Roberto Di Matteo tees off during the Pro-Am round ahead of the BMW PGA Championship on the West Course at Wentworth.
Players' chants of "we want him to stay" on sundays tour bus after the club's first European Cup victory, which roman himself was sat on.
Former Chelsea striker Gianfranco Zola believes Italian compatriot Roberto Di Matteo is likely to remain in charge of the Blues next season.
Chelsea fans want him to stay and be given the chance
Perhaps the interim Chelsea manager was dropping a subliminal message to Blues owner Roman Abramovich as he lined up his shot in front of a massive 'Boss' poster.
Chelsea unveiling plans to move to a new stadium at Battersea Power Station.
After years of deliberation, the club is ready to leave their home since 1905 for a new 60,000 capacity on the south bank of the Thames.
The £1.2billion project, which would include the largest single-tier seated stand in Europe and a shopping development, has a number of significant obstacles to overcome.
But as Roberto Di Matteo’s side aim for a fourth FA Cup triumph in six seasons, the announcement was a clear sign of Roman Abramovich’s determination to leave a legacy off the pitch as well as on it.
While the sale of Stamford Bridge – which would have to be agreed by Chelsea Pitch Owners, who own the freehold and rejected attempts to buy it back last year – would raise around £600million, that would still leave a similar shortfall.
Chelsea are ready to pledge up to £200m to help build a new Northern Line tube station to transport extra fans – the new stadium would hold a third more than Stamford Bridge’s 44,000 capacity.
That comes in addition to the £500m cost of the site, £150m to restore the facade of the iconic chimneys, towers and Grade Two-listed turbine hall of the power station, built in the 1930s but disused since 1983.
Chelsea, likely to borrow rather than ask Abramovich to stump up further after he has already spent more than £1bn since his takeover, insist they are still interested in Earl’s Court and have not decided, definitively, to leave the Bridge.
But going public on the concept is a clear sign of their intentions, with the new stadium potentially being completed by 2016 if planning hurdles can be cleared.
Chelsea said: “Our initial plans include a 15,000-all-seated one-tier stand behind the south goal, likely to be the biggest one-tier stand in football.
“Also as suggested by many fans, the stadium proposed is rectangular in shape with four separate stands.”
WHAT a night. What a display of defiance from Chelsea after the dismissal of John Terry for kneeing Alexis Sánchez. To the delight of their fans up in the Gods, 10 men went to mow a meadow, and thrillingly, amazingly, they cut mighty Barcelona, the European champions, the team of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta down to size. This really was a night for a Chelsea knees-up. Terry's expulsion after 37 minutes for a cynical attempt to incapacitate Barcelona's Chilean striker should have signalled the end for Chelsea's hopes. They were trailing to Sergio Busquets' strike. They were already manning the barricades and now their captain was gone. In the 2008 Moscow final, Terry lost his footing; here he lost his marbles. He let his team down. Gary Cahill had already limped off. To lose one centre half could be considered a misfortune, to lose two smacked of carelessness. Depleted in numbers, Chelsea were never down in spirit. Even when Iniesta made it 2-0, Chelsea responded. RamiresP was immense, defending and attacking relentlessly, even scoring S to make it 2-1 on the cusp of half-time, changing the mood, B giving Chelsea hope, even making light of a booking that C precludes his presence in the Munich final on May 19. The Brazilian's contribution echoed that of Roy Keane in
1 Turin in 1999 or Michael Ballack in Seoul in 2002; putting personal heartache to one side to help drive their team to the final. Matching Ramires's excellence was Petr Cech, who made some vital saves. Didier Drogba was also terrific, working selflessly for the cause. Fernando Torres, so derided by so many, came on and scored in the last minute. Roberto Di Matteo has brought calm to the dressing-room, an easily assimilated tactical game-plan and defends his players. His credentials for the full-time post are strengthening by the game. If the desire in the Chelsea corridors of power is for a bigger name, well just give Di Matteo a while longer. His profile grows and grows. Even if Roman Abramovich looks elsewhere, and sadly the Russian was absent on Tuesday night last week, Di Matteo will always have Barcelona. Oh, and Lisbon and possibly Munich. Heaven knows who he will pick for the showdown: also joining Terry andRamires in the banned stand are Branislav Ivanovic and Raul Meireles. Whatever happens to Di Matteo, he will always have the memory of outwitting Pep Guardiola, of Lionel Messi failing to score, of his players rallying to the cause against one of the most feted sides in history and of the blue flag flying over the Nou Camp. He can also take pride in the way he reorganised his side, giving strength in adversity. Cahill's injury brought Jose Bosingwa on at right back with Ivanovic moving to partner Terry. Another centre-half departed, Gerard Piqué sustaining concussion in a clash with keeper Victor Valdes. The pressure on Chelsea intensified. Frank Lampard was booked. Messi had a shot saved. Iniesta's follow-up was blocked by Terry. Then Cesc Fabregas hit the side-netting. Danger rose from every quarter. Even Javier Mascherano let fly, narrowly over. Then came 10 mad minutes as the half closed, Barcelona first digging up a jewel from the wreckage of a corner. Dani Alves slipped the ball left to Isaac Cuenca, who crossed low and accurately to Busquets. The finish was neat, left-footed from 10 yards and the Nou Camp erupted. A goal down on the night, Chelsea were soon a man down. AsTerry kneed Sánchez in the back, as the Chilean fell to earth, the assistant referee signalled the offence to Cuneyt Cakir, the excellent Turkish referee, who reached for the red card. As Terry made the walk of woe, Chelsea's remodelled back-four was Ramires-Ivanovic-Bosingwa-Ashley Cole and it was soon breached. Messi was the catalyst, gliding forward, sliding the ball to Iniesta, who finished unerringly. This looked Mission Impossible. Yet Chelsea stood firm, breaking out and scoring a fine goal just before the break. Lampard made it, releasing Ramires, who galloped down the inside-right channel, showing all that famous stamina and then finishing like the Brazilian he is, the ball chipped elegantly over Valdes. After the break, Barcelona could not have set up camp more in Chelsea's half if they had pitched a row of tents across the 18-yard line. Within three minutes, they should have regained the initiative. Drogba challenged Fabregas, who went down. Cakir pointed to the spot and Messi stepped up. Surely he would inflict pain on the visitors. To the disbelief of all, the Argentine drove the ball against the bar. Frustration seeped into Barcelona's veins. Messi pushed Lampard and then pulled him back. Chelsea fans began tauntingP locals with chants of "Jose Mourinho". Cech continued his S masterclass of goalkeeping, tipping a Messi shot on to the post B and pushing away a Mascherano strike. C And then Torres ran free, rounding Valdes and scoring. What a night.
Joshua Mark "Josh" McEachran (born 1 March 1993 in Oxford, England) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Swansea City, on loan from Chelsea. He is a left-footed central creative midfield player.
McEachran was born in Oxford to Scottish parents.He grew up in the village of Kirtlington with his sister Danielle and younger brothers Zach, Will and George. He began playing football for Garden City F.C. in the Oxford Mail Boys League, where he was spotted by a Chelsea scout.He then joined the Blues as an academy player at the age of 8 and rose through the ranks while juggling his academic responsibilities at Marlborough School in Woodstock.
McEachran made his competitive first team debut for Chelsea against MŠK Žilina on 15 September 2010 as a substitute.He became the first player to be born after the UEFA Champions League started on 25 November 1992 to take part in the competition. McEachran made his home debut in a League Cup tie against Newcastle United, where he again came on as a substitute. He made his Premier League debut on 25 September in a 1–0 defeat to Manchester City. On 23 November 2010 manager Carlo Ancelotti announced that McEachran would make his first start against MŠK Žilina, which he did. He followed this up by playing the entire game away to Marseille in a UEFA Champions League group game.
McEachran started for Chelsea against Newcastle at Stamford Bridge on 15 May 2011, a 2–2 draw at home to Newcastle and in total, he made nine starts and 13 sub appearances in campaign with then manager Carlo Ancelotti preferring to use him in a deep midfield role. His inclusion in the line-up was viewed by pundits as a suggestion that the Chelsea administration are keen to retain McEachran and that they recognise the importance of younger players in an otherwise ageing team. He then came off the bench to make his ninth league appearance away to Everton F.C. in the final game of the 2010-11 Premier League season. In his debut season in the Chelsea first team, McEachran was awarded the Chelsea Young Player of The Year award on 19 May 2011.
On 15 July 2011, he signed a new five-year deal, Fifteen days later, he scored his first Chelsea senior team goal against Aston Villa with a first minute tap-in to open the scoring. Chelsea went on to win the game 2–0 after a 58th minute Fernando Torres roundup and won the Barclays Asia Trophy. On 12 August 2011, Chelsea announced he would wear the number 20 shirt, last worn by Deco, for the 2011/12 season. He requested a loan transfer to Wigan Athletic but Chelsea turned down his request, with Chelsea citing him in their first team plans. He started the Carling Cup match against Fulham which Chelsea won 4–3 on penalties. Josh McEachran made his first Premier League appearance of the season as he came on as a 82 minute substitute in Chelsea's 4–1 win over Swansea.Josh McEachran started the Carling Cup match against Everton and won a penalty for Chelsea, the game ended a 2–1 win for Chelsea.
On 17 January 2012, McEachran completed a loan move to Swansea City. On finalising the deal he told Blues News that he was looking forward to working under former Chelsea reserves coach and Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers. 'I want to get game time to be honest, and it will be good playing for Brendan. Swansea play really good football and I'm looking forward to it. McEachran was given the number 17 jersey. McEachran made his debut for Swansea City against Sunderland coming off the bench in the 66th minute for Gylfi Sigurdsson, the match ended 2–0 loss for Swansea City.McEachran made his first start for Swansea in a FA cup match against Bolton Wandarers which ended in a 1–2 defeat.
Ryan Dominic Bertrand (born 5 August 1989) left back.
Bertrand was signed by Chelsea in July 2005 from Gillingham for an initial £125,000, which was set by a tribunal and is subject to increase depending on progress
During the 2006–07 season he was twice sent on loan to Bournemouth, at the same time as former Chelsea youngster Jack Cork. He suffered a ruptured spleen in a youth team game against Arsenal that ruled him out of the later part of that season.
In August 2007, Bertrand joined Oldham Athletic on loan until January 2008.
On 4 January 2008, a matter of days after his spell at Oldham came to an end, Bertrand joined Norwich City on loan for the rest of the 2007–08 season.He put in a number of impressive displays playing at both left full back and on the left wing, and admitted he would welcome a longer stay with the club. Bertrand became popular with the Carrow Road crowd earning him the nickname 'Plastic' in reference to the Belgian singer Plastic Bertrand.On 4 July 2008 he rejoined the club on loan until January 2009, with an option to extend to the end of the season. On 17 July 2009 Bertrand joined Reading on a season-long loan. He scored his first professional goal against Derby County on 10 March 2010. He also got voted by the fans of Reading FC runner up on the player of the year award behind Gyfli Sigurdsson Respectively.
On 5 August 2010 Betrand signed an on loan with Championship side Nottingham Forest in an initial six-month deal.He made his debut for Forest as a substitute in the 1-0 away defeat against Burnley. He was a regular for Forest for whom he made a total of 19 appearances. Forest were interested in either extending Betrand's loan spell for the rest of the season or sign him permanently[11] but when his loan period expired on 3 January 2011 he returned to his parent club Chelsea.
Bertrand's Chelsea debut came on 20 April 2011, when he came on as substitute to replace Ashley Cole in a Premier league 3-1 win against Birmingham City. Betrand provided a cross which Florent Malouda headed past the Birmingham goalkeeper. On 15 July 2011, Bertrand signed a new four-year contract with Chelsea. He was made back-up to Ashley Cole by then Chelsea manager André Villas-Boas as he remained with Chelsea and Patrick Van Aanholt another left back went out on loan. Six years after signing for Chelsea as a school-boy, Bertrand made his first starting appearance against Fulham in the Carling Cup. The match finished in favour of Chelsea who won on penalties 4-3 as the match ended goalless. Bertrand also played 90 minutes in Chelsea's 2-0 defeat against Liverpool in the Carling Cup.He made his first league appearance of the season coming on as a late substitute for Ashley Cole against Everton, the game ended in a 2-0 defeat for Chelsea. Bertrand was handed his first Premier League start against Wigan on the 7th April, in which he produced an outstanding performance as Chelsea won 2-1 and he was named fan's Man Of The Match. He started again against Arsenal, on the 21st of April, for his third Premier League start. The game finished 0-0. Once again he continued to impress, winning the Barclays Man of the Match Award
Kevin De Bruyne (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkɛvɪn də ˈbrœynə]) (born 28 June 1991)plays for Racing Genk, on loan from Chelsea as an attacking midfielder or a winger.
On 31 January 2012, transfer deadline day, Chelsea and KRC Genk announced the permanent signing of De Bruyne, with the fee rumoured to be in the region of £7 million. He signed five-and-a-half-year contract at Stamford Bridge, but was loaned back to Genk for the remainder of the 2011/12 season. De Bruyne told the club website: "To come to a team like Chelsea is a dream but now I have to work hard to achieve the level that's necessary."
On 18 February 2012, De Bruyne scored his first goal since being loan back to Genk and also assisting the other goal in a 1-2 win for Genk against Mons.
Thibaut Nicolas Marc Courtois born 11 May 1992 is a Belgian footballer who plays for Atlético Madrid, on loan from Chelsea and the Belgium national team, as a goalkeeper.On 14 July 2011, Genk agreed a fee with Premier League club Chelsea for Courtois.On 26 July 2011, Chelsea confirmed on their website that the transfer of Courtois was finalised and that he had signed a five-year contract with the club.On 26 July 2011, Courtois completed a season-long loan deal to Spanish La Liga club Atlético Madrid. Courtois was given the number 13 shirt, last worn by David de Gea before his transfer to Manchester United.
10 appearances since joining in 6 August 2011 for a fee reported to be around £13 million, rising to £18 million in add-ons.
Lukaku was given the number 18 shirt (formerly worn by Yuri Zhirkov) and signed a five-year contract.[6] He made his home debut in a 3-1 victory over Norwich City in the 83rd minute, coming on as a substitute for Fernando Torres. Lukaku made his second Chelsea appearance coming on as a substitute in the 3-1 defeat to Manchester United. Lukaku made his first start for the club in the Carling Cup against Fulham. Chelsea went on to win the match on penalties. He made another appearance on the 21st of January 2012, against Norwich City, coming on as a substitute for Fernando Torres in the 76th minute.
Lukaku was the subject of an acclaimed television documentary series called De School Van Lukaku (Lukaku's School) shown on the Dutch-speaking Eén network. The reality show followed the teenage Lukaku and his classmates during the course of a year at the Saint-Guidon Institute, a multi-cultural school in Brussels, where the footballer was based while with the Anderlecht youth team.In 2009, the series followed the school as it made a field trip to London visiting Chelsea's Stamford Bridge ground. Lukaku said at the time: “What a stadium. If one day in my life I will cry, it will be the day I play here. I love Chelsea.”
Gustavo Lucas Domingues Piazón, known simply as Lucas Piazón born 20 January 1994 He is primarily a Forward, although he has also been deployed as a winger, as an attacking midfielder or in the hole behind the striker.
In early 2011, Chelsea secured the services of Piazón by means of a pre-contract, having to fight off the interest from a number of the world's leading clubs, including Italian giants Juventus. On 15 March 2011, São Paulo announced that Piazón could only play for Chelsea senior team after 20 January 2012 when he became eligible to obtain a work visa, but he would join in the 2011 summer transfer window. Chelsea announced 10 days later with Piazón passing a medical in London in early March 2011. It was reported that Chelsea paid in the region of £5 million to acquire Piazón, which could rise to £10 million depending on several clauses. He was transferred to Chelsea during the 2011 summer transfer window and started playing for the reserves. In an interview he stated, "[I chose Chelsea because] I like the Premier League. I think my way of playing and my skills are more suited to the Premier League."
Piazón made his debut for the reserve team against Fulham, thereafter he said, 'I am able to play in the Youth Cup now,' he added. 'Everybody knows I am here to play, so my main aims for the season are to play as many youth games as possible and hopefully feature in the reserves as well, and I want to win the Youth Cup.' He also stated, 'I am enjoying the company of Ramires, Alex and, of course, David Luiz is my best friend here. He is so funny and always joking so it's nice'. Piazon scored his first reserve goal in an away victory against Arsenal, just before full-time with a solo effort, inside the box before firing it into the net.He has scored twice in five games for the reserves and once in six for the youth team, most notably the winner in the FA Youth Cup tie against Doncaster Rovers.
On 20 January 2012, his 18th birthday, Piazón obtained a work visa and became eligible to play for the Chelsea senior team. On 26 January 2012, he signed a contract extension that will keep him with the club until 2017. Piazón was handed the number 35 shirt, having impressed at Under-18 and Reserve level. Piazón was an unused substitute on the Chelsea bench, on 31 January 2012, in their 1-1 league draw against Swansea City and on 5 February 2012, in the 3-3 draw against Manchester United. Former Chelsea manager, Villas-Boas said of Piazón, after the Manchester United game: "He has trained more with the first team, which is very good for him. He's made great progress since arriving and in the last two games was on the bench. Unfortunately, he had no opportunity to enter, but has done a great job in the reserves team. He is a player that we have high hopes for."
We recently have agreed a deal to buy Chelsea new boy Marko Marin so it's time to look at some of our up & coming young stars.
Oriol Romeu
(born 24 September 1991) Mainly a defensive midfielder, he can also operate as a central defender only 23 appearances since joining on 4 August, the English club announced the completion of the transfer, with the player signing a four-year contract in a deal worth €5 million. The deal also gave Barcelona first refusal via a buy back option should Chelsea deem him surplus to requirements, seeing Barcelona pay €10 million in 2012 or €15 million in 2013 to bring him back to the Camp Nou he was given the number 6 shirt for the 2011–12 season.Romeu made his official debut for Chelsea on 10 September 2011, being brought on as a substitute in the 79th minute of the 2–1 away win against Sunderland. He received his first start on the 21st, in a 0–0 draw (penalty shootout win) against Fulham for the season's Football League Cup. Romeu made his first UEFA Champions League appearance on 19 October 2011, playing the full 90 minutes in a 5–0 group stage home win against K.R.C. Genk.He also added 76 minutes in the second game between the two teams, a 1–1 draw in Belgium. Romeu made his first start for Chelsea in the Premier League against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 26 November 2011, putting in a solid performance in a 3–0 home win. He retained his position for the following league game, against Newcastle United at St. James' Park, which finished with the same score. On 11 December 2011, Chelsea issued a statement regarding the deal surrounding Romeu's buy back clause with Barcelona. The statement highlighted that the blaugrana did not have an automatic buy back clause as first suggested only having first refusal on any deal if Chelsea wanted to sell him in the future.
