Chelsea Ladies sign Arsenal Pair

Chelsea offer Frank record salary
In a final bid to settle this matter once and for all, Chelsea has said to be ready to offer Frank Lampard £140K per week to keep him at Stamford Bridge. Lamps and Uncle Phil are to set down for talks next week, at which time I would assume one of them will catch a beat down.

Crespo leaves Chelsea
Hernan Crespo is finally free from Chelsea, after he was released from his contract this week. Crespo, who has spent the last two years at Internazionale, said he hopes to remain with the club now under Jose Mourinho. Crespo joined Chelsea from Inter in 2003 for around 17million. He scored 20 goals in 49 appearances for the Blues.
A statement on the Chelsea website said: “After his contract expired this week, Hernan Crespo is no longer a Chelsea player. We thank Hernan for his efforts in a Chelsea shirt, and wish him well in the future.”

Makelele ‘in contact’ with PSG
PSG manager Paul Le Guen has be quoted as saying he remains in contact with Claude Makelele and PSG remains interested in signing Chelsea’s holding midfielder.
“I have spoken to the player to tell him that, like last year, we have the intention to make him come to Paris,” Le Guen told L’Equipe.
Chelsea has offered Maks a one-year extension according to reports over the past few weeks. Whether he will agree to stay on is still up for debate. (Romes, you need to tie my man down immediately.)

Flog Drog
The Sun reckons Uncle Phil hates Didier Drogba’s guts. So, he’s asked Roman & Co. to ship the Ivorian out of town. The club is seeking 22mil for the man, and are targeting bipolar Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o as his replacement.

Chelsea owner escapes politics
“President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday accepted the resignation of Roman Abramovich, the Kremlin’s most loyal oligarch, as governor of the far eastern Chukotka autonomous district, a job Abramovich has long made clear that he wanted out of.”
So Romes is calling time on “the politics.” Abramovich has been attempting to get out of his position since 2006, albeit unsuccessfully.

Congratulations Roberto
Former Chelsea man Roberto Di Matteo was unveiled as MK Dons manager today at an official news conference. Matteo, 38, replaces Paul Ince who left to take over the vacant position at Blackburn.

The former Barcelona midfielder inked a two-year contract with the Blues on an £8 million deal (bargain I say), according to the Guardian. Deco, 30, will no doubt bring a touch of class to the midfield with his vision, skill on the ball and superlative passing ability. However, his transfer to Chelsea throws another wrench into the Frank Lampard saga, which continues to push on with a move to Inter Milan looking all the more likely.

“I am sure I have come [to Chelsea] at the right time to do great things and be able to help Chelsea go back to the way it was and be first, not only in England but also to win the Champions League,” Deco said. “That has been their dream for so long. The Premier League is a great league and it is getting better. You could see that at the Champions League final where you had two English teams.

“It is great that we have so many great players here at Chelsea and it is great that there is the competition which is healthy for everybody. This just makes the team better. To have great players in any position of the club just enhances the club. I know it is a new challenge but I am looking forward to it. I know I need a little bit of time to adapt, but I am sure I will adapt quite well and quite fast and do my best for the team.”

Well, most of us have called for a playmaker in the squad. Now that we have one, how does everyone feel about it? Is this the man we so desperately need?

I, for one, have always admired Deco. However, at 30, it’s going to be quite an order for him to come into the Premiership and contribute immediately. Do I think he can do it? Certainly. The man showed his class at Euro and for 8mil — that’s pocket change for this club — why not take a punt on a world class talent?

The real question: Who’s next on the list of arrivals?

The Blues signed their first Yank on Thursday, with former World Cup winner Lorrie Fair joined Chelsea Ladies. The Former U.S. international won the Cup in 1999 and made 123 appearances for the States.

The Academy travelled to Aston Villa on Saturday morning and like the first team a couple of weeks ago, were beaten. The game ended 2-1 to Villa. Read all about it here.

The reserves were in action last night at their new home Griffin Park, home of Brentford FC and in front of a fair sized crowd drew with Tottenham 1-1. Read all about it here.

England Ladies with three Chelsea players reached the knockout stages of FIFA’s World Cup in China with a comfortable 6-1 over Argentina yesterday. Read all about it here.

Tonight the first team take centre stage at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League against Norway’s Rosenborg. Full preview to follow.

KTBFFH

Some advice. Never take a few days off from writing stuff before the International break takes-over and in the two week break for Euro 2008 qualifiers, there ain’t a lot of stuff that you can write about and thats my excuse…. wink wink!!!

Seriously after a break from work I have returned today from three days away on business and I am STILL LOOKING FOR THAT SPONSOR that will give me a wireless internet PC so I can keep this blog up-to-date 24/7, 365 days a year!!!

So the following is a pick of what’s been going on in the Chelsea world since the Villa defeat.

Former Chelsea manager Ian Porterfield died last night (Tuesday) at the age of 61 losing his battle with cancer.

Porterfield managed Chelsea in the period between 1991 and 1993 after Bobby Campbell restored Chelsea’s presence in the top flight. Porterfield was Chelsea coach and the players wanted his elevation to manager and so it was.

In his time Porterfield led Chelsea to a FA Cup Quarter-Final for the first time in 10 years, we won at Anfield for the first time in 56 years and Chelsea finished 14th in the First Division.

Porterfield though will be famously remembered for the goal he scored in the 1973 Cup Final against Leeds when Sunderland won the FA Cup final 1-0.

RIP

Reports today suggest the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has offered the entire Russian squad a £40,000 per man bonus to beat England at Wembley tonight. Chelsea has issued a statement refuting these allegations.

The German FA is jumping up and down about the condition/future and his exclusion from Chelsea’s Champions League squad (till the knockout stages) of Michael Ballack. Really who gives a toss. I don’t. Ballack is a Chelsea waste of space and I can’t wait till he leaves and if he ends up at Real Madrid then let him. With Jose’s new system, Ballack will probably get more games at Brentford for the reserves.

Talking of reserves. Last Monday week the reserves beat Derby County 4-1 and last Saturday the Academy drew at home to Birmingham City 2-2. Chelsea Ladies have yet to kick off their season due to the Women’s World Cup in China, where England drew their first game against Japan 2-2.

This weekend sees the return of Premiership action and Chelsea take on Blackburn at Stamford Bridge, plus there is the first qualifying round of the FA Cup where the road to Wembley (They are all after Chelsea’s Cup) sees Erith Town (who beat VCD in the last round) in action.

KTBFFH

The Reserves kick off their season on Wednesday night when they take on the Reserves of Portsmouth FC at Havant and Waterlooville FC. As usual if you remember from last season, where possible ALL Reserve games will be LIVE Blogged and Wednesday night will be no exception. Kick off time is 7pm (UK Time).

Chelsea Ladies season was due to start last weekend but because of FIFA’s Women’s World Cup starting in China on September 10th, the Ladies will not kick a ball in anger until October time (depending on the success of England).

Three Chelsea Ladies are on their way to China to play for England and we wish them every success. The girls are Eniola Aluko, Casey Stoney and Siobhan Chamberlain.

To keep up-to-date with all the action from China, click here.

KTBFFH

Chelsea are not the only team in action on Tuesday night. The reserves continue their pre-season with a game against Brentford at Griffin Park, which is Chelsea Reserves new home for matches. Last week the reserves lost at Hampton and Richmond 1-0 in the third game of their build-up and astonishingly enough the reserves managed a total of 29 shots on goal!!

The Academy were in action on Saturday at the training ground, Cobham where they took on the Academy of Swindon Town FC and won the game 3-0. Goals from Morten Nielsen, Adam Phillips and Fabio Borino sealed the win.

A week before the Academy beat Malmo’s (Sweden) U18s 3-2. All the goals were scored in the second-half.

Now the Academy travel half-way round the World to take part in the Champions Youth Cup in Malaysia.

Chelsea Ladies FC continue their spree of signing players to strengthened their squad by capturing England international goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain from Bristol Academy and Jess Smith from Charlton Athletic.

These latest signings join Eniola Aluko and Casey Stoney.

The Ladies continue their pre-season with a home game at the training ground, Cobham against Crystal Palace. The match kicks off at 7pm (UK time).

Back to the first team. Chelsea play their last pre-season friendly before the Community Shield game against Man Utd on Sunday, against Brondby in Copenhagen on Tuesday night. The match kicks off at 7.10pm (UK time) and I hope and I mean HOPE that I can LIVE blog this game for all you lovely people.

KTBFFH