
Sidwell was signed by Jose Mourinho last year to add strength in depth to the squad as the midfield was going to be severely depleted in January due to African Cup of Nations. It looked a good decision in foresight as Ballack and Lampard both missed a sizeable part of the season but with Sidwell in the ranks we had someone experienced to call upon if needed. Sidwell knew that it was going to be the biggest challenge in his footballing career trying to find a place for himself in the Chelsea team but in Mourinho he had a manager who made him believe that he would judge him on merit and he was certainly not there to make up the numbers. Unfortunately, the manager who signed him didn’t stayed long enough, Mourinho left the club in September. Under him he did got chances to prove himself but he didn’t really set the stage alight with his performances. I distinctly remember that Reading game when we were quiet poor in the first half when he was orchestrating things from the middle. Mourinho took him off at the interval replacing him with Mikel and within no time our game improved and we went onto win the match.
Avram Grant replaced Mourinho as the Chelsea manager and it was back to square one for all the players especially the ones signed during the summers. Sidwell had to prove himself all over again. Grant was under pressure to deliver results right from the start and with the majority of the fanbase against his appointment, it was hard for him to make unpopular decisions. He preferred to stick with the experienced players and Sidwell was rooted to the bench, not even the bench at times. He played an important part for us in January when we were very thin on numbers. It would be hard to pick out standout performances of Sidwell in Chelsea colours but I distinctly remember two games, the one away at Wigan in the FA Cup and the League Cup semifinal against Everton at Goodison Park where I thought he performed really well. In his time at Chelsea he only scored one goal and that came against the Hull side who have been promoted to Premier League this year.
Sidwell during his time here didn’t gave any glimpses of his play which could make us believe that he was a genuine first team material but one thing you can’t deny about the lad is that he does work hard for the team. People don’t usually notice that and I know at times they have been too critical of him. Some even wrote him off before he played a game which is sad. At a club like Chelsea these days the pressure of winning is probably too much and players don’t get any honeymoon periods. They are expected to fire on all cylinders right from the word go and not everyone can live upto that expectation. Sidwell couldn’t.
I am not too disappointed about his departure to be honest because if not for the African Cup of Nations last year we were well covered in midfield which is still the case. Moreover it would be better if an academy players takes up his position as when you are 6th in the pecking order, games are not going to come your way every now and then. Sidwell is undoubtedly a good player and at a club where the level of expectation is not so high he would settle in well. I am quiet chuffed that he has chosen Villa because in Martin O’Neill he has a manager who has the ability to get the best out of his players. With Gareth Barry expected to leave for Liverpool, Sidwell would be the top contender to take his place in midfield.
It would be too harsh on the lad to label him a mercenary because if we use that criteria then every other football player on this planet is one. He was brave and ambitious enough to take the chance that came his way when Chelsea came knocking on the door even though he knew that getting into the first team was by no means a piece of cake. He got the chance to play at one of the top clubs in the world alongside the best players in the business which I believe any footballer worth his salt would have jumped at. Villa presents a brilliant opportunity to him to get back to playing football week in and week out and prove his detractors wrong. Hope he does well there!
Serbian starlet Slobodan Rajkovic has moved to the Dutch club FC Twente on a season long loan yesterday. Steve McLaren the former England and Middlesborough manager who is currently in charge of the team from Enschede was quiet enthused by his signing. He said that he is quiet pleased with signing a young player with his qualities and also mentioned about his ability to play in different positions in defence.
McLaren further said that he had been keeping an eye on Rajkovic for quiet some time and when the opportunity to sign him came along, he acted immediately. He said that a lot of English clubs were also monitoring his situation so his signing is some sort of minor coup. The German club SV Hamburger were also amongst the clubs who were tracking Rajkovic.
Rajkovic was snapped up by Chelsea quiet early when he was only about 16 and the signing fee at that time was a world record for a player under eighteen years of age. As part of the deal, Rajkovic stayed at his parent club OFK Beograd till 2006-07 season. Subsequently he was loaned out to PSV where he spent the whole of last season. Chelsea has developed close ties with PSV over the last few years and have parked quiet a few of their players who are not eligible for workpermit in England at the time of signing. Alex and Alcides were the two Chelsea players loaned to PSV before Rajkovic who moved as a part of the deal which saw Alex coming over to Chelsea having secured a workpermit from the home office.
Rajkovic didn’t had the greatest of seasons last year with PSV and was involved more only towards the later half of the season. He didn’t get many chances to start at his favoured centerback position and more often than not was preferred at leftback. He did put in a couple of strong performances especially the one against Fiorentina in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup which caught the eyes of Steve McLaren. Having watched him on a few occasions for PSV and Serbian National Team I think he has the potential to go places. He is a no nonsense defender and has the ability to dominate aerially. He lacks a bit of pace but makes up for it more often than not with his excellent positioning like our own John Terry. He might already look like a man monster but he is still 19 years of age so he is a bit short on experience which shows sometimes in his game.
It remains to be seen whether he will in the first team plans for McLaren as it is still early days in his job and he would be chopping and changing his squad a bit in the summer. But considering that lack of first team opportunities was one of the main reasons why Chelsea recalled him from PSV, I have a fair reason to believe that he would get good number of games. FC Twente are also in the third qualifying round of Champions League and if they are able to negotiate the two legs successfully they would be playing against the big boys of Europe. Rajkovic already has some European exposure with PSV last season in the UEFA Cup so a chance to play in the Champions League would be a good learning experience for him. He is likely to be on duty for the Serbian national team in Olympics during the month of August which would prevent him from taking part in the qualifying matches. He is highly regarded at Chelsea and would be trying hard next season to impress the Chelsea management. Here’s hoping we might not have to wait too long before we see him in Chelsea colours.
Chelsea as a club has grown leaps and bounds in the past few years especially since the arrival of Roman Abramovich. However, the success has come not just because of one man. It’s down to a lot of people right from the players, the managers to the coaching staff but then there are always some who are cut above the rest. Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba are surely two among the later. To win matches in football you have to score goals and surely these two names must be on the top of anyone’s mind when you are looking for goals. Take away the two men and you take away nearly half of the goals. Take away half of the goals and you take away half of the wins that too some really important ones. It’s really simple, it really is.
Just shifting the topic a little bit towards history for a moment and I know the Scousers if they are reading would jump straight away with ‘You’ve got no history’ chants but anyways who gives a fuck about them these days. When we talk about history, it is not always the past glories and triumphs that we should look for. There are a lot of other things, glories apart, you can take a cue from. History teaches you lessons, lessons which may not be exactly valid in the context of today nowithstanding there is always something to look at.
Step back to the 60’s when Chelsea were the most glamorous team in the country and though were not exactly as dominating like today but were known for their stylish brand of football. It was probably the most successful era in Chelsea’s history up until the late 90’s when Gullit and his ’sexy football’ took over Stamford Bridge. Some truly great players graced the hallowed turf during this decade and the League Cup, the FA Cup and the Cup Winners Cup were brought home for the first time in more than 60 years. It was a magical era indeed.
Just like today when we have an array of superstars at the club even back then there were players who were real icons of that era. Peter Osgood and Alan Hudson were two pivotal figures in this Chelsea team. Osgood, the goalscoring striker, and Hudson, the main man in the midfield. Got my drift! Both Osgood and Hudson came from the youth ranks at Chelsea, Osgood a bit earlier during the reign of Tommy Docherty while Hudson, born a stone’s throw away from Stamford Bridge, was blooded in the first team by Dave Sexton who succeeded the Doc.
Hudson and Osgood were a big part of the team that went onto win the FA Cup beating Leeds in the epic final which went to a replay and then a year later conquered Europe in Athens beating Real Madrid in Cup Winners Cup which incidentally too went to a replay. The club might not have finished above the 3rd place in the league during there time but there was something special about this group of players. The honeymoon didn’t last for too long though. After the 1972 season in which we got to the finals of League Cup, Chelsea went on a decline and the league position deteriorated. The club was crippling under the debt which came with the building of the East Stand and it forced the sale of a number of players. During this time both Osgood and Hudson fell out with the then manager Dave Sexton and were put on the transfer list consequently. Southampton snapped up Osgood within months of being put on the list while Stoke spent little time in paying 240,000 pounds for Hudson. The heart of the team was gone. The club went down a year later which was the start of a turbulent period in Chelsea’s history when we went up and down the divisions, finally returning back to the top flight in 1989 where we have remained since then. The supporters at that time wouldn’t have known that after the League Cup Final of 1972 it would take the club another 22 long years to reach another cup final (barring the Full Members Cup Finals ) where we were beaten 4-0 by Manchester United. For them the defeat was painful but it didn’t really mattered because they knew that Chelsea was once again back where it rightly belonged. Peter Osgood and Alan Hudson did return back to Chelsea like prodigal sons but they could never replicate the form they showed in the swinging sixties.
Coming back to today, things have changed in a way we could never have imagined before. Chelsea is in a very strong position under the ownership of Roman and even if he decides to leave us someday we would be attractive enough for another prospective buyer. We are in a position now to buy the best players in the world, pay them the best wages and give them the best conditions to train in. Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba have been an integral part of our success over the last few years but they are likely to leave this summer. The conditions and circumstances surrounding their transfer are a lot different then the ones during the times of Osgood and Hudson but no one can deny the fact that Lampard and Drogba are as important to our team as Osgood and Hudson were back then.
It is highly unlikely that we may win nought for the next couple of years and go on a downward spiral from here on but then stranger things have happened. It might not be a long wait for another 22 years but going by today’s standards and the skyrocketing expectations of the fans, a two year wait might be too much for some. I am hoping against hope for their stay but at the same time I am prepared to resign myself to fate. However, one thing which I don’t want is to return back to this post a few years down the line and curse the history books because they gave us the cue but we ignored.
Ryan Bertrand after spending later half of the last season on loan at Norwich will be heading down to Carrow Road again this season. The loan deal is initially for 6 months with a possibility of turning it into a season long deal. Ryan was one of Norwich’s better players last season and Glen Roeder, the Norwich gaffer having been impressed by the exploits of the young left back jumped at the first opportunity to sign him.
Ryan came to Chelsea in 2005 from Gillingham and since then he has made considerable progress at the club. He went on loan in his second season with the club having made the step up from youth to the reserves. His first destination was Bournemouth in League 1 but his spell was unfortunately cut short by injury. Last season the club loaned him to Oldham Athletic as part of the deal which saw Daniel Philliskirk signing for our youth team. He really came to the fore at Boundary Park under the tutelage of John Sheridan, the Oldham manager. His exploits caught the eye of a number of clubs in the country and after the completion of his loan term he joined Norwich in January.
His spell at Norwich proved to be a highly productive one as he put in some excellent performances and became a regular starter for the team from East Anglia. He started in a total of 18 games for Norwich last season and in many of them he played on the left wing rather than his preferred left-back position. He faced competition at the left-back and left-wing spots from Mo Camara (on loan from Derby) and Kieran Gibbs(on loan from Arsenal) and he was able to dislodge both of them relatively easily which told a lot about his ability and versatility. This season he would be facing competition for the left-back spot from the veteran defender Adam Drury who missed out on most of the last season after suffering from a ligament injury. It would be interesting to see who is preferred by Roeder for the left-back position but with Ryan’s verstatility I am sure he would be able to find himself a place in starting XI one way or the other.
Ryan was eagerly chased by many clubs this summer. Glen Roeder termed his signing as a massive coup when he revelead that Reading were desperate to sign him and clubs like Derby, Watford and promoted Hull City were also interested in him. Last year has been an excellent one for Ryan’s development and certainly the role of John Sheridan and Glen Roeder, the managers of Oldham and Norwich respectively can’t be disputed. Breaking into the Chelsea’s first team is not an easy task these days with an array of international superstars on the club’s books but Ryan is certainly someone to look for in the future. He is still young at 19 and from what he has shown till now he certainly has a great career ahead of him. He has also been a regular in the England U17 and U19s and would be heading down to Czech Republic this July for the European Championships. Here’s hoping that he does well in Czech Republic and in his loan spell at Norwich.
Sometimes it takes a player years to endear himself to the fans but at times an inspired moment of magic is enough. Roberto Di Matteo scored after just 43 seconds in the FA Cup Final in 1997 against Middlesborough and ended Chelsea’s long wait for silverware. It was enough to become a hero in the fans’ eyes and to etch his name permanently into the Chelsea folklore. It’s more than a decade now since he scored that famous goal at Wembley but people still talk about it as if it happened only yesterday. For us Robbie was a hero, a player who we loved and most importantly he was a great human being. Being a great footballer is just not enough, you got to have some humility and class and this is what separates the legends from the greats. Robbie was a bonafide Chelsea legend.
His career was awfully cut short when he broke his leg in 2000-2001 season playing against St Gallen in a UEFA Cup match. For a player who was at the top of his game at that time we can only wonder how much more he could have achieved if he had played for a few more years. He spent 18 months on the sidelines and finally decided to call it a day in February, 2002. At the time when he was signed by Gullit he was the most expensive transfer signing by Chelsea and during his times here went on to win the FA Cup twice(scoring in both finals), League Cup, Cup Winners Cup, Super Cup and the Community Shield.
Fast forward six years since his retirment from the game, Robbie is making a return to England but this time as a first-time manager of MK Dons. He will succeed Paul Ince who left for the Premier League side Blackburn Rovers this summer. MK Dons are a club on the up and were promoted to League 1 last season as League 2 Champions. With a new stadium and solid infrastructure, the expectations of the fans are high as ever. In Peter Winkleman, they have a chairman who was slated by many when he moved the club from Wimbledon to Milton Keynes but now there are people who are calling him a visionary. MK Dons has proved to be a stepping stone for many budding young managers over the last few years. First Martin ‘Mad Dog’ Allen left it for Leicester and this season Ince is the latest one to make the step up. Di Matteo is another managerial novice but going by the trend or the magical powers of the MK Dons hotseat(whatever you may call it!) you can’t help but feel that we might see him managing at a higher level in a few years if he does well.
Robbie has been out of the game for the past six years but he had been working on getting his coaching badges. He has already acquired the UEFA ‘B’ and ‘A’ licenses so he has the basic qualification required for a manager these days. He would be bringing Eddie Newton, his teammate during his time with Chelsea as his assistant manager. Eddie has been coaching the under 16’s at Chelsea and has done excellent work with the boys, some of whom had figured in the FA Youth Cup. Eddie also partnered Robbie in the Chelsea midfield back in those days though employed in a more conservative role compared to Di Matteo’s attacking role. He was also the second name on the scoresheet that day at Wembley when we won the FA Cup by beating Middlesborough so MK Dons are infact getting not just two FA Cup winners but two Wembley final goalscorers.
It’s great to see Chelsea old boys getting into management, Robbie and Eddie being the latest ones to join the ranks. It is interesting that all of our Italian contingent during the 90’s have tried their hands at management after retirment now. Vialli a decade back with us and Watford, Casiraghi and Zola are incharge of the Italian U21s and now Robbie. I would certainly be keeping one eye on MK Dons’ results this season to see how our boys are fairing in their first managerial challenge.
Ben Sahar would be joining Barclays Premier League Club Portsmouth on a 6 month loan deal starting today. This deal would keep him at Portsmouth till January after which Chelsea will assess his situation and take further decision about his future. Portsmouth were not the only club after the young Israeli and it was a protracted saga that ultimately culminated in a loan move to Pompey today.
NEC Nijmegen who play in the Dutch Erdivisie were the favourites to land him for much of the last month. The initial contact came through Frank Arnesen who was known to technical director of NEC Carlos Aalbers and at that time NEC looked to be in the driving seat. Sahar also went on a two day trip to Nijmegen to assess the facilities and meet their manager Mario Been. The manager was very keen on signing the Chelsea starlet because their two main strikers of earlier campaign Kevin Bobson and Jermain Lens had returned back to their parent clubs as they were on loan. Sahar was impressed with what NEC had to offer and expressed his interest in joining the club next season. All what remained was an agreement between the two clubs and finalizing the financial details of the deal with the player.
Pompey were interested in Sahar from the start but their interest had taken a backseat when negotiations with NEC were ongoing. Pompey had offered him more money than what he could have got at NEC but Sahar was more inclined towards joining NEC at that time. One of the prime reasons was because of Mario Been, the NEC manager, who had promised him a place in the starting XI. Sahar was clearly keeping both his options open. About ten days back his deal with NEC broke down because the two clubs could not settle on taxation issues which Sahar didn’t liked and canceled his flight to the training camp. With this move breaking down, Portsmouth was the most viable option remaining. Sahar agreed in principle to sign for them last week after Harry had promised him game time. Portsmouth were interested in taking him on a year long deal but Sahar opted for a 6 months to first see how he settles in there. The loan spells at QPR and Sheffield Wednesday had certainly made him more mature. It was the right decision in my opinion as the main emphasis of a loan deal is the development of the player. Warming the bench serves no purpose.
Harry has promised him game time but I doubt he would be able to get much especially with the players like Defoe, Kanu and Utaka already in their ranks. Pompey are also expected to be in the market for another striker possibly Crouch so that would push him further down the pecking order. His involvement might also get limited because of the system preferred by Harry. Last season it was more of a one man on top which might be the case this year too though we can’t say for sure. Nugent was signed last season for 5 million but he hardly got any chances and is likely to leave this summer so Sahar may end up the same way. He is only on loan and I doubt any clauses have been put which would force Harry to start him in every match as Pompey are a Premier League side. NEC would have been a good move for him especially as the Dutch league is more technical and he would have added more to his game there. Moreover the pressure and media attention there is considerably less compared to England so the focus is more on football.
It’s hard to predict what the future holds and we can only hope that he would get chances there to prove himself. The 7 subs rule will obviously help his case and in Harry he has a manager who can bring the best out of young players. Pompey would be playing in Europe this season and some European exposure would do him no harm.
This is what he had to say on signing for Portsmouth (Excerpts taken from Portsmouth Official Site).
“I’ve heard a lot of good things about Harry Redknapp, the club and the staff and they obviously had a very good season, so I’m happy to be here.
“I know that I’m young and I still need to develop, to get experience and to learn from big players, like there are here.
“I’m ready for the challenge of being part of such a big club like Portsmouth.
“They are now in Europe and that will be a big challenge as well.
“But I came here to be part of a team and to play, so hopefully I can do well. I’m just waiting for the new season to start.”
“My goal is to play and I’m striker, so of course I want to score a few goals for Portsmouth – that’s why I’m here.
“It’s a new beginning and I’m ready for it.”
Good Luck Ben! I will be keeping an eye on Pompey next season for sure. Looking forward to seeing you giving a torrid time to the likes of Ferdinands and Carraghers.
Credits: dannyb1 of CFCnet for translating some of the articles in the Israeli media who were the first to get onto any news related to Sahar.
Steve Sidwell finally left Chelsea for Aston Villa last Wednesday in a deal rumoured to be around 5 million pounds. Considering Chelsea signed him from Reading last year on a Bosman, the deal makes business sense especially as we are already well covered in the midfield department. However there were one or two stories in the media a few weeks back that Sidwell was holding out for a compensation from Chelsea. Considering he signed a four year contract last year and is taking a wagecut in moving to Villa, it won’t surprise me if we have made a payoff. 
Posted by Yasser 
Posted by Yasser 
Posted by Yasser 
