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Hallucinations in the rain .

It’s monsoon again ! It’s that time of the year when the rain gods takes up the herculean task of trying to clean up the atmosphere and the earth with that magical liquid , water . There is something special about the rain that makes me feel nostalgic , sometimes bardic , it awakens
the writer in me … or some such rubbish !

But it’s true . The rain does bring back memories . What it also does , is that brings those dreaded fevers and colds and running noses and headaches and all that ! And I am one of the many unfortunate souls to become “victims” of all that !
I make this post out of frustration ! Out of helplessness ! I can barely keep my eyes open and can hardly walk from one room to another without feeling as tired as a man who has been chasing chickens for 2 hours ! My nose is red like rudolf the reindeer’s and my head feels heavier than two sumo wrestlers put together !
But I am not here to complain ! I am here to … no not that..I am here to..no not for that..I am here to..Oh what the hell..I am here to complain ! If only Blogspot was so far-reaching as to let god read this post !

It’s a sad post ..I know. Only complaints . No happiness . None at all . It’s one of those things a bad cold can do . But then again , what was I expecting of a bad cold? It’s bad . Evil . Anti-happy .
You think I have lost it , don’t you ? Truth be told , you are right . I have . And before I start blabbering nonsense about my “imaginary” pal named uyoyo I should stop this post.
Wait , did I say that out loud ?

Ok thats the limit. cya guys ! Hope to see you all soon ! Till then , YOU stay safe and don’t be stupid like me to catch a cold . catch a bus .. catch a ball..not a cold .. * OK DUDE STOP ! THAT’S ENOUGH WITH THE RIDICULOUS JOKES . *

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In search of finer chocolate cake !

Roman Abromovich bought chelsea football club 8 years ago. Since then , we have had 8 different managers . 6 managers in the last four years . The lastest of them being Andre Villas-Boas . Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti  have been the most successful of them all.Meanwhile mr RA , like a rich kid adamant for the finest chocolate cake , has been behind the Champions league trophy all these years.And like the child would do if he did not
get it , he fired his chef and brought in a new one .
Why has this not worked with chelsea? The reason is simple .
Chelsea’s has been one of those squads that has had a constant solid core , comprising Frank Lampard,John Terry , Didier Drogba and Petr Cech . Everyone else formed the rest of the team around them . This has not been particularly unhelpful . Just that it always left us “that close” to the top spot but never got us there. It worked beautifully in the first few years when Jose was incharge. We won the Premier league twice and many other titles but the champions league did not come. That led to an understanding that this team is good enough to get there but it just needs two or three big names to boost it’s chances .  And RA opened up his purse from time to time for that . The shevchenkos and the Torres’ and others of the kind are examples of that .

But what RA and the managers coming in have to understand is that the core is not as strong as it was earlier . No disrespect to Lampard ( who is my all time favourite player ! ) or any of the others but powering the team for 8 years is a big task that they have done very well and it is very obvious that it’s not going to be that way forever . It’s about time we recreated that core with younger players whilst lampard and terry and the likes are still around to give them a helping hand .
But with a change in manager comes a change in thinking and when you think too much , the problem becomes bigger. It’s simple case of new managers being unprepared to change a system that has worked pretty well .
But the arrival of Andre Villas Boas gives me hope . He is not new to English Football having worked right here at chelsea as head scout under jose mourinho , but has little experience as a full time coach and if he is anything like his mentor( Jose Mourinho ) , could’nt care less about the historical value of players at the club and (the various ) playing styles of the club .
No sarcasm there . It is time someone like that came to Stamford Bridge . Someone who is not bogged down by clichés and old school thought . Carlo was great . But even he , in his second season did not make the radical changes that ought to have been made especially after we lost the likes of Ballack and Joe cole . If we had seen CA around for another season , he probably would have made those changes but there is no point crying over spilt milk !
A 33 year old enthusiastic manager can make the difference if you ask me. If he is anything like what I have heard of him , we will see a dramatic shift from the traditional chelsea teams to a more sophisticated chelsea team with a lot of young blood and a hell lot of importance to the attack .
We have to adapt to life without Drogba and Lampard some time in the future .  Now is a good time to start the process of building a team that is not dependent on the seniors ,that can be carried forward by the youngsters and yet will be more lethal than previous teams . I certainly hope AVB can bring that . It’s a ray of hope that comes with every new manager but ,at the cost of putting more pressure on the new manager , I feel that ray is brighter than ever today !

With the hope that Andre Villas-Boas heralds the coming of a long, successful , title-winning period in chelsea’s history , I shall sign off and go in search of more chocolate cakes myself ! Untill next time , ciao , stay safe !!

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Welcomes and goodbyes – Part 3

Chelsea FC released a statement yesterday confirming their interest in Andres Villas Boas .

 ‘We note that the release clause of Andre Villas-Boas has been activated. We can at this time confirm our interest in him and hope to reach agreement with him on personal terms and make a further announcement in the near future.’
                                                                                                      -Chelsea F.C

Villas-Boas has paid Porto 13.3 million pounds to terminate his contract and Roman Abramovic
is beleived to have ” secretly ” funded the amount . No official statement has been made in this regard especially with chelsea struggling to keep up with UEFA’s financial fairplay regulations .
Should Villas-boas finally join chelsea , he will almost certainly be the most expensive manager in the history of the English Premier league .

Radamel falcao might also make the move from Porto as Villa-Baos is reportedly keen on having the striker in his squad at chelsea as well . Arsenal are also in the race to attract colombian forward .

Luka Modric has said that he will start training for Tottenham on the 7th of July but does not rule out a possibility of transfer after that . Chelsea are very keen to get the playmaker midfielder and are ready to offer 28 million pounds plus Essien ( who is worth around 30 million pounds ) for the croatian . The Essien offer is hard to beleive because he has played the role of anchoring the central defensive midfield par excellence in the last few seasons . That is rumour I for one would not beleive ! But if the current 22 million pounds is raised to around the 30 million pound mark, Tottenham will find it hard to ignore the offer ! And with chelsea reportedly ready to fish out even upto 33 million pounds , Luka Modric seems to be an inevitable addition to Chelsea’s squad for the new season !

And now I shall go back to hunting for new transfer news  , till then ciao !!

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Welcomes and goodbyes – Part 2

As I was saying yesterday things change quickly in the transfer season . Take for example the shocker of a report that Andres-Villas Boas has agreed to leave Porto FC and join chelsea for a reported 15 million pounds ! Regarded widely as the next Jose Mourinho , the 33 year old has no football playing experience but is one of the sharpest tactical minds around . Mourinho is
Boas’s mentor too , which is why the young portuguese prodigy is often called ” The special one of the special one ” .

 And here I was thinking Guus Hiddink would make a come back ! A chelsea fan , however , has no reason to be grieved ! For both these men are managers with great reputations and should the final “chosen one ” ( no reference to Jose Mourinho , although he would do just fine  as well ) be one of these two , the club , I can confidently say , will be in safe hands !

As for Luka Modric . Tottenham chairman Daniel levy dampened our hopes by repeating that Modric , who has 5 years on his contract still left , is not for sale at any price . Correct me if I am wrong , but is’nt this the same club that said ” Dimitar Berbatov is not for sale at any price ” back in 2007 ? And just weeks later the bulgarian was in the red of manchester united ! So maybe , just MAYBE , we still have a chance ! Never say never in this game !!

Another transfer rumour that is slowly emerging is that of Cesc Fabregas . No . Not to Chelsea . ( As much as I wish that would happen ). Fabregas has been rumoured to be moving to Barca . Ok don’t say  “wow ! really captain obvious ? Next you’ll tell me the sky is blue and that if I dived off a cliff I’ll end up  dead :-p “.  It’s been on the cards for years and although nothing is still confirmed , this is one transfer that Cesc has dreamt of and Arsene Wenger has had nightmares about. It does not take Steve Mcmahon to see that the Arsenal captain’s heart is not at the Emirates anymore.
How this is relevant to chelsea is the next question . If you thought it’s relevant because the games against the gunners next season will be easier without their charismatic captain . NO . That’s probably not true and definitely not the reason . I’ll tell you why it is relevant. Barcelona , if they are going to buy Fabregas , will have to shell out say 40 -50 million pounds , maybe more .And if that’s the case , they might consider off loading David Villa who has not had the kind of season he was hoping for at the Nou Camp . The Barca bosses too are not too happy with his performances and might actually sell him to fund the purchase of Francesc “Cesc” Fàbregas i Soler . In which case Chelsea and Manchester city will be waiting with big offers . Where he goes , if he goes , we can’t say . Lets just hope he picks the deeper shade of blue !

Wishful thinking you would say but thats what everyone said when Torres’s transfer was not confirmed earlier this year ! For now thats all I have ! Wishful thinking ! When I get more concrete information , you’ll be the first to know ! Till then ciao ! Stay safe !

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Welcomes and goodbyes – Part 1

So it’s that time of the season again ! When any statement voiced or otherwise by players sparks off rumours about their ” potential tranfer to another club ! When players meet their fellow club players after a much deserved break . It’s that time of the season when fans can’t wait to see their favourite clubs back in action but the squad is off in Malyasia or Belgium or Scotland for the pre-season games  ! So close , yet so far ! 13th of August . Magic date ! When the season actually kick off !
With almost two months to go we have just 2 “high profile”
transfers and they certainly won’t be the last . Brad Friedel from Aston Villa to Totenham to replace Gomes as goal keeper and Jordan Henderson moves from Sunderland to Liverpool to strengthen the Liverpool midfield .

Rumours are aplenty . Most of them stemming from hopeful fans reading too far between the lines of an innocent press statement . And on other occassions .. well I don’t know how these come about .. Looney nut-heads I suppose . The most absurd rumour I heard of this kind is about frank Lampard . Lampard is “planning” to move to Newcastle united for a measly 1.5 million pounds because he and his wife-to-be have “identified” a lovely home in New castle . Don’t look at me ! I had nothing to do with it !

Luka Modric has expressed his interest in joining chelsea should Totenham and chelsea come to an agreement about the wages and so on . 25 million pounds is the figure doing the rounds and this is a tranfer that would really help the chelsea midfield attain that fluidity it was famous for when Lampard and Ballack formed it’s core .

Romelu Lukaku , the 18 year old Belgian has been a chelsea target for over a year now . The chelsea bosses were waiting for the boy to turn 18 to sign him . Great talent and more importantly young talent !

Marouane Fellaini has said that he would like to play in the champions league and with chelsea in the pursuit of a midfielder , it’s not surprising he has been linked with the club. But this could very well be a case of reading too far into a statement especially when chelsea are out trying to catch much bigger fish.

Javier Pastore . The young midfielder from Palermo has been on the chelsea radar for a while now bu there is no clarity on either his stand or his club’s stand on the issue .

Nicolas Anelka . For chelsea’s sake I hope he does not leave . Bringing in new blood is all good but we still need a quick striker to partner Torres and he is the solution for the time being atleast ! Rumours are that he is going to the New York bulls .

                        

For now that’s all the important Chelsea rumours I’ve found . But it’s transfer season and things can change faster than a fire in a Oil depot ! So watch this space for more !!

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Holiday Season !!

It’s amazing how time flies when it’s vacation time ! I had made big plans for the week . Wake up early , go for a jog , maybe even work out a little ( that might come as a shock to those who have seen, for most people feel I hardly have any muscles to work out ).Moving  on.. I thought of maybe catching a movie or two , going out for dinner and doing all those things that I could not do thanks to all the school work I used to have ! Sadly , my life has been reduced to playing games on the computer or Ipod touch or watching repeats of various serials ( not including “The bold and the beautiful”) on Star World ! And before
I know it , the week has come to an end ! I used to look forward to the weekends . A welcome break from the boring , monotonous weekly ritual , that was school . Today , however , that has changed . The weekend is nothing but a boring addition to the already boring week ! Whats more , even my usual serials on star world don’t air in the weekend !

Why I have not done all those things I have wanted to do ? Same reason why my Blog still has no guest writers ( grrrr !! ) . LAZINESS !  I should be made hon.President of the Lazy bums association ! The only time I give my Brain and hands some work to do is when I’m here , blogging ! As a matter of fact it’s the only time I give my legs some work too ( when I walk from the room where the T.V is to this room where the computer is ) .

The EPL match fixtures for the new season is out by the way ! Chelsea are off to the Brittania stadium to play Stoke city in the opener ! Our first home game is the same fixture as a last year , West Brom !
Transfer news is slowly coming through and there is reason to be happy if you are a Chelsea fan ! Roman Abramovic has opened his purse ( A large on at that ) , once again and potential moves include Luka Modric and Javier Pastore ! This apart from the potential appointment of Guus Hiddink as manager . That is certainly something we won’t mind ! After all , Hiddink  led us to FA cup glory and to the champions league semi final in the short time that he was here !

More about all that later ! For now , I shall sign out and keep myself busy by gathering all the transfer rumours and confirmations out there !! So ciao ! Stay safe !!

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Lazy blogger !!

This blog ,which I proudly call mine , hit a 100 views a week or so ago ! yes ! woohoo ! As a matter of fact I even announced it in my previous post ! I even announced a worldwide party to celebrate my “success” !! Infact ,  I’m still in the hangover of that acheivement ! So much so , that I did not bother posting anything in the last week !  I was , as they say , resting on my laurels 😛


Now , My guest blogger idea just never seems to take off ! Thanks to some lazy co-bloggers and even lazier main blogger ( yep , that’s me ) ! Pestering them week after week for the last 2 weeks has had no effect and so …well and so I guess i’ll have to continue doing so till they agree to write !

Truth be told , they have agreed to write . Their problem is that they just can’t think of anything to write about . And that’s why I decided to help them today !

So co-bloggers listen up ! You can write about anything you want to! Some kid hit you with a balloon ? Blog it ! A stupid crow stole your packet of chips? Blog it ! Osama bin laden was killed? Blog it ! Oh..wait..I already did that one ! My point is that this is not a live debate .. No one will question you for writing something you beleive in ! It’s YOUR shout-it-out soapbox ! So stand up and speak !

But the major problem is not that ! You find a topic .. You sit down to type it out..You start and then you think “damn it..I can’t think of anything more to write ..I’ll save it as a draft and do it tomorrow” ! I’m sure that’s happened to most of us ! Certainly happened to me more than just a couple of times !

I am not going to ask you to change that ! Sometimes if you can’t finish what you started it just shows you are’nt actually interested in what you are writing ! So chuck that , start over ! Write about something that you really want to tell that world ! Something that you have always wanted to shout out in public but never did !

You can take your time and write what you want because after all this is a blog for crazy , lazy bloggers  !!

P.S : Co bloggers start co-blogging for the love of god ! I announced my plans weeks ago ! People are begining think I lied about the whole thing !!

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101 and going strong !

Thank you .

This post is specially meant for those 101 lovely souls who had the patience and the courage to have visited my blog !

I am on cloud nine , on top of the world ,over the moon and the feeling of having a 100 views is out of this world !

My critics may be of the opinion that I am over reacting . After all 100 views does not mean that all 100 have read any post of mine .
But I beleive in showing my gratitude to anyone who has had the heart to have taken even just a glimpse of my blog ! That is not over reaction ! That is just sweet of me ! That is just me showing my large hearted nature !Just kidding ! ( Is this the funniest blog you have seen or what !! …no? It is’nt?  damn..I should have known :-p ) Maybe I should stop praising myself before people misunderstand me to be boastful and self-centered !!

I promise . This will be the first and last of the posts with poor jokes like that . Promise . Never again ! Maybe when I hit a 1000 views , I’ll slip in just one of those …. no? not even then? curses !

Anyway , I am celebrating this milestone and I want you to join me ! Get a bar of chocolate and a can of coke ( coca-cola..I don’t endorse drugs and FYI I doubt if they sell drugs in cans :-p ) and at exactly 10:00 p.m IST it’s PARTY TIME !! You can sit in your house , on your couch and enjoy it ! Forget anything that might be troubling you and sing and dance and eat ! The party is on till 11 !

Oh and an apology is due  because my guest writer idea has not taken off yet and I know just the person to blame ! I shall make sure atleast one guest writer has posted something in 4 days !

Till then good bye ! ciao ! stay safe ! And don’t forget .. PARTY at 10:00 !!

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Confessions of a young blogger

Two years .

That’s how long this blog has been active ….so to speak. For the best part of the last  two years there were no posts in this blog . Just one draft , about somethng that happened two years ago . I don’t even recollect what it was that happened but it must have been something the 15 year old me thought was “important” . I remember that evening . I sat down to type my heart out when my mom called me in for dinner . After that I never found time to complete that post . Truth is , I never made time to complete that post .

Earlier this month I promised myself that I would revive my blog . And since it’s holiday season I’m sure I’ll find plenty of time to think about what to write !

I have  made a decison to invite guest writers to write something in my blog from time to time ! It’s an idea one of my friends ( Vilas Pavitran http://downthewindingroad.weebly.com ) suggested to me and I found it  interesting  ! So I’m going to give it a shot and lets see how it goes !

For starters I’ve invited a few friends to write something for me and then if I find a willing celebrity I’ll get them to write as well ( hey ! it’s my blog and no one told me I can’t dream about what I want it to be  ! So don’t laugh at the idea of a famous person writing for me ! )

My first guest will write sometime next week , hopefully !

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Roman desires

Post the manchester united loss at old trafford , Chelsea’s title quest was all but finished. From that moment on Carlo Ancelotti would have known his job was on the line. And then a draw against Newcastle United and a loss to Everton in the season finale meant C.A was going to join a line of 8 Chelsea managers in the Abramovic era , fired for not being up to the mark.

He won the domestic double in his first term as chelsea boss , and ended up empty handed in the next . Ancelotti was a fan and player favourite , still is . Was Abramovic justified in sacking this man ?

When I come to think of it from a purely business oriented perspective , he was ! Mr Abramovic owns the club . His biggest dream for the club is to win the champions league  . It’s what every fan wants too ! He has spent a lot of money on the club and he expects returns and when that fails to happen , the cheque book turns into an axe . No title , no job . simple as that !

But , from a footballing perspective , what he did was unexplainable . You need to give time to a manager to build a squad , infuse young talent and get them to adapt to the first team’s system . When managers change , so does the system . And therefore the process of infusing youngsters into a system is slowed down because noone is sure about if the new system is working even for the regular first team !

Having said that , noone can question Abramovic for making that decision . Frankly,noone should . After all Chelsea is his toy and he can do what he deems fit for it ! If Roman desires a change in manager so be it ! If Roman desires the inclusion of a certain striker ( read Fernando Torres or Andriy Schevchenko ) in the squad against the will of the manager (read Ancelotti or Mourinho) then so be it !

It’s a strategy that’s worked pretty well because it’s yielded 3 premier league titles , 3 FA cups , 2 community shields and 2 league cups in 7 years ! The one thing missing from there is the champions league and I am fairly confident that it’ll come soon  !

But thats all the story of the seasons gone by ! For now, the hottest debate  is about who will be chelsea’s next manager ! That is for Roman to decide, so why bother speculating !( By the way , apparently Abramovic has patched up with Mourinho by gifting him a Special edition , meant-for-races Ferrari . I wonder if that means something ! ) . Anyway , The arrival of  new managers is always a fun prospect ! We’ve seen quite a lot of that over the years , Trust us we know !!