The Man in The Shed

The Man in The Shed 29 th May – End of season report So with the dust having settled after a great night in Baku it seemed a good time to look back and assess what the 2018-19 season had delivered – or not. Realistically, with the late departure of Conte and the arrival of Sarri, I confess that I could not see Chelsea winning the league. So what would a good season look like ? I genuinely felt we had a great chance in the Europa League and fourth place in the league would be progress. The positives Despite a short period (when Zidane stood down as Real Madrid manager) I was always convinced that Eden Hazard would not sign a new contract and force the board to sell him this summer. The best bit of man-management from Sarri was to acknowledge this, encourage the Belgian to focus on offensive football and the result was the best set of stats. (goals and assists) in his Chelsea career. Thank you Eden – the most talented footballer to wear the shirt. Antonio R...

The Man in The Shed 29 th May – 2,500 miles Whilst nobody can doubt the rationale for the “Say No to Anti-Semitism” campaign or the $4 million raised for good causes from the post season friendly in the US, the outcome was another crocked Englishman. Poor Ruben (finally injury free and playing his best football in a blue shirt) would not only miss the Europa final but several months of next season too. Most of the pre-match journalism was quite rightly focussed on just how far away the game was and how few tickets were offered to the real fans. Spending £700 getting to Moscow in 2008 now seemed quite cheap and relatively quick; UEFA were now expecting us to find £1000 to travel 2,500 miles each way. In light of the fact that neither team could sell their 6,000 allocation it also begs the question “should the clubs have subsidised the trip” ? It was blatantly clear on TV that the game had not sold out and The Times reported that turnstiles were opened for free entry du...