Chelsea Banter

25 Sep 2025 12:52:24
I've never been a massive fan of the CST but to a certain extent they do have a point about the singular ticket pricing for the Benfica game. They also have a point and not for the first time about poor club communication. I believe, like so many fans have mentioned previously on this site, attending fans are almost a secondary thought.

In my opinion the CL ticket bundles were ok value but that price now highlights the price of tickets for Benfica game as being outrageous.

25 Sep 2025 13:28:26
Tom

Unfortunately the club is run by business men as a business and supporters will suffer until we get a bigger stadium.

25 Sep 2025 18:01:25
Bill, my mates tell me that despite the promises the happy hammers ticket price didn’t go down when they moved to a bigger stadium. I have no idea if other clubs who have increased there capacity have reduced there ticket prices!

{Ed001's Note - prices only ever go up Tom. There is always an excuse for a price bump.}

25 Sep 2025 19:44:27
Ed01, exactly mate.

I generally get more pi@@ed off about FFP and PSR but they taking the we we for this game.

{Ed001's Note - greed is a societal problem sadly.}

25 Sep 2025 20:34:49
Bill, a bigger stadium won't mean supporters getting treated any differently, in fact, ticket prices will likely increase. Same for FOS sponsorship, it makes no difference to us supporters which is why I rarely comment on such matters. I remember the late, great ED02 telling us not to worry about any of the finacial matters as it didn't concern us and we wouldn't understand. It was and is good advice mate.

26 Sep 2025 09:17:45
Greenaway

I hear what you are saying however what well run business does not take up an opportunity to bring in money.

I also beleive that at the end of this season, those clubs who have betting FOS will need to look for new ones so it could be a free for all.

I also take on board the rationale about a larger stadium vs. ticket prices so I suppose the argument is if people don't want to pay increased prices, then dont.

26 Sep 2025 11:32:35
Bill, as things stand today demand for tickets outstrips supply.

I think some owners should look at some but not ground attendances at American sports. Not that they would care given the amount of money there Networks pay.

26 Sep 2025 13:14:22
Surely then Tom, a bigger stadium is needed sooner than later.

26 Sep 2025 13:37:35
Greenaway you're right that we supporters can't do anything about the club's finances but when wonderful Ed002 spoke about not worrying about financial. matters hexwas usually referring to things like transfer costs or balancing of books. But ticket prices going up if not least by vast amount by they have in Westview is something we should worry about. I'll admit I do anyway!

26 Sep 2025 16:42:07
Bill, a bigger stadium will obviously help with supply and may slightly dampen demand but history suggests that ticket prices will continue to rise.

JBS, we undoubtedly got spoilt under the RA ownership with only one ticket price increase throughout his tenure. One of my big worries about our new owners was any increase in prices and the withdrawal of concessions.
I got no satisfactory answer to my ticket price question for this from the club or FAB. So, I have no doubt that price increases will continue and eventually concessions will be withdrawn.

24 Sep 2025 18:37:04
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 5 - Quick Round Up

23 Sep 2025 07:39:29
{Ed's Note - TomB has posted a new article entitled, Can Enzo Maresca Succeed At Chelsea FC?

23 Sep 2025 18:09:14
Agree with 90 per cent of that good post, I would keep Maresca why get rid after 2 years of gaining knowledge and experience.

Injury's are hurting us but the squad is a tad unbalanced Neto, Gittens, Garnacho, Estevao, George and Palmer can all do a job out wide .

Penders should of been kept in the squad, although I don't rate Diasi he would of been useful for nights like tonight.

23 Sep 2025 19:56:09
Seymns, thanks for your response.

I think Penders needs games and he very young for a keeper. If I remember correctly he is only 20.

Your observation about the squad being unbalanced is interesting. I think George being in the squad is almost an accident, he looked all set for a loan with Charlton.
Estevao can certainly play wide but personally see him as an eventual 10 who can act as cover sometimes for Palmer. Gittens, Garnacho and Neto are natural wide players.

Like you I’ve never been a fan of Disasi and I couldn’t understood how we allowed him to be in the squad rather than Chalaboa.

22 Sep 2025 11:11:55


TomB has written an article entitled, Can Enzo Maresca Succeed At Chelsea FC?

22 Sep 2025 13:27:11
Tom

Good post but in answer to your question, no surprise but I think this might be jis last season with us.

22 Sep 2025 13:45:06
Bill, it may well be his last season at Chelsea because of team failure or team success. That’s the same for most managers.

I know what one I would prefer!

22 Sep 2025 13:46:44
Blimey, thanks Ed.

I hope posters enjoy it?

22 Sep 2025 16:42:29
I enjoyed your well rounded and constructed post Tom. Like all us Chelsea supporters we all hope Maresca stays for a long time as that means we will be winning trophies like last season which was so nice after the previous utter shambles under Pochetino and Potter.

22 Sep 2025 18:13:15
Greenaway, thanks for your comments. We do have posters/ fans who would like EM sacked immediately. Of course that’s there choice.

Like you, I believe the majority of fans would prefer EM to remain as our manager and continue with the progress achieved last season.

22 Sep 2025 21:53:20
Tom, all of us Chelsea fans want Maresca to do well. Things are good, we are champions of the world thanks in part to Maresca. 4 years of singing that. The youngest squad in the premier league, on the up, only agenda driven numb nuts would doubt us (and that moron, spitting scouser Jamie C who hate us)

23 Sep 2025 08:32:14
I absolutely hate Carragher, Being and Smurphy.

We all want Maresca to succeed and I was happy that he managed to prove me wrong last season.

This season, I feel he has made some terrible decisions both in tactics and in team selection both at the start and during games.

I also feel that he was let down by the club when he wanted a CH, GK and forward.

He won't play Guiu as he feels he is not ready so why on earth bring the lad back from Sunderland.

Jamie Gittens, can somebody tell me what he brings to the team.

23 Sep 2025 09:01:11
Bill, give Gittens a chance before asking that question. He is a good player and he will prove his worth to the club in seasons to come.

We are only a few games into the season and we have some saying “taxi for EM” or “he is a clown” or “he is out of his depth” or “I told you so last season. ”
Careers have to start somewhere and EM has so far exceeded my expectations. Of course, he like all managers will make mistakes and sometimes the team will be punished for those mistakes. It’s about keeping those mistakes down to a minimum.

As fans we are critical without knowing the facts. It’s impossible to please all the fans. When we lose we moan and when we win most of us are happy.

23 Sep 2025 09:48:43
. Very much enjoyed reading your well written and argued post Tom and thanks for it. For me it's a no brainer to want each and every Chelsea manager to succeed for obvious reason that it means the side must be doing well too. Of course I do find myself warming to some new managers more easily than others and there are one or two I never really warmed to - eg Rafael Benitez and AVB - though still wanted them to succeed.

Equally with some who seem nice guys -like Graham Potter - I never had much confidence they should have got the job. I will admit that this is more or less what I thought when I heard that Maresca was our new manager and it did take much of last season for me to gain considerably more confidence in him that bit high with CWC win over PSG when his tactics seemed spot on. But will naturally be under scruting again by pundits and fans alike this season though we should surely always consider the hand the manager is dealt by transfer business or lack of it plus injuries. Poch may well not have had his limitations as a manager but in both respevcts he was not helped by circumstances if especially by the record number - 14 - of first team squad injuries. If Palmer has an injury hit season and a few others too - God forbit one of them is Caicedo - we may come lower that the 6th place Poch managed plus one cup final and a semi-final.

As it is we have not had a great record of beating the top 3 teams aka LFC, AFC and City in recent seasons. and our one victory versus LFC was literally ddays after they had won the EPL and are likely to have lost just a tad of focus whereas we dseperately needed the win. Stiil I v much enjoyed or fine performance that day and would credit EM for it. Likewise we played PSG after tghey had had a more gruelling playing season than us that had seen them win the Champion's Leage having qualified form play offs after the group stage then in CWC having played and beaten Atletico, Real Madrid and Bayern before playing us and after we;d had a comparatively easier draw. The fact that they had beaten such teams and were European Champions made our victory that much sweeter and as said EM got tactics spot on but they may have arrived at the final with a little less energy and perhaps not quite as much motivation - the were alread European Champions - as we did. But yes we became World Club Champions and I celebrated deliriously as I expect we all did.

The bottom line is that EM thoroughly desrved his second season and I will hugely hope he can succeed in at least getting us Champion's League football again. I was more hopefully expectant about our chances of this before the start of ths season than for several pre-seasons past. But we haven't started that well, have suffered some key injuries, and perhaps didn't do quite enough in transfer window to ensure that we were properly covered in key positions. So if EM fails to get us ECL qualification he may or may not be fored by the club but equally if he has been plagued with injuries to key players I'd bear that in mind too.

I think EM still gets some line ups and sunstitutions and tactics wrong - but then many managers do at times - but has showed some improvement here towards last part of last season. I fervently hope he can - after a less than ideal start to our season given expectations - get us back on track with a good win against Brighton on Saturday (after surely a regulation win v Lincoln tonight) and so restore some momentum to our league campaign.

23 Sep 2025 13:41:49
JBS, thanks for your response. I share your hopes, concerns and frustrations.

21 Sep 2025 17:55:16
6 games into the new season and still all to play for, well not quite all as I think the premier league is beyond us but did anyone really think that was on? The players are dropping like flies which is probably due to fatigue of having no real quality time off over the summer, Levi out long term, BB out, Lavia out (a few rumours this might not be a physical issue? ), Delap out until Christmas, Essugo out until next year and now rumours that Palmer might be out for 6 to 8 weeks with a groin issue, he has been playing with injections! Add to that the scud missile which hit towards the end of the window when UEFA went strong on our spending (no issues with that) but I think it caught the club out and our interest in Simmons, a new centre back (as requested by Maresca) and another striker had to be reeled in leaving some gaps particuarly at centre back. Maresca has stated that he sees Pedro as a second striker and clearly doesn't see Marc Guie as being ready to step up to fill Delaps boots. Fine margins in the opener when Santos really should of buried that chance late on, a dodgy VAR against Brentford, a blatant red car not given in the Munich game and then the sending off yesterday have all conspired against us but the counter to that is the Fulham VAR which went in our favour so no real complaints there. Maresca divides opinion on here with 2 or 3 clearly not rating him and 2 or 3 clearly backing him (At a guess I would say there are probably around 9 or 10 regular posters? Has he made mistakes? certainly subbing off both Estevao and Neto yesterday was a mistake in my opinion and bringing George on, who just looks nowhere near the level required, was another mistake? Playing James at RB helps but we do need support in midfield for Moises so surely Santos or James has to play in there to stop us being over run? I would persist with Maresca as constantly changing coaches isn't the answer, look at Villa? Emery was being bigged up last season but they are struggling, the same with Howe at Newcastle. Not a good start but other than Liverpool the rest all look bang average to me and this could be another close run race for the top 4 but I think our squad has enough about it secure that. Can we win another trophy this season, after all, that is what we do, 2 last season and Maresca dipped out of the domestic cups early, will he go strong against Lincoln? I hope so because complacency should never be allowed to creep in and the likes of Josh, Hato, Gittens, Garnacho, Santos, Guie and the loanee from Brighton must start together with a couple of young academy players like Reggie Walsh would be good to see. Sorry for the long post but having had roast beef and yorkshire pud I thought I would pen my thoughts.

21 Sep 2025 18:13:50
RPD, very enjoyable post mate.

21 Sep 2025 22:00:38
RPD, enjoyed your post. I am envious of your roast. I doubt whether any of us believed we were serious contenders for the title. For my part, too many elements missing for that. I think you are harsh on Emery and Howe, I’m not suggesting that they are elite coaches but they haven’t been backed by their clubs in the transfer window because of PSR issues. Our start to the season has been disappointing; our performances have been poor and the football has been sterile and franky boring. Obviously, it is early days yet. I really doubt that we will see much of Lavia and BB, for whatever reason they just can’t seem to be be fit enough to be relied on. I wouldn’t be using Reece in midfield but Santos definitely deserves more game time.
As for Maresca the question I ask myself is: is he good enough to take us to a higher level? The answer imo is No.

22 Sep 2025 08:40:15
Absolutely agree with your assessment Jimbo, I would add Fofana will also probably get injured soon.

22 Sep 2025 08:59:12
I agree with you Jimbo that Santos needs to start in midfield, he might not be at Lavia's level but will give us more solidity in midfield than Enzo who can push up into the 10 if Palmer is unavailable. As regards Maresca I'm not sure if he can take the next step up to go head to head with the elite coaches but in coaching terms he is still young and learning his trade and having won a promotion and championship in his first year as Leicester manager and then guiding us back towards the top table after missing out on champions league football for several years and winning a european trophy and winning the club world cup by completely outsmarting one of the worlds super elite coaches in Luis Enrique I think he deserves this season at least, especially as he wasn't given the top level experienced centre half he asked for and so desperately needed. Time will tell of course.

22 Sep 2025 10:32:06
RPD, fair comments. It’s early days yet so no need for panic. As for Maresca I am not suggesting he should go, I expect him to be here for the rest of the season. True his tactics in the WCC final were spot on but equally his tactics and substitutions against a very poor Man U were woeful. You mention that he is learning the trade, that was my main issue about his appointment, I didn’t want someone to use the job to “learn the trade”. However, I accept that elite coaches are few and far between.
I think Spurs made a smart appointment with Frank and I do worry that they might finish above us this season. As I said early days.

22 Sep 2025 11:04:25
I do know what you mean Jimbo about a coach "learning his trade" and from that perspective we are at times at a disadvantage with Maresca and he did cock it up against Man U and with better subs we might of nicked a point late on but let's hope he learns from that mistake. I think Spurs will finish below us due to their lack of squad depth and fragile nature, they lost at home to Bournemouth who just sold most of their defence! The one coach out there who would interest me is Glasner at Palace but as I said earlier I would stick with Maresca this season, my worry though would be will he stick with us? he is very confident and seems to have a bit about him and if we don't back him (the centre half he so desperately wanted) he might move on if the right offer came in? City springs to mind if Pep moves on.

22 Sep 2025 11:22:43
I think the substitutions EM made against Utd were understandable and showed a welcome degree of flexibility.

22 Sep 2025 13:13:44
Tom

They were poor and were typical Italian tactics.

22 Sep 2025 13:41:37
Bill, he could well have gone 441 but he chose to go 531 with width being supplied by Cucarella and James.

My point is, change was needed and it showed some flexibility going to a five.

My criticism would have been not Starting Tosin when they were always likely to start with Sesko.

22 Sep 2025 16:17:37
Tom

Knowing CP was carrying an injury, he should have been the one coming off instead of one of our other attackers.

To me that's was a bad decision by Maresca.

22 Sep 2025 18:05:52
Bill, I believe he needed to bring Tosin on to combat Sesko. I also believe that it’s reasonable if you have a player sent to get “three” box to box central midfielders.

Of course he could have taken off Fofana or Chalaboa for Tosin and kept a back four. If he had gone down that route he could have gone 441 or 432 keeping on Neto. Given the circumstances I’m happy enough with the managers in game decisions.

I remain unhappy about not starting with Tosin in this particular game.