all gold

a superb article in this months observer sport monthly interviewing john terry.

a fine example of how a career can be turned around. 5 years ago he was of the same ilk as michael duberry, jody morris, jon harley (where did he go?) and dare i say it the lee *spit* bowyer's of the world.

now a stirling centreback and role model.

what can a poor boy do?

we are headed for corinthians in a no prisoners mission to capture striker carlos tevez.

the opening bid is £80 million. unbelieveable.

but when young jose goes to daddy roman you know that he can't resist emptying his wallet.

escalation

[last week of fantasy footy - i am not making any changes]

out of the prison

a 3-0 demolition nonetheless of ManU and a suitable way to win the title. makes up for the lack of european silverware/loss to liverpook this year.

i now turn my attention to the world cup (with or without rooney) and what the summer will bring for the club. chequebooks are firmly out.

[i messed up my footy team this week.]

my glass prison of pain

i am not happy

missed the whole game (liverpool v chelsea, FA cup semi-final in case you are living in a matchbox] yesterday as i was at a wedding. incidentally i was doing the music for said wedding. incidentally the groom who is a very good friend of mine and is entire family are massive liverpool fans. incidentally i had promised to play "you'll never walk alone" as part of the set. i sulked all the way through it.

grrr.

[i am too annoyed to look at the fantasy footy team today]

europe is irrelevant

...as i keep telling one of the foundation year doctors who happens to be a gooner. despite the fact that they played like a team that should win the champions league. i thought their new midfielder, that squirrel, was pretty solid in a holding role too.

and so carvalho maybe out too and sylvian distin (?) maybe in. curiouser and curiouser.

meanwhile in an introduction to my distance learning course "the dilemma of the chelsea rebel 101" i suggest you all start your reading at my new favourite search site, wikipedia, with an article about our leader.

[i shall be selling kevin davies for henri camara this week in fantasy footy]

Foundation Year Footballers

every 6 months the NHS witnesses an upheaval in its medical workforce with old doctors moving on and new fresh blood taking their place. house officers (now foundation doctors) at the peak of their abilities, skilled and confident in their positions are ousted onto other things as wide-eyed scared, or perhaps dangerously cocksure youngsters take over their roles.

as the football season draws to a close mr abramovich's umpteen billions once again raise their heads again. not happy with just considering the purchase of earls' court (something that would be a ridiculous proposition for its sheer scale were it not actually possible - like me saying i'm going to buy all the nitrogen in the world), jose m is turning his attention to bolstering of an already burgeoning squad with "real talent."

the two names are of course Bayern Munich midfielder Michael Ballack (he has an awful website by the way) and AC Milan striker Andriy Schevchenko (who doesn't have a website but is on wikipedia here.)

now i'm not for one second saying that the above two are not good players. but with the constant change of players and squad in persistent flux there is no time for a first team to flourish.

yes drogba was crap for a season but certainly in the last couple of games he's been playing stonkers. people don't understand that it takes time for a team to grow and constant change which is perhaps good for quick results in the short term isn't necessarily good for the long term vision.

i for one was delighted with the arrival of arjen robben last season. superb. i thought the balletic dovetailing between him and duff crossing and interchanging wings was deadly. but he's been shit this year. in the same way it took a while for hasselbaink and gudjohnson to partner so well in 99-01.

and what's that? did you say ferreira? who's that? when he started playing regular first team games you might have scoffed at me for saying we already had an OK defender (repeat - OK, not great, OK) in celestine babayaro. but give it a little while and ferreira will be the one who is OK in a mid-bottom table club and more celebrated for his antics with page 3 girls.

so although it will always be interesting to see how the team changes over the break, i can't help wondering whether jose in his infinite wisdom would be wiser to kick back and consolidate rather than expect the new breed to pull in more results. otherwise we'll be forever getting in house officers rather than a decent senior registrar. i refer you to a recent article by retired SpR in Speed & Style Gianfranco Zola.

[i shall be making Frank Lampard captain of the fantasy footy team this week]

Episode IV: A New Hope

hola! i have changed hats and am piloting my second blog. yes, despite hardly updating MOADD as much i'd like to, i thought in the post-MRCP melee to post about something that is also very close to my heart

glorious glorious Chelsea FC

however, in true The X-Files style, all is not as it seems. i shall in the next few weeks try to explain my dilemma, my struggle, the burden i carry with regard to my die-hard (or is it?) support of the Blues. this is NOT i repeat NOT a simple football fansite.


all shall be revealed in due course.

[i shall be making Thierry Henry captain of my fantasy footy team this week]