The 24-year-old had let his contract run down at the Riverside and joins us on a free transfer. While Real Madrid have brought in Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema, Jesus, Babe Ruth, and will continue to buy big names until they have triple-figured squad numbers, we have gone down the rather more conservative route of buying a player who we need. After Carlo Cudicini’s departure last season we needed a back-up ‘keeper and Turnbull fits the bill.

But while Ronaldo and Kaka are more familiar names, some fans may be scratching their heads over the identity of Ross Turnbull. Of course, Middlesbrough fans know him well, so who better to ask? Shaun Graham from BoroMania.com lifts the lid on our new signing:

CFCnet: “How disappointed are you to see Turnbull leave?”

SG: “I was quite disappointed as I feel Ross has a lot of potential and all the raw ability to be a very good goalkeeper. I want to wish him all the best at Chelsea though and I hope he gets some games next season.”

CFCnet: “What did you think of his performances last season?”

SG: “Initially his performances were very good; he looked very confident and was pulling off some superb saves. At the start of the season many Boro fans were questioning the decision to let Mark Schwarzer go without a replacement, after the initial few weeks I think we thought that decision had been vindicated and that Ross Turnbull was going to fill that position. Sadly it didn’t work out that way and goalkeeping was an issue for us all last season.”

CFCnet: “He started off as first-choice ‘keeper following Schwarzer’s summer departure last season, but was eventually replaced by Brad Jones. Why do you think he didn’t cut the mustard?”

SG: “He had a couple of bad games and started shipping goals; we were thumped at home by Chelsea for one! I think his confidence took a huge blow and he was removed from the side. I am still of the opinion that he was hung out to dry by some awful defending in those games and that the finger of blame was unfairly levelled towards Ross.

The main reason many Boro fans believe he was effectively dropped for the rest of the season though is his refusal to sign a new contract. Brad Jones put pen to paper on his new deal, Ross continually refused the terms offered to him and so Jones got to start in goal. I am a firm believer that Turnbull is a much better keeper than Brad Jones and that, if it is the case that he was dropped for refusing a contract, it is one more Southgate error in a season full of bad decisions.

I am disappointed that he left on a free but the rumours I have heard are that the terms offered by Boro were far below what he was expecting, so it is no surprise to see him leave. I am shocked he has gone to Chelsea as he continually stated his desire to move away to secure regular first team football and I can’t see it happening at Stamford Bridge, money talks though!

The feeling around Boro fans is that Chelsea have signed him to increase their quota of English players, I’m not sure what the feeling is around Chelsea fans to his signing though.”

CFCnet: “What can Chelsea fans expect to see from Turnbull (if he ever gets a game)?”

SG: “I think you can expect to see him spending a lot of time sat on the bench! I think with a solid defence in front of him he will really shine, he is a good shot stopper and has a large presence in the area. One area he needs to improve is his command of the box, he needs to be a lot more assertive with high balls into the box and use his large physical presence to really command the box.”

CFCnet: “What kind of reception will he receive when ‘Boro come back up to the Premier League (foregone conclusion right!?)?”

“I don’t think there is too much bad feeling towards Ross, he is a young keeper who has moved on to bigger things, and at the end of the day he wasn’t in the team for large periods of the season so there is not the feeling of having lost a key player like there would be if Wheater or Downing had moved on (obviously there is still time for that to happen yet!).

Good luck this season and hopefully we will back next year.”

Thanks again to Shaun Graham from Boro Mania.

Along with the announcement of Turnbull’s arrival, Chelsea also revealed that our other back-up ‘keeper Hilario has signed a two year contract until 2011. Let the battle commence then…I mean not for a place in the starting XI…On the bench. Still a battle isn’t it?

The Hawthorns side – who will play in the Championship this season having dropped out of the Premier League despite playing better football than, oh I don’t know, Stoke for example – were obviously impressed with Di Matteo’s short and successful reign at MK Dons.

He led the Dons to the League One play-offs, eventually bowing out in the semi-finals on penalties, but it was performances over the season which endeared Di Matteo to the clubs’ fans and attracted attention from sides like West Brom.

MK Dons began the season well before tailing off; with the season eventually culminating in that play-off defeat, but a manager of the month award for Di Matteo in April was proof of the 39 year old’s eye-catching start in football management.

The Swiss-born Italian international played over 100 games for Chelsea before injury ended his entire career in 2002. Memorable moments included crucial goals at Wembley – an opener after 43 seconds in 1997 against Middlesbrough was an FA Cup Final record until Louis Saha bagged one in almost half the time against us in May – leading out the side ahead of the 2002 FA Cup Final against Arsenal, and a coolness which could not be surpassed, both on the pitch and off it, often pictured in nothing but the best shades.

Di Matteo will also be joined at West Brom by a couple of members of his backroom staff who are also synonymous with Chelsea. Fitness coach Ade Mafe and Assistant Manager Eddie Newton conjure up memories of the golden late nineties period, the calm before the storm if you like.

With Gianfranco Zola at West Ham and Mark Hughes at Manchester City, the ex-Blues are making waves in the managerial world. It would be nice to see Di Matteo join them in the Premier League and eventually face up against Chelsea and return to the Bridge in the process.

Good luck Bob, from all of us here at CFCnet.

With a record that speaks for itself, Guus Hiddink must be able to take an enormous amount of pride in his achievements in the Stamford Bridge dugout. With just one loss, five draws (Four of which in the Champions League) and the rest wins, Guus performed exceptionally well.

When the Dutchman came to the club, there was some dressing room unrest and we weren’t where we wanted to be in terms of results or league positioning, I’m not going to blow it out of proportion like the tabloids have, we weren’t in turmoil. Yes, we’d slipped to fourth, dropped 16 points at home by the start of February and despite eight consecutive away wins, results at Anfield and Old Trafford when it really mattered were the difference, they helped our rivals gain valuable points over us. Lying in fourth wasn’t good enough.

When Guus arrived, we weren’t out of the title race, but we knew it largely out of our hands. His tenure got off to a great start when we beat Villa away, in the league we lost one and drew one, dropping just five points in total out of 39. Had we have got maximum points, we still wouldn’t have won the league.
So was there anyone better for the job? Simply put, no there wasn’t. No manager would have dropped less points then five, if I was being extremely generous, I’d say that the best any manager could have realistically done was drawn at least two, dropping four points, but that is being very generous. We finished the season top of both the home and away form guides, our last twelve results were the best in the league. No manager would have conceded fewer points then Guus, I am sure of that, although we mathematically still had a chance of winning the league early February, Man United’s form ensured that it ended up being out of our hands.

In Europe we knocked out Juventus, had two extremely memorable matches against Liverpool, and our campaign was unjustly ended in heartbreaking fashion from Europe.

I love when we sing and really get behind the team and managers, and special moments where we pay tribute to someone are what makes me proud to be Chelsea. We all knew Ranieri was going, as did he, and his tearful farewell will live with me forever, when we all sung his name. When there was reported unrest between the boardroom and José, we showed our backing for The Special One by singing José Mourinho repeatedly, followed by Stand Up For The Special One, and a round of applause, another moment that I’ll never forget. Even Avram Grant got a decent send off.

Singing There’s Only One Guus Hiddink was no different, after ignoring the song for some time, Guus decided that the only way to stop detracting from the football was to acknowledge us by standing up and by bowing to the four stands. This was followed by We Want You To Stay chants, that got louder and louder. We were all in agreement, Hiddink was the right man, he had done an outstanding job and turned our season around. And that is another moment that will live with me forever, the chants were repeated over and over, showing just how highly we all thought of Guus’s job at the helm.

So for everything that happened in his time with us I am extremely grateful to Guus Hiddink, bringing the team back together, stopping the potentially catastrophic league campaign and turning results around, being good enough to get to the Champions League Final but then being robbed of a trip to Rome by one of the most unbelievable exits from Europe, and finally landing the F.A Cup.

Unlike with previous managers, we haven’t seen the last of Guus at Stamford Bridge, with his new role as Technical Advisor being agreed, we will again be given the chance next season to show Guus our thanks for what was an outstanding job and memorable last three months of the season. Thanks Guus, you’ll always be welcome at Stamford Bridge.

Games Guus Hiddink will be remembered for

Aston Villa 0 – 1 Chelsea
First game in charge, losing to a Villa team in third place thus battling us for a Champions League spot would have damaged our chances, at least psychologically, but for the first time in a decade we beat them at Villa Park.

Liverpool 1 – 3 Chelsea
Mourinho played Liverpool three times away in the Champions League without a goal, Grant did once and thanks to John Arne Riise’s generosity we got the away goal. Hiddink’s side managed three, setting us up nicely for the return leg, or so we thought at the time.

Chelsea 4 – 4 Liverpool
A disastrous first half saw us go two down and left the players needing to be fired up and to come out fighting in the second half, Liverpool going three nil up would have meant we needed to attack more in order to find the goal to bring it to Extra Time, this would have left the possibility of being exposed at the back, we knew how crucial that next goal was, and we got the next three. When it went to 4-3 to Liverpool, again we knew we were a goal away from going out, but Lampard’s equaliser set up a tie with Barcelona.

Barcelona 0 – 0 Chelsea
We all know the stats, Barca had scored in every match so far that season, their front three had 90 goals between them, but we went there and frustrated them.

Chelsea 1 – 1 Barcelona
A belter of an early goal courtesy of the Bison’s weaker foot, and other chances to add to our lead. In our previous controversial semi final heartache, Liverpool’s ‘phantom’ goal in 04/05 wasn’t over the line, but Cech would have been sent off, Liverpool would have had a penalty. This game, there wasn’t another side to argue, whilst Lamps *may* have missed one penalty, he wouldn’t have missed two. Awful refereeing and an agonisingly late goal saw us exit Europe.

Arsenal 1 – 4 Chelsea
Just superb.

Chelsea 2 – 1 Everton
Capped off a great three and a half months at the helm by landing the F.A Cup, the celebrations in the dressing room with the cigar were superb to watch. I’d add the semi final too, but this is already about a third of his matches.

(yes, the list is obvious, if it wasn’t we wouldn’t remember him for them would we?)

Those Blues fans who had been calling for his head in previous weeks - and even months - were given more ammunition to use against the Brazilian World Cup winner following the first game of the month.

On February 1st Chelsea travelled to Anfield to take on title rivals Liverpool. The Reds had beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, and Scolari’s side were looking for a win of their own to keep the title challenge alive and perhaps win back some pride. Things did not exactly go to plan however, as a lifeless Chelsea struggled to create chances and test Liverpool throughout the game. They were further hindered with a ludicrous sending-off of inspirational midfielder Frank Lampard whose harmless challenge on Xabi Alonso was somehow deemed worthy of a red card by referee Mike Riley.

Down to ten men, Chelsea’s task was now even harder, and as the game reached the final minutes Fernando Torres scored a very late brace to give Liverpool a 2-0 win. Despite the sending-off, Chelsea were terrible throughout and could have probably played with 12 men and not scored.

The Saturday after, Chelsea were visited by Hull City who weren’t exactly setting the world alight following an impressive start to the season. The game was seen as a chance for the Blues to bounce back after the Liverpool defeat and prove that they were still serious title contenders.

What followed was 90 minutes of missed chances, disjointed play, and frustration in abundance as Hull hung on for a goalless draw. The final whistle was greeted with a chorus of boos from the Stamford Bridge crowd, with some fans unfurling a banner calling for Scolari’s sacking.

They soon got their wish.

Chelsea were fourth in the league and still in the FA Cup and Champions League, but Scolari’s overall performance was seen as inadequate. It was allegedly Roman Abramovich who lost patience with the Brazilian, but in truth many fans had been calling for Scolari’s dismissal long before Roman made the call. Rumours of dressing room bust-ups and lax training regimes had been circulating in the newspapers for months, while some performances on the pitch spoke for themselves.

Life without Scolari went on and just a few days after his departure Chelsea announced they had secured the services of Russia boss Guus Hiddink until the end of the season.

Abramovich’s close links with the Russian national side enabled the deal to go through, and with “Lucky Guus’” glittering CV, the Dutchman was seen as the perfect man to lead the Blues until the end of the season.

But while the appointment was being finalised, Chelsea had to travel to Watford for an FA Cup fifth round tie under the temporary leadership of assistant manager Ray Wilkins. Hiddink looked on from the stands as the Blues dominated the early proceedings only to fall behind mid-way through the second-half.

Tamas Priskin caught Chelsea unawares on the counter-attack and it seemed as if the Blues problems extended further than managerial appointments. But a 15 minute hat-trick from Nicolas Anelka turned the game on its head and sent Chelsea through to a quarter-final match against Coventry. The Hiddink effect had already begun, even if he was just a casual observer this time.

Hiddink’s first proper game was tough on paper; an away match against Aston Villa at a ground where the Blues often struggled to get results. Villa were third in the table, but Chelsea leapfrogged the Champions League hopefuls with a valuable 1-0 win courtesy of another Anelka goal.

Another 1-0 win followed (tight wins - reminiscent of someone perhaps?) in the Champions League as Chelsea edged past Juventus in the first leg of the first knockout round of Europe’s elite competition. Didier Drogba - marginalised by Scolari - appeared rejuvenated under Hiddink and proved he still possessed his goalscoring touch at Stamford Bridge. Although Juventus - and their former Blues boss Claudio Ranieri - threatened heavily in the second-half of the game, Chelsea hung on resiliently for the win.

Unbeaten under Hiddink, the Blues looked to extend their record three days later with a league game against Wigan at the Bridge. A spectacular opener from John Terry seemed to set Chelsea on their way but further chances seemed to evade them. With the score 1-0 and time running out, Wigan shocked the home side with an equaliser as Oliver Kapo capitalised on some dodgy Blues defending.

1-1 and it appeared as if it was the same old story yet again for Chelsea as they were punished for failing to kill off a visiting side. But then, with just seconds remaining in the game, the ever-reliable Lampard popped up with a vital headed equaliser to take all three points. A relieved Stamford Bridge exhaled, and Guus Hiddink maintained his perfect start as Chelsea boss.

As a tumultuous month came to an end, most fans were thinking the same thing about Hiddink: can we keep him? All was to be revealed in March.

Sunday 21 June
Italy contrived to lose out to the USA in South Africa, the world champions lost 3-0 to Brazil while the US won by the same score against Egypt. Meaning the USA and Brazil qualify from their group.

Monday 22 June
Germany U21 1:1 EnglandU21
Mancienne back in the side had to wait four minutes to lose his marker and let Germany score. He was more assured thereafter and a Jack Rodwell goal levelled things as both teams progress.
Glen Johnson signed up with Liverpool, ungrateful so and so, and so we’ll be looking for new right-backs on the open market.
Chelsea formally appealed against Bosingwa and Drogba’s laughable bans. Uefa will increase them as punishment for not kowtowing to their iron will. Our only chance of the European cup now is to slip into an alternate universe where the football authorities allow a level playing field.
Ben Sahar, once voted most promising, has moved to Espanyol for the usual undisclosed fee. If you want to know how much you’ll have to wait for the accounts in November.
ESPN have taken up Setanta’s discarded Premiership rights, Sky should be worried if they manage to make a go if it they are big enough to bid for the bulk of the broadcasting on four years time.

Tuesday 23 June
Daniel Sturridge will join from Manchester City with the fee to be fixed by tribunal. Manchester City are asking for a ‘development fee’ of £10m. John Bostock you’ll recall moved from Crystal Palace to Tottenham for a development fee of £700,000 perhaps the tribunal will be somewhere in the middle.
Florent Malouda has signed a new four-year deal with Chelsea it keeps him at the club until he is 33.

Wednesday 24 June
Spain’s unbeaten spell is over as they are crushed by the mighty USA 2-0 in their semi-final. Be thankful we are on the beach and not being humiliated by America. Meanwhile Milan have received a ‘monster offer’ for Alexandre Pato but have turned it down. While ‘monster’ makes it sounds like Eric Hall is working in Italy nowadays, Milan insist that Pato is going nowhere and have offered him an extended deal.
Meanwhile Nicolas Burdisso the Inter centre-half has denied he is going to be swapped for Ricardo Carvalho. He is another happy to sign an extension rather than come to Chelsea. No one likes us, we don’t care.

Thursday 25 June
The new away shirt for next season looks decidedly ropey, dark blue and black hoops is not bad in itself but they’ve sicked on more of their fluorescent yellow stripes, logo and badge.
Brazil beat confederations cup hosts, South Africa, with a fluky late free-kick to book their place in the final with the USA.

Friday 26 June
England U21 beat Sweden on penalties, which Psycho had them practicing obsessively to prove what a twat all the previous England managers have been, of course practicing makes it easier.
The game wasn’t bad either; England raced into a fortunate 3-0 lead and the Swedes booed off their brave boys at the break. The booing worked as Sweden stormed back to level at 3-3 and had the chances to win in extra-time. England will play Germany again in the final on Sunday as they beat Italy 1-0 in the other semi.

Sunday 28 June
Luiz Felipe Scolari has been speaking out about the lack of respect he received from players: “The coach, at the vast majority of European clubs, has no strength to contradict them. It doesn’t matter what the coach says if they do not listen to him. Yet the people sacked are always the coaches. The main players already know this. That was my problem at Chelsea. Drogba, Ballack and Cech did not accept my training methods or my demands”.
Meanwhile the confederations cup bored its way to a conclusion with the USA storming into a 2-0 lead before, inevitably, losing 3-2 to Brazil. If the US can stretch them this easily we should have nothing to fear next summer but frostbite.
It is a task to summarise the papers today but here goes: Daniel Sturridge, Ross Turnbull and Yuri Zhirkov are all expected to move in this week. Deco and Ricardo Carvalho will rejoin Mourinho at Internazionale. Bayern Munich will bid for Jose Bosingwa. New contracts will be discussed with Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, Drogba and Joe Cole; only Joe Cole might be sold.

Although transfer activity was supposed to be limited in January, Scolari did bring in winger Ricardo Quaresma (trust me, he did actually arrive at the club and play a few games) while the month also saw defender Michael Mancienne return from a loan spell at Wolves. Wayne Bridge left the club despite signing a new four-year deal in the summer, with the left-back joining Manchester City for around £10m. The full-back acquired cult status at the club for a winning goal against Arsenal in a Champions League quarter-final tie, and was a thoroughly nice guy to boot. His departure would leave Chelsea with just one recognised left-back in the squad, with Ashley Cole firmly cementing the place as his own.

But it wasn’t personnel problems which were troubling Scolari at the beginning of January. An FA Cup third round tie against League One Southend resulted in red faces all round for the Blues. Although Salomon Kalou opened the scoring at Stamford Bridge, a host of chances were missed following the goal and Chelsea’s profligacy was punished by a last-minute equaliser from Southend’s Peter Clarke, who exposed the Blues frailties at defending set-pieces by heading home a long throw. It is a game Chelsea should have comfortably won, but the fact that the Blues could only labour to a draw was unfortunately reminiscent of a few games under Scolari earlier in the season.

Worse was to come in January however as Chelsea travelled to fellow title challengers Manchester United, and left as a humiliated outfit, a mere shadow of their former selves. Nemanja Vidic opened the scoring, Wayne Rooney added a second in the second half, and Dimitar Berbatov poured salt into the wounds with a late third. A 3-0 trouncing at Old Trafford. Chelsea were poor on the day and this was perhaps the first game when it seemed entirely likely that Scolari’s time was running out. Despite his desperate claim that the title race was not yet over, his period as manager was coming to an end.

A token 4-1 win against Southend in the FA Cup third round replay helped the Blues bounce back, but Joe Cole ruptured a knee joint in the game and was ruled out for the rest of the season.

After going a goal down against Southend, Chelsea showed resilience and fight to overturn the deficit and win. A similar feat was achieved in the next league game at home to Stoke, but that only tells half the story.

Chelsea had pushed for a goal in the first-half but were met by Stoke’s strong resistance which began to frustrate the home side and the watching fans. The second-half began in the same vein, but Chelsea were punished by a opportunist Stoke goal as Rory Delap scored on a rare counter-attack on the hour mark.

A shocked Chelsea attempted to galvanise and push on again, but time began to run out. Franco di Santo, Juliano Belletti and Miroslav Stoch were thrown on to stretch the Stoke defence. It worked.

Belletti headed in on 88 minutes before a last-gasp Frank Lampard goal saved Chelsea’s blushes and perhaps Scolari’s job.

Thankfully, after that drama, routine wins followed over Ipswich Town in the FA Cup fourth round and Middlesbrough in the league which put us into second-place.

Carlo Cudicini followed Wayne Bridge out of the exit door to join Tottenham after playing second-fiddle to Petr Cech in the last few years. Cudicini’s departure marked the end of an era with the affable Italian a popular figure at the club.

So as we reflect on January, it’s difficult to analyse the true consequences of the month. Chelsea were still challenging in the league, the FA Cup, and the Champions League - set to start up again soon - but something wasn’t right. Fans from other clubs could sneer at us and claim we were ungrateful, but we knew something was up. This wasn’t how Chelsea played, this wasn’t what Chelsea were.

Something had to give. In February, something did.

Football clubs are like people, they have unique personalities and play parts like actors, in their own private dramas. Many clubs live a routine 9-5 existence, they’re happy with their position in life, but are soon forgotten. Success is a consequence for an elite few, players, sponsors and media clamour for their attention, others live a wild adventure. They’re unpredictable, like a flawed genius, things normally end badly. Chelsea played the part of a tragic black comedy, we loved them because of this, nobody took us seriously. This script was ripped to shreds with the arrival of Roman Abramovich in 2003. Chelsea 2007 is a worldwide brand, universally recognised as a leading light in world football, a phenomenal success story. It’s been a tough transition for the media, ‘The Bridge of Sighs’ no longer exists.

It’s interesting to examine how Chelsea is perceived by fans of other clubs and the media in general. More than twenty years ago Liverpool dominated English football, they were praised for doing just enough to win games, without ever playing to their true potential. Arsenal were renowned for their defence and the 1-0 win, this was how to win Championships! During the 90’s Manchester United dominated playing attractive attacking football, the media loved them. After one hundred years Chelsea’s purple patch finally arrived, we can hold onto a one nil lead, dig deeply when required  and play great attacking football when appropriate. This begs a certain question; Why is Chelsea  condemned for learning how to win, there’s no simple answer.  

In order to know who you are, you need to know your history. My generation of Chelsea fans was brought up on a diet of violence, massive disappointments interspersed with the odd moment of brilliance. This produced an addictive cocktail of extreme emotions, we identified with a big club going nowhere, it didn’t matter. Chelsea’s  relationship with the press was never good, we were always big news,  lurching from one crisis to another, on and off the pitch. Nobody attracted more media attention than the Chelsea fans, even though hooliganism was rife around the country. Financial crisis, terrible inconsistency, the epic battle to save the Bridge from developers, this is who we were for more than two decades!

Some of footballs most fanatical supporters passionately follow clubs with little success, this certainly applied to Chelsea. Few people doubted Chelsea’s potential, something about us was different, we knew ‘we had it,’ this added to the frustration. One of the things that attracted me to the club was the support, especially away from home, fanatical and loyal. Certain games stick in the mind, such as a 6-0 defeat away to mighty Rotherham in Division 2. Our fans made up nearly half the ground, the travelling support roared their team on from start to finish, it made me proud to be Chelsea.

In 1985-86 we were in with a serious chance of winning the Leauge, with just a few games to go, this dream imploded dramatically. Easter saw Chelsea lose 4-0 at home to West Ham, followed by a desperate 6-0 thrashing at QPR two days later. David Speedie was sent off,  Chelsea fans got louder and louder, things went from bad to catastrophic. This is what we’re really about, thousands of true blues united behind one cause. Chelsea always had a great hardcore support, we still do, but winning hasn’t come without a price. Chelsea FC was a complete no-go zone for glory hunters, things have changed.  Imagine these fans away at Rotherham and QPR, many of them would  be on their way home before half time, looking for the next fad to follow. An uneasy truce  exists between Chelsea’s hardcore support and some  newcomers, this is why!

Many Stamford Bridge fans have been surprised at the venom aimed at us by the media. Conspiracy theorists might question why one rule seems to exist for certain clubs and another  for us? Chelsea was a big club going nowhere, we always blew it on the big day, this made us an easy target for the media. When Hoddle arrived we became the new pretenders, without ever threatening the big boys. Chelsea finished third in 1998-99, it was a magnificent campaign, everyone hoped we’d finish first, I knew we wouldn’t. Years of bitter disappointment conditioned fans to expect the worst, it also conditioned the media, controversy always lurked ominously on the horizon.

In 2002, reports of huge debts circulated in the press, Chelsea were going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, again. Arsenal lurked like starving piranhas in the murky shadows, waiting to pounce on Terry and Gallas. Media vultures circled menacingly above Stamford Bridge. Liverpool came to Stamford Bridge in a do or die premiership game, to decide the final Champions League place. Chelsea won, the vultures watched on ambivalently, it was still only a matter of time. Suddenly Abramovich appeared on the scene, he was going to make Chelsea into winners, this wasn’t part of the script.  

Ranieri did a great job for Chelsea, he laid the seeds for today’s success and was hugely popular amongst the Stamford Bridge faithful. Collectively the Chelsea crowd aren’t winners, we loved a likable chap, Real Madrid fans would have demanded his dismissal. Roman Abramovich refused to be swayed, for the first time in our history we brought in a successful manager. Attacks from the press and opposing fans became increasingly desperate. Bobby Robson warned his prodigy that the Premiership wouldn’t be easy, you can’t buy success screamed an increasingly frustrated press. Chelsea casually strolled the league, obliterating numerous  records on the way. Huge spending sprees at Man City, Leeds, Newcastle and Liverpool were conveniently forgotten, Fergusson and Venger aged visibly, no mean feat in itself!  

Chelsea’s transition into winners was a surprisingly tough evolution for many of its traditional fans. Consistent success is a new experience, years of bitter disappointment taught us to be cautious. Imagine our bitter rivals and the media, we were always easy prey, our script was re-written. Chelsea can be compared with a drunken, unruly student, that later went onto become a multi-millionaire. People can’t believe it, they don’t know how to react, some are pleased, most offer congratulations through tightly clenched teeth. We’re here to stay, English football has been re-written, the media will have to get  used to it!

Wednesday 17 June
Are you watching this? It’s a disgrace. It’s a fcuking disgrace. Uefa banned Drogba for six games (two suspended for two years) and Bosingwa for four (one suspended) for expressing their contempt for Tom Henning Øvrebø’s performance. Uefa also fined Chelsea £83,000 for the missiles apparently thrown and for failing to control their players. Eighty three thousand will not break the bank but contrasted with the £2,060 Luis Aragones was fined for calling Thierry Henry a nigger. The £58,000 they fined the Spanish FA for the systematic racial abuse directed at England’s players five years ago seems much more important than the 150,000 Swiss francs they’ve just slapped us with and demonstrates where Uefa’s priorities lie.
Chelsea have three days to consider their response after the “dispatch of the reasoned decision” the trouble is there is so little reasoned about this decision it is hard to know how to respond. The reaction, which should be belligerent, will probably be a simple acceptance; after all Uefa can always increase the penalty.
Fixtures day and we draw Hull City at home for an instant chance for Ancelotti to prove he is better than Scolari. The early fixtures are relatively gentle, with Sunderland, Fulham, Burnley and Stoke. We have just been reminded that independent websites are not allowed to give too many details of the fixtures without buying a licence. Another layer of charmless greed.
Games against the other members of the ‘big four’ are evenly spread with Liverpool and then Manchester United at home before an away trip to Arsenal before Christmas.
We are home after five of the early European games.
Bayern München have turned down our initial bid for Franck Ribéry, believed to be around £40m. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said, “there is a certain value at which we’ll have to accept.” Which sounds like we need to add a few million, Manchester United are apparently unwilling to sign players over the age of 26, which leaves Franck two months passed their buy by date, Real Madrid seem to have run out of steam, leaving Barcelona as our main challengers. There have been rumours that Jose Bosingwa was going to be part of the deal but with Liverpool in for Glen Johnson, that situation appears to have clouded.

Thursday 18 June
Chelsea are angry and considering an appeal against Uefa but they have to ask themselves: if the vindictive bastards decided on these pointless, punitive decisions while leaving Øvrebø free to practice as a referee without sanction, what hope can an appeal have. They are simply protecting their back, while justice has been suspended.
Italy managed to perform like world cup winners by losing 1-0 to Egypt. Brazil shrugged off the USA to book a place in the semis.
England’s U21 are in the semi-final after beating Spain 2-0, we contrived to miss a penalty but for once looked technically superior, in spells.

Friday 19 June
We will appeal Drogba and Bosingwa’s European bans. JT said he had no idea why Bosingwa was banned: “obviously every player was feeling what Bosingwa felt and, thankfully, nobody else said what he said. But he said what every fan and every player was thinking” he added that he thought Didier’s apology would have softened Uefa’s attitude: “I think he realises that kids were watching and he deserves a ban. But to that extent, I really don’t think so. Maybe a two-match ban”.
Gianfranco thinks Ancelotti will be a success: “for Carlo it’s an opportunity to start over … he will have enormous motivation and, with his skills and Chelsea’s, this means he can do well, very well. He can break Manchester United’s dominance, making the Premier League more fascinating”, bless his Sardinian socks.
Setanta have lost their rights to show Premiership matches, the struggling broadcaster missed a deadline and failed to pay £10m in advance on their 46 games scheduled for next season. The FA have now to find a bidder quickly and it is too much to hope that the BBC might find the money under the bed.

Sturridge’s contract with Mark Hughes’ side will come to an end on June 31st, and with the young hitman rumoured to be haggling over a £70,000 a week deal it looked unlikely that Man City would bite, particularly after parting with millions elsewhere – notably the deals for Roque Santa Cruz and possibly Carlos Tevez. Hopefully he settled for a bit less at Chelsea! I’m sure the signing-on fee probably softened the blow.

As Sturridge is under 24, the Blues will still have to pay some kind of fee to Manchester City despite the fact that he is virtually a free agent.

Sturridge, 19, has got five goals to his name so far in the Premier League but his all-round play up-front also catches the eye. He played alongside the big name Brazilian Robinho last season on several occasions and didn’t look out of place, eventually winning the fans’ Young Player of the Season award. At 6”2’ with a fair amount of pace, Sturridge can learn from the likes of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka at Chelsea and further improve his game.

With the Blues’ frontline looking a little light in the last campaign, Sturridge’s expected arrival will boost our striking options and of course help out with the Champions League squad which requires clubs to name at least eight ‘homegrown’ players for European competition – with at least four having come through the club’s own academy and a further four through an academy in the club’s own country.

CFCnet would like to extend a welcome to Dan Sturridge, the first signing in the Carlo Ancelotti era.

Since they’re fairly high profile, let’s use the Sky Sports piece and break it down. Jan didn’t join Chelsea on trial in 2007, he arrived as a scholar, as almost every foreign youngster arriving at the club does. He suffered a bad injury early in his Blues career, and then suffered some personal issues which affected his stay in England. The club allowed him a leave of absence to deal with the problems, and he was loaned to his former club, Viktoria Plzen, to ensure he still got regular football.

He came back to Chelsea in the summer of 2008 ready and able to fight for a starting spot in the Under-18s, but put in some shaky performances. and things weren’t looking great. But the giant Czech continued to work hard and when injury ruled out both Rhys Taylor and Nic Heimann, he was handed a chance in the Reserve team. He seized it with his giant hands, securing a rare individual and team clean sheet against Arsenal, and looking the talented goalkeeper Chelsea signed in 2007.

The only newsworthy part of the stories doing the rounds right now is that Šebek will sign professional terms in early July, which is fine reward for a player who has had his struggles at the club, but has worked hard and under the tutelage of Mark Beeney and Christophe Lollichon can currently consider himself the third-choice goalkeeper at the club, a duty he served in the final months of last season. He’s been a Chelsea player for two years, and hopefully will continue to be for some time into the future.

Hope that clears some things up.