The Man in The Shed

The Man in The Shed 31 st August – Missing again It wasn’t a great start to the season for me. Missing in action against Leicester and away again for Sheffield United. OK, so I did have the compensation of a weekend in Bilbao but I wouldn’t be able to see a live game now until Liverpool. Watching on recorded TV on my return I loved the pre-game flags. The other “revolution” at Chelsea over the last year or two has been the gradual return of former players in a variety of roles. Although Lampard has had most of the column inches the Chelsea fans will have noted Cudicini back helping our Italian managers, Eddie Newton, Morris and Cech plus both Ashley and Joe Cole working with the younger lads. I thought they had brought back Makelele to sort out Bakayoko as he had done at Monaco, but perhaps that is beyond anyone. Credit to our opponents. I don’t believe that the bookies expected them to get automatic promotion last season. And to do it with an English manager. ...

The Man in The Shed 24 th August – Young guns Sitting down on a Saturday lunchtime, nice sunny day, I had to feel optimistic as I tuned into BT Sport. Norwich had certainly taken the Championship by storm last season and despite taking a hammering at Anfield they were being applauded for their style of play. And Pukki was their new hero – proving that Championship strikers really can make an impact in the top flight. Our teamsheet showed a last minute change with Pedro feeling a hamstring in the warm-up and being replaced by Barkley. A perfect start – Abraham scoring within five minutes ! I’d barely composed myself and we’d conceded ! Where was our midfield ? Barkley was still struggling to realise that he was actually playing and not warming the bench. A very open game and after 15 minutes we’re ahead again. Mount proving that he really has what it takes in this league. I for one and everyone else, including the commentators, were convinced that there...

The Man in The Shed © Alamy 18 th August – The homecoming SKY’s decision to move our game to Sunday meant that I would have to miss the big homecoming. I was absolutely gutted. The vitriol thrown at a young centre forward with the guts to step up and take a key penalty was insane to me. The archaic values of some people are beyond words. As Frank said – we’ve all missed them. The real fans made sure that Abraham felt loved. My biggest fear was both the mental and physical impact of the last game. A hundred and twenty minutes in the heat whilst Leicester had their feet up watching on the box. I had to admit that when weighing up the prospects of each team in the Premier league this season I saw the likes of Leicester, Wolves and Everton as real rivals for the top six. Well the highlights don’t always tell the real story but the energy of our first half display was a delight to watch. And the joy of seeing young Mason Mount scoring his first seni...

The Man in The Shed 14 th August – The woman is in charge I’d been stewing for a few days after the last game – partly because the result still felt harsh but equally because it seemed that Jose had put the boot in with his “pundit comments” afterwards. It just seemed to back up his whole approach (or lack of) towards younger players. The team selection for the Super Cup seemed quite cautious from Frank (although we maintained the same back four). Or maybe it was just recognition of Giroud’s performances in Europe that got him the nod up front. Somehow Kanté was deemed fit enough to play too. Much of the pre match column inches had been focussed on the fact that the referee was a woman. She seemed well qualified so whilst my loyalties were focussed on a Chelsea win I also hoped that the referee had a good game as well. The game started fairly evenly.   Salah had a early chance but Pedro seemed to be the main Chelsea threat in the first 20 (including hi...

The Man in The Shed 11 th August – Here we go again Before you know it the holiday season is over, pre-season has been completed and the Premier League is back ! There was a certain calmness about the circus that is the transfer window this year. It was no great surprise to wave goodbye to Sarri straight away (who wouldn’t want to manage Juventus and Ronaldo). A good man, a good man-manager but somebody the fans seemed unable to love. And then there was the transfer ban. The club took it on the chin, brought back Lampard knowing he would give the kids a chance and that appears to be the way things are playing out. The only real surprise was that David Luiz spat out his dummy when Frank told him that he wouldn’t be a guaranteed starter. The club broke its rules about only offering 12 month contracts to over 30’s for Luiz and the reward was a strong exchange of views with the new manager and he’s sold within days ! So the game. Not the kindest fixture to beg...

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...