Another one on the hit list?

I have to say I am totally cheesed off with what's going on at Chelsea. And this entry will probably turn into a complete rant.

NEWS JUST IN ....

"Real Madrid have announced they are starting disciplinary proceedings against Claude Makelele following the French midfielder's refusal to train with the team on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old's decision came amidst reports of a transfer swoop by big-spending Premiership side Chelsea.

Makelele's agent Marc Roger reportedly presented Madrid with a £7million offer for the midfielder from the Blues on Wednesday morning."
FOOTBALL365


So now we're after ANOTHER player ... and yet another midfielder? What the hell is going on at Chelsea? Last season we came fourth, we were far more consistent than we have been for years, we pulled off some great results against the top teams and (with the exception of West Ham) managed to see off the minnows as well. And we didn't spend anything during the previous summer, it was all due to the development of the team, to letting the players stick together and get used to each other and actually work AS A TEAM rather than as a group of over-paid superstars.

It was a good season, a season all Chelsea supporters could be proud of, and one that showed we could be optimistic about times to come.

And then Roman bloody Abromovitch whatever the hell his name is came along and it's all gone crazy.

Now every season you have to buy a couple of players. And with Zola gone back to Italy (sad but predictable) and Ferrer retired, we did need to make a couple of purchases to fill the gaps. But Abromovitch is just flashing the cash, as far as I am concerned. It seems like he's got the money and he wants everyone to know it, so he's buying every available player just to make the point. Yet there doesn't seem to be a great deal of thought going in to who he actually signs.

We've ended up with about four new midfielders, plus the four or so that we already had . So who on earth is going to play? Do we stick Cole (a good signing, I grant you) and Lampard in the middle because they know each other so well already? But then what do we do with Veron (over rated, IMHO), and Duff (another valid acquisition) and Petit and Gronkjaer and Stanic and Zenden? They are all top quality international players - none of them are going to be happy sitting on the bench or playing for the reserves at Aldershot.

Then of course there are the defenders ... we now have players of the calibre of Bridge and Geremi, plus West Ham's Johnson. But what was wrong with the pairing of Terry and Desailly, with Melchiot/Gallas/Babayaro on the wings? Sure, we need a couple of spares in case of injuries, but it's going to be a nightmare for Ravioli to choose the best team AND keep everyone happy.

And at the same time we're relying solely on the fantastic Cudicini (best keeper in the league) to hold the fort in goal ... two new keepers bought, but one is out injured for the whole season and the other is, by all accounts, even worse than Bosnich. Hmm. And up front, the "pick two from three" combination of Hasselbaink/Gudjohnnsen/Forsell looks strong till one of them is injured, but what then? The signing of Mutu will take the pressure off there, if it goes through, but it seems that money has been spent in areas that don't really need it.

We'll see ... my main concern is that with so many new faces it's going to take a long time for any team to gel ... and to keep all the players happy there's going to have to be some regular rotation which is going to make it even harder. Abromovitch has made no promises, at least he knows the problems, but at the same time the fans are going to be baying for instant success as usual.

As far as I'm concerned, any victories we do achieve are going to have been bought rather than earned, and that bothers me. I'd be far happier if we'd bought a player here and there and then built on the sound foundations we developed last season ... success this year is going to have a hollow ring to it for me. I won't go so far as to say I'd like to see Chelsea fail (well, actually, I have said that to a couple of people), but the display of money in the club now is, frankly, morally offensive, and I'm not having fun being a Chelsea Girl at the moment.