Something rather wonderful is happening in English football.
It’s suddenly become interesting again.
Yes, I know, it crept up on me, too. And it’s been going on for a little while, as well.
But on Monday a line in the sands of footballing expectations was crossed.
Along with a fair few million around the planet, all tuned in to watch Leicester’s splendid dismissal of Chelsea 2-1 on Monday night, only a small minority would have genuinely anticipated a victory for the plucky visitors from London. Perhaps a majority might have gone for a draw but hang on, this is newly promoted Leicester, playing the current Champions of England.
What on earth is going on with the once mighty blues?
But wait – it’s not just Mourinho’s Meltdown providing the fun and (lost) games for Chelsea.
Over at Liverpool, a turgid early season start saw the dismissal of their formerly high-flying manager, and a stubborn anchor remains, resolutely digging the club into 9th place, for now, at least. Up at high spending Man United, few barely recognise a club that once won everything with Louis van Duul seemingly in a race with The Special One to be the next manager out of a job.
Yet everyone, including the current leaders, have been dropping points like confetti since the opening days of the season and the truth is, the league – and access to the prize of those precious top four places – feels wide open, certainly going into the Xmas period.
(Okay, 16th-placed-Chelsea, maybe not THAT wide open, but you get my drift.)
With the possible exception of games against Aston Villa, it truly feels as if any side, on their day, could beat any other.
So what’s happening?
Well, possibly everything – or nothing.
It is possible – even likely, perhaps – that the Leicester’s, Palace’s, Watford’s and West Ham’s of the world will slip back down to a more ‘normal’ looking mid-table berth by February/March. The arguments about squad depths are usually corralled at this point and there is much truth in the squad depth based arguments.
But it is the sheer numbers of established ‘bigger’ teams doing badly against the so-called smaller clubs that catches the eye. Clubs that have had multiple seasons’ EPL pay days to bolster their squads to presumably challenge for trophies and league places alike are proving the real puzzle – Villa, Sunderland, Chelsea, Newcastle, Southampton, Stoke, Everton, Liverpool – all are (or have been) struggling to a certain extent – and some struggling badly – given the funding that has gone their way in recent seasons.
And on the opposite side of the same coin, by contrast, the sheer number of recently (or quite recently) promoted outfits who appear, so far, to be doing very nicely indeed thank you – tekaboo Bournemouth, Watford, Palace and of course Leicester in particular!
Simply put, we appear to be in the eye of a revolutionary storm that is sweeping over English football – and indeed, the rest of the footballing world.
To get some context to what is happening it’s worth remembering that round the year 2000, Premier League TV income was around £670m which was considered a staggering increase in the figures for 1991-97 which was set at £191m, itself a sum considered by many as being likely to prove ruinous to the beautiful game. By 2004, the figure had soared to £1.024 billion, a number itself up, by 2013, to £3.018 billion and all set, finally, from 2016-2019 to hit £5.136 billion pounds.
The beautiful game appears to have been well and truly supplanted by the ugly cheque book.
By 2013, a number of football clubs’ business models had been put on notice. By 2016 those same set ups may well be considered somewhat, well, irrelevant – possibly even redundant.
Let’s pay some kind of tribute to those models, those systems of funding that made amateur accountants out of so many of us and at least one of which seemed to fly in the face of the now almost quaint-sounding ‘financial fair play’ regime of the largely discredited Platini ‘led’ UEFA.
It all seemed so important up until very recently.
My personal least favourite was the Oligarchy/Sovereign Wealth funding model used to float the likes, of Chelsea and Man City.
‘Grudging’ respect is granted to Man United’s towering commercial team, largely unrivalled in the footballing world in as far as their fortune was (at least prior to the Glazers’ arrival) entirely self-generated. Today, even as a non-United fan, one can only wince at how the hard-earned advantages won in the 1990’s have been squandered in recent years thanks to a spending spree that can only be politely described as careless, short-termist and profligate.
By contrast, the Self-Sustaining Model of Arsenal Football Club was the one most mocked by rivals, commentators and indeed some of the club’s own fans. Trophy-less for a few years, in some ways, it was the most ‘English’ of business models – one of those principled, plucky, fight-them-on-the-beaches kind of models that dominated the moral high ground, if little else.
But all three modus operandi can be considered somewhat out-dated in a world where even the smallest clubs of the league – such as little Bournemouth – have valuations in excess of £100 million and all 20 clubs in the EPL are now in the top 40 revenue earners in the world, at least, according to Deloitte. Even the mighty German Bundesliga at £1.7 billion has been dwarfed by the EPL’s value, already in excess of £3 billion – and that’s before the latest new deal has kicked in.
Of course, should the cash somehow run out one day, we all know which model we’d prefer our own club to be sheltering under.
Okay, enough (almost) of the numbers – what does it really all mean?
Well, it’s interesting that despite Man U having the highest revenue at £433 million, with City on £348m, and Chelsea on £324m, the (relatively) smaller English sides are now earning enough to buy – and pay – players of a sufficient quality to cause real problems for all the ‘big’ clubs.
Don’t be deceived by the headline transfer figures that dance before our eyes in the dreaded transfer windows – very decent players indeed are heading to the likes of Leicester, Bournemouth and Watford not merely to admire the shire views.
The real impact of the ‘new money’ is in the salaries the clubs can now afford and it is this that is likely to cause chaos in the European leagues over the coming seasons. Leagues that now threaten, in my view, to become zombie affairs as their best talent heads north. Apart from the risks presented to the English national side by the influx of foreign talent, the softer, slower and less competitive leagues of Spain, Italy and France are unlikely to be firmed up in the foreseeable future.
Many of their best players are already bidding farewell to the somewhat sunnier climes of Europe and Latin America in favour of the highest weekly wages on the planet and the grey skies of a tiny island nation which somehow once again finds itself punching well above its sporting weight. All this no doubt to the consternation of a largely rudderless UEFA and FIFA, who are both as powerless to intervene in this new world order as the moral vacuums they inhabit are empty and valueless.
And where does all this leave Arsenal? Did we just waste 10 years buying a shiny new stadium when really we could have been (over-) spending on players and shiny old cups? Is there any way any of this could have been anticipated?
Surely, somewhere, somehow, there is a way to cast blame and demand ‘Arsene out’, if only for old time’s sake?
To be honest, it’s not an argument I want to fully address as we will never really know what we might have achieved during the years of austerity had we stayed put at Highbury and thrown all caution to the wind. One suspects the likes of Chelsea in particular would not have had things all their own way and City would have never got so far ahead. Maybe we’d have not lost some of our better players to Man U, Barca and others.
Regardless of the rights and wrongs of that particular argument, the Emirates Stadium, apart from almost doubling the numbers of spectators actually getting into games, has another more symbolic importance.
Aside from being one of the most modern stadia in world football, Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium represents the club as being the most forward looking, advanced and prepared club in the country – and, very likely, in the world.
Not only do our ever-improving training facilities in London Colney represent the absolute cutting edge of sports science, but there is talk, in some ‘in-the-know’ quarters, of Arsenal presently looking around for a new site to build a second stadium – this one for our U21’s, U18’s, and other squads to be able to play in front of smaller but no less enthusiastic crowds of spectators, fascinated to see, in a competitive setting, the very best in world youth.
But over and above all this, our development and investment in data analytics – something few properly understand – is already placing our club in the driving seat of talent assessment and acquisition.
Because, when everybody is firing £20 notes from their TV-rights funded tanks, you have to be able to spend wiser, not greater, in order to secure competitive advantage.
A lesson the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea, to name just two, do not appear to be learning any time soon.
Yes, something rather wonderful is happening to English football.
The old guard is no longer having things entirely their own way and whilst few will refuse the new money, there will be many nervous eyes cast in the direction of the explosive impact all this cash will have on the cosy cartel that once dominated English football.
Yes, they were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off, maybe.
But now everybody in the League have got their hands on the loot.
As the prospects for the biggest clubs hang in the balance, everybody has a chance to win again and, happily, things may never be quite the same again.
Positively Arsenal 
Oliver Kay @OliverKayTimes Dec 14
Shortly after proposing that he took them to last season’s heights, Mourinho says his players must put their feet on the ground & be humble
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What has changed is until 3 years ago we were vulnerable to losing players to rich clubs. then we were not. Now almost every club can say no. And say no to us as well.
Getting players out of PL clubs is going to be very very expensive.
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Agree George, but EPL clubs now have far greater fire-power to get players – including very good ones – out of non EPL clubs. And that’s significant.
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The lure of London, the fabulous stadium,playng style,and for now, Arsene, will imo be our biggest advantages as the financial gap narrows.
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As long as the home grown rule still stands…home grown players would be very expensive.
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Thanks for the article AA, I really enjoyed reading this tonight. Interesting comments too PG.The loss of key players in the last three years has been a very big deal for us, without checking the stats, Im not too sure any of them really did that well. I think it was much tougher for Wenger to handle. Should have bloody stayed with us!!
I think it really is an interesting league for the first time since…well a really long time.Im all for an open league, and even more open for Chelsea hanging around the PL arsehole, its where they naturally belong, as history has often shown.
So when AFC win the league then the WOB will say it was a case of the other teams being a load of crepe.Proving how little they understand of the complexities of football! Yes, that real human football not “football manager 82” for the ZX spectrum.
AFCB wont be lying down anymore than City. Its certainly going to be an interesting(or nail baiting) Xmas period.I dont fancy Leicesters fixture list though.But it could be a serious test of their mettle.hopefully they will get mettle fatigue and float away.
Isnt it amazing how we humans take different aspects of human culture really seriously? Who 129 years ago would have thought of the whole industry that surrounds Arsenal now and the other football teams?
COYG!
ps-Steww if youre looking in, Ive cracked who the mystery voice is!!!
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I shall read this excellent piece with the care it demands in the morning – helluva contribution
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What an erudite and thought provoking piece from wise ol’ Andrew. It sounds plausible I must say…
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Mills – “mettle fatigue”, very good, ha ha.
(Dammit, wish I’d thought of that).
But yes, the so-called ‘lesser’ teams are capable of causing chaos if not actually winning too many competitions – for now.
I don’t have the time to do it but it would be interesting to know how many points have been swiped from the top teams by the lower placed teams compared to previous seasons.
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AA- Bournemouth being the great example of a lesser team doing well against the more richer clubs. And they were on the wrong side of decisions against Liverpool.
Certainly seems that more points have been swiped this season by the lower placed teams. Im all for it, as long as they dont swipe points from us of course!
For years Ive argued at UA that all teams deserve a crack at the title and no team (inc.AFC) have any “right/s at all to anything, yet the WOB think we do.Wneger spoilt them simple as that. Anyone whose supported Arsenal pre-Wenger knows this.I hope it continues this way for a while.
Its odd the psychological angle in games, Chelsea with or sans José will rise up out of some sort of odd pride and give us a real game at ours,as they did (regardless of old dancing lily-white loving Sméagol). It could be seen for years,the WOB loved shoving around stats that AFC couldnt beat the richer clubs, but all the big boys rise to the occasions, that want to play and beat us.
Yet not many teams probably want to go to WBA/Joke City in November not even WBA or Joke city themselves!I suppose its just not that glamorous/exciting but if clubs like that started really pulling in results we would start to see a new league, in that every game could become an old style Cup Final–harder on the players, but perhaps much better for us as spectators.The fallout would mean changes in officiating and timing etc.And al sorts of new players fulfilling all sorts of potential.Which I’d be happy to see.
I really liked your article,certainly thought provoking.
Cheers!
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It’s certainly good to see the lesser lights of the EPL shining brightly. It is one of the things that makes the EPL a better watch than the Spanish League. But these things never quite turn out as straightforward as that. There’s a lot that can happen with the bumper deal.
Firstly, the players. While the EPL has been the richest league for a long time, the best players from the continent haven’t always made their way here, choosing instead to stay at even some of the lesser fancied clubs in their own countries. Players from South America will probably continue to choose Spain, Portugal and Italy over England.
A less physically demanding league, less competitions, lesser games, winter break, better climate. Will the English league’s finances prove lucrative enough to overcome those attractions?
Possibly. But what also might happen is that a lot of the good players in Europe and elsewhere hold off on joining the smaller clubs in the PL because it’ll be that much harder for them to use those clubs as a stepping stone. If Manchester United will potentially pay you 300k, you might want to stay in the South of France for 70k and have a transfer value of 20m, rather than choose to play for Sunderland for 100k and make a transfer prohibitively expensive.
Instead of widening the available talent pool, the influx of money might well reduce it. Even if not, as it is, Wenger has already said a while ago that the issue is not scarcity of money, but the scarcity of players good enough. English clubs will probably just end up paying more money for similar players as now.
Another effect of this deal might well be Championship clubs, where many of the lesser lights come from, spending themselves into oblivion to try and get into the PL’s treasure trove.I know they have financial rules which prevent losses, but there are ways around it for those determined enough.
And why would they be determined? Quite possibly, the owners will be looking for a payoff once they get to the PL. If indeed the PL financial rules are going to hold up, it’ll be because those excess funds which are not allowed to be used for wages, will go towards paying the owners. Probably not at all clubs, but I’d guess at quite a few.
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Nice one Andrew.
I do recall some interesting comments from Uncle Ivan and the Arsenal Board around the time of the AGM when they said they aware the TV money was going to permanently change the Premier League – especially for the typically lower ranked teams.
Look at Stoke for example – They have a forward line that you’d normally see in the Champions League.
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So the PL is getting better players, but what about the coaching?
Is this why LvG and The Specialist have been found out?
Neither of them have ever been good at encouraging highly technical play.
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A bit like back in the day when Forest and Villa and Celtic before them won the European Cup?
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theupstateletter – the irony of the sense of the footballing wheel turning full circle was not lost on me as I was writing the article. Of course, aside from the past couple of decades, there have been other times when individual clubs have dominated an era – not least The Arsenal of the 1930’s and, more recently, the Liverpool of Shankly/Paisley. But the excitement of a return to competitive plurality – the sense that ANY team could become champions/FA Cup holders etc, is a hugely attractive prospect, at least for me.
double canister – yes, that Stoke forward line could well be seen as a sign of things to come. Stoke City! (Or as Mills calls them Joke City – though I doubt there are too many laughing in the Potteries). Bloody hell.
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Much enjoyable read AA.
Apart from the new money that had entered the fray the likes of Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, West Ham, Watford and Leicester City also play a brand of attacking football we haven’t seen from the so-called “lesser teams” in recent years – where parking the bus was at the order of the day. They seen a worked for Swansea and Saints seasons before. WBA, Norwich and Newcastle has also caught that bug of late. They now see that as the practical way to assure PL survival.
These teams may not have the depth in quality and it’s a matter of conjecture whether they can do the same in the 2nd round of the PL, but one thing is certain, they are doing enough to cause chaos and make the league a more open affair.
Something radicals like José Mourinho, by the look of it, clearly weren’t prepared for. And Fat Sam are being left behind.
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Thanks Andrew: brilliant stuff and full of thought. I guess the trick now is in finding players with quality and potential who are desperate to succeed. Players genuinely in love with the game whose fires burn fiercely but who are as yet unproven and are a bit of a gamble. The Leicester three that all are talking about are good examples, as are many of the Arsenal team. The way games are refereed is also important: if decisions most often favour the big clubs, as has sometimes seemed to be the case, then as night follows day you end up with an uncompetitive league.
Managers too: it must be easy for them to become lazy, and resort to formulas and approaches which have served them well in the past, only spotting too late that the contours of the game have changed and they are trapped in unfamiliar territory with no compass, moral or otherwise, to guide them.
I can’t see this character of Catherine Tate’s without thinking of the no longer quite so young and special Jose.
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Great article AA, chelski and man cities arrival would still have meant players would leave even if we had stayed at Highbury.
The new stadium and commerce it brings is finally helping us catch up abit however a owner who will bankroll a club with unlimited cash will always outspend any other model.
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AA
I’m finding your article extremely though provoking. Thanks.
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ianspace – as far as I can tell there appear to be few constraints on Manure’s spending yet they are struggling to keep up with their rivals.
Okay, we could blame their choice of manager yet both Chelsea and Citeh have huge and expensive squads and still neither of those are running away with things.
The impact of the ‘new money’ already appears to be starting the process of levelling the league and at the end of the day, regardless the expenditure by an Oligarch/Sheik/etc, a manager can only field 11 players at a time. The wealth of the league is now growing in inverse proportion to the closure of the talent gap between the elite and the rest.
In other words, where there was once clear blue water separating the few from the many, there is now a murky, unpredictable, pond of uncertainty.
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‘ALEXIS HAS A SLIGHT CHANCE TO BE BACK’
Arsène Wenger revealed the following team news ahead of the Manchester City game:
on the latest…
We are quite far from the game but at the moment, everybody who played against Aston Villa is available for Monday night and there are one or two possible comebacks. Maybe there is a slight chance for Alexis to be in the squad again but it is too early to be sure about it.
on Alexis…
He is running but not participating in full training.
We have shown again recently with Olympiacos and with Villa that we have fantastic mentality in the team and that these players are something special on the human front
on Alexis wanting to play…
I believe that is normal that he wants to play. You want him to be keen to play. He respects all the decisions I make and that is what I want from him.
on trusting Alexis to be honest about his fitness…
It is not trust in a negative way. Some of them are so keen to forget that they have pain somewhere that they say they are alright when they are not. You know the players and their psychological profile, you take that into account, then you get scientific advice and you trust your gut as well and then you make a decision.
on it being a compliment…
It’s a compliment. You want everybody to absolutely want to play. We have shown again recently with Olympiacos and with Villa that we have fantastic mentality in the team and that these players are something special on the human front. I hope that in the longer term, in the championship, that will come out. I’m sure [it will].
on him making the decision rather than Alexis…
Yes, because he says he’s always ready.
Copyright 2015 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20151217/-alexis-has-a-slight-chance-to-be-back-#CKCqLBxGBGltVq1Z.99
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the real specialist in failure Jose Mourinho has been sacked by Chelsea
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Arsenal scout Brian McDermott has been appointed manager of Reading FC, reports suggest that he will be replaced at Arsenal by Leicester City’s Ben Wrigglesworth, who has been placed on gardening leave by LCFC
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esut Ozil
ARSENAL FIXTURES SELECTED FOR TELEVISION
We have today received notification from the Premier League that the following games involving Arsenal have been rescheduled as a result of TV selections:
AFC Bournemouth v Arsenal
Sunday, February 7, 2016 (originally Saturday, February 6)
Kick-off: 1.30pm
Live on: SKY SPORTS
Manchester United v Arsenal
Sunday, February 28, 2016 (originally Saturday, February 27)
Kick-off: 2.05pm
Live on: SKY SPORTS
Please note that, as a consequence of our Manchester United away game having moved to Sunday, February 28 for TV coverage, our home fixture against Swansea City has been rescheduled 24 hours to Wednesday, March 2, kick off 7.45pm.
The ‘standard’ TV selections have now been made up to the end of February 2016. Ordinarily, fixtures up to this date will not now change. However, as ever, all fixtures remain subject to change and circumstances may yet arise which result in further fixture changes.
Copyright 2015 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to http://www.arsenal.com as the source
Read more at http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20151217/arsenal-fixtures-selected-for-television#MEtt1UXI85oZVJFF.99
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the agent of ex spurs boss Juande Ramos is in london for talks with Chelsea
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Paddy @VieiraPaddy 16m16 minutes ago
British football journalists will probably wear black armbands for a week
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Well that is not a turn up for the book.
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I am suspicious in ascribing only money as the foundation of the erratic results in the PL as in itself cash really does to determine results – it’s important but only a part.
I think a second factor is the quality of coaches being appointed, often young, often from Europe who have brought a sharper edge to clubs. I have in mind Howe, Pochettino, Bilic. These chaps are very thorough and seem to get the extra 10% out of their often quite ordinary players. Even among the older style English dogs they seem much more professional than 4-5 seasons back.
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Would be interesting to see how transfer prices and wages changed with each new deal. City and Chelsea’s extreme bouts of spending will muddy the waters a bit, but it’s probably still quite close to a match (e.g, say, 20% rise in tv deal equals about the same through the league in transfers and wages)
Should that be the case with the new deal: the players will be in for a wage bonanza, transfers between premier league clubs for main players will decrease significantly, those that happen will be after long, ugly battles, which will normally involve the player having to voice and show unhappiness, and the fees should be extraordinary.
At the moment, uncertainty must reign. Until a few big deals have happened, it will be very hard for clubs to set prices for all players. A similar thing can be expected with wages. I don’t know how we have been able to manage paying Ramsay, Sanchez, Ozil, Kos and co less than half, perhaps closer to a third or Rooney’s wages, but this will become an even trickier feat to manage from hereon in.
Bids seem likely for some or all of Mane, Vardy and Mahrez in Jan, with Kane and Stones, especially the latter, to follow then or in the summer, but the incentive to sell seems non-existent. The notion of value is totally up in the air. The facts remain that value can be said to be whatever someone is willing to pay for a thing, likewise the idea of an offer that can’t be refused, but that latter level seems likely to be so high that a buying club will struggle to go there, even if they can certainly afford to.
Chances are it will be Chelsea, Utd and especially City who make the first big deals happen. Martial and De Bruyne can probably be looked at as the bridge between the old realities and the new. With Martial especially it is probably true that there was no desire to sell, and little belief an offer could arrive high enough to change that. But it did. Because 50-70 million or whatever it was makes sense to a Utd who generate about 200 million spare cash, or whatever it is, each year.
I believe a very good sign of how Arsenal regards the market was shown this summer. If Martial was about the best bet to turn into a superstar striker in the 18-20 range, and cost that, before the new deal, what will either the fully established thing cost in the near future or other contenders of Martial’s age? They are scarce, and as well as City Utd and Chelsea who can spend significantly more than us, there is PSG, Real, Barca and Bayern Munich.
So, we seem to be doing everything humanly possible to circumvent that and grow our own striker. Despite having some very promising young English strikers on the books, we signed another two from abroad, meaning there are now about 4 or 5 battling it out, as well as Akpom on loan. The risk is clear of alienating a good talent, but the current and future market seem to have made the case for taking that risk to give us the maximum chance of bringing through a striker from within.
The future of football could hardly be more uncertain, what with Fifa and Uefa’s troubles in the mix,too- but you’d think there’ll have to be a time when the Bundesliga and League 1 start calling for drastic action if they’ve had the same champions for 5,6,7,8 years, and the players are being snapped up earlier and earlier from the other clubs by premier league teams.
Lets enjoy the fun this year and be prepared for yet crazier shit to come.
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the big question is
will Wenger’s reign at Arsenal last long enough for him to see Mourinho sacked 3 times by Chelsea
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Phew! Hes gone at last. And what a heap of kack he brought to the BPL.(imo). Who are Chelsea getting in? Fat Sam? Somebody from Le Grove? Henry the mild mannered Janitor? Could be…
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I’m kind of disappointed he has gone because I was enjoying his and chelski’s misery. Unfortunately they will now find a half decent replacement and the players will suddenly rediscover their form and not get relegated, shame (banned sad faced smiley)
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Pass-I had just the same thoughts.
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Jim White @JimWhite 24m24 minutes ago
I understand #Mourinho sacked at 2pm by Bruce Buck and Eugene Tenenbaum and the actual sacking took 10 mins.
jose must have went on one of his 7 minute rants about wenger, before Buck got the chance to speak and tell him he was sacked.
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” The really remarkable thing about Mourinho’s demise is the smallness of the man it has revealed”
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/dec/16/chelsea-jose-mourinho-stamford-bridge-shakespearean
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They need a scrapper, a man who knows the ins and outs of the foot of the table relegation battle. A man who knows the PL. a man who has a little CL experience at least. And a man who is currently available.
Tricky spec.
It has to be Arry.
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What passenal said at 3:37. Must apply to many of us. On the other hand, the entertainment quotient was diminishing fast and he was getting extremely boring.
Just love anicoll5 at 4:10.
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But then, if they’re really considering Ramos, ‘arry ain’t such such a wild suggestion.
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It will be Guus
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Guus is 69
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Its the new 49
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Gus Caesar?
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Blimey.
As some of you will remember i was holding out for a longer spell from the specialist. We all have dreams.
Anyone who can degrade the uber squad GazCorp were building upon his revival down to such levels (that squad he Inheroted should by now have been competing for it’s third straight title) is alright in my books! And perhaps the books of one or two special agents too.
Arse.
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Return > revival
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But given that interview at the weekend it would’ve taken effort to avoid the understanding that Mourinho was looking forward to the severance package. Everyone’s a winner!
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Thanks Andrew. A timely and welcome article. About time too!
If anyone deserved to drive in the final nail to the special coffin it was Ranieri. We all saw how good Mahrez and others were when they came to N5 last season but they are clearly playing with the freedom and confidence that their manager has allowed them.
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At least the distant horror of Mourinho going on to fluke his way to a CL victory this season has now receded.
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fins the real danger now is that CFC will go on to win the CL this season, they done it last time the strangling hand of mourinho was lifted from round the players necks. they are still a top side and if they are now motivated they can not be ruled out
by the way here is link to a picture of joe say hiding his face as he is driven away from Chelsea today
http://www.thepostgame.com/daily-take/201512/jose-mourinho-chelsea-fired-sacked-soccer-premier-league-eden-hazard-real-madrid?
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a serious question
does today’s events make this one of the best days in the history of the BPL
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JamesGooner88 @JamesGooner88 2h2 hours ago
Can’t play exciting football, can’t develop youth players, can’t win without endless money, no longevity, sacked 4 times, all round cunt.
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