Jo said: “After I spoke to the manager (Hughes) I was very pleased. I was told Manchester City is a club going forward at the moment. We can go places, that is our objective. We thought about it and I decided to come to Manchester City for that reason. The club who showed interest officially was Valencia. I know from the press there were other clubs who showed interest.”

Whether he is good or not is to be seen but he may well bring some really interesting gameplay to City. I am more sure though, that one reason he decided to come to City was the promise that City’s owner (Thaksin Shinawatra) will be spending a lot more in the near future.
Joao Alves de Assis Silva

Maybe its his background: his brother Michael Barton and his cousin Phil Taylor are serving life sentences for murdering a black student (Anthony Walker) in a racially motivated attack where Walker ended up with an ax in his back. He has had conduct issues for most of his career and only one of them is humorous (In 2006 he dropped his pants and mooned a crowd full of Everton fans).

In March of 2007 he got into another drunk altercation with a taxi driver where he reportedly smashed the taxi drivers dashboard and was again arrested.

In may of 2007 Barton got into an argument with his teammate Ousmane Dabo. He ended up punching Dabo in the face until he was on the ground unconscious and bleeding and continued even further. Dabo had to go to the hospital for treatment and brough up charges against Barton. He has been on bail until July. While Barton thought that, “People are trying to unsettle me, but I’m happy to stay here.” it would not be so. City suspended him and it seemed as if he would be forced to leave. He was transferred to Newcastle for €5.8 million.

The defensive midfielder is 25 years old and is currently in jail serving a sentence for having beaten up a teenager last December.

Let’s check out some Joey Barton gameplay:

Joey Barton punch

Another street fight…

“I am sure I have come at the right time to do great things and be able to help Chelsea go back to the way it was and come back to being the first one, not only in England but also to win the Champions League that has been their dream for so long.”

Deco left Porto in 2004; but before he did, he helped Porto win domestic league titles, the Champions League, and the UEFA Cup (under Jose Mourinho). With Barcelona he won a Champions League Title against Arsenal in 2006 and won 2 League Championships. Unfortunately, during the 2007/2008 season he was hampered by injuries and made only 14 starting appearances.

While questions could be raised about the signing (since Deco is 31 years old), I believe that with his record and consistency he will play well. The contract is for 2 years but may continued at that point. The signing also raises speculation about Frank Lampard who could leave Chelsea perhaps for Inter Milan.

“The Premier League is a great league and it is getting better and you can see that with the Champions League final, where you had two English teams.I t is great that we have so many great players here at Chelsea and it is great that there is the competition which is healthy for everybody and this just makes the team better. To have great players in any position of the club just enhances the club. I know it is a new challenge but I am looking forward to it.”

Germany:
Jens Lehman
Christoph Metzelder
Arne Friedrich
Philip Lahm
Per Mertesacker
Thomas Hitzlsperger
Torsten Frings
Michael Ballack
Bastian Schweinsteiger
Miroslav Klose
Lucas Podolski

Spain:
Iker Cassilas
Carlos Marchena
Carles Puyol
Joan Capdevilla
Sergio Ramos
Xavi
Andres Inesta
Marcos Senna
Cesc Fabregas
David Silva
Fernando Torres

Michael Ballack will be playing; he suffered a calf injury during training 2 days ago. As this game begins we see a change in the lineup: Frings starting over Rolfes (who played horrible in the previous game and later fouled a Turkish player and injured himself). Also, Fabregas is starting because David Villa is out. Okay, this is probably the most ridiculous pre-game show: they have a huge tarp on the field with people dressed up in Alice in Wonderland style European costumes, people in large fake grocery bags, and some kind of balloon thing representing the brackets in the tournament.

Hahaha, Enrique Inglesias is singing. Why can’t the lightning strike the TV tower now??

For the first 15 minutes Germany had possession and the most chances. Then however, Spain took all the possession for about 8 minutes which climaxed when Torres jumped high in the air and headed the ball at the bottom left of Lehman’s goal and bounced off of the post and rolled out of the box.

Germany’s tall, lanky defenders look clumsy and slow compared to Torres. Multiple times Spain has given Torres through balls with German defenders running to follow up. In the end it paid up because as one was given to Torres he beat Metzelder and Lahm to chip the ball over Lehman who ran in sliding.

Germany is under a lot of pressure from Spain and their defending is really poor in the 65th minute but they hold on. KThe last 20 minutes of the game Germany really lost any flow they had; their defense is a joke. Minutes before the end of the game Schweinsteiger got the ball in front of the goal through some scrappy play and surely would have put it in but the referee made a bad call and gave Spain a free kick. Spain has won the Euro Cup 1-0 and they deserve it!!!!

Germany versus Spain

Every four years the Euro Cup unveils new players with great potential; this year it was no different. The last Euro Cup we saw players such as young Cristiano Ronaldo and Schweinsteiger show off their abilities. The pride and responsibility that players feel while playing in the Euro Cup can often bring out the best in a player. This year we saw that certain countries have untapped talent. For example, Russia has multiple, athletic midfielders with the ability to rip shots from far off. Some of Turkeys’ striker have great technical ability. We can probably expect some new players to appear in the EPL after this Euro Cup. Not only that, but we’ve also seen how a manager can truly improve a team (such as Gus Hiddink).

We’ve also seen that Ballack has become the Captain that everyone expected of him pushing his team forward. He dominates the midfield using his size; I wonder if he could begin to wear Chelsea’s captains band more often. Schweinsteiger is formidable at this point dominating the wing; Sergio Ramos and Puyol are incredibly solid as defenders.

While Germany has the advantage in terms of how many times they’ve been in the Euro Cup finals, Spain has Torres and Guiza, two great strikers. I think that the Final will be a great game; my inclination is to say that Germany will win, possibly off of set plays like corners. Germany may try to use their height and phyical ability to overpower the Spaniards in their box. Only time will tell though.

Scolari is currently coaching the Portugese national team in the Euro Cup. While Avram Grant was in no way a bad coach I am sure that Scolari is an excellent choice and will bring a new style of play to Chelsea. Grant also appeared to be rather unexciting and unemotional. The Brazilian International coached the Brazilian national team and won the World Cup in 2002. He also guided Portugal to the Euro Cup finals in 2004 and the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup. He also turned down the opportunity to coach England’s National team in 2006 after Sven-Goran Eriksson was fired. He has also won the Copa Libertadores (South American equivalent to the Champions League) with two different club teams. However, the 59 years old has never coached a European club team.

Chelsea’s keeper Peter Czech welcomed the appointment saying, “He is a manager with great charisma, great experience, great results. I look forward to working with him. For the club to progress further, I think it’s a wise appointment.”

Reportedly his contract will be worth €6 million, though no details have been revealed officially yet. The decision came less than a week after Scolari said, “What’s going to happen to me after Euro 2008 - if I am going to stay or leave - concerns (only) me and I am not going to talk about it now. If I decide to leave or stay, I am only going to make a public declaration at the end of Euro 2008.”

“I think it’s a top-class appointment. They have got a top-class manager. When he was manager of Brazil their emphasis was on attacking style - I think he will bring that into Chelsea football club.” said Ron Harris (former Chelsea player and legend).

Chelsea midfielder Ray Wilkins described Scolari as “A manager of top quality. It appears that he’s up for a challenge. He’s a big guy, he’s charismatic. This will be a breath of fresh air.”

Carvalho also supported the new manager saying “We were all shocked by the news. We heard the rumours but didn’t guess he would be going to Chelsea after the Euros,’ said the 30-year-old. He is a great manager and a big personality. He’s the kind of guy that players respond to and I think we can go forward with him.”

Fellow Portugese player Paulo Ferreira said “I think Scolari is a good manager and he can do a good job there and it will be good for the club.”

Anelka is currently starting in the Euro Cup for France as a striker. “Up to now I didn’t say anything because I was a new player coming from Bolton. But from next season I will no longer be a new player - I will be a Chelsea player.”

Some may speculate that his bargaining position will be hampered by the penalty he took in the Champions Legaue Final against Manchester United. His penalty was blocked by Edwin Van der Saar.

“I stayed 110 minutes on the bench and suddenly I was asked to play less than a minute after being sent to warm up. I don’t know if it ever happened in a Champions League final, in a game so intense, that a player was sent on without having warmed up.”

When asked if he wanted to take one of the first five penalties Anelka said he responded by saying, “No way. I came on practically as a full back and you want me to shoot a penalty?.” After the game Anelka was impervious to the fact that his penalty kick had lost Chelsea the Champions League saying “Good for him (Van der Saar). That’s the game.”

Scolari will be Chelsea’s new manager next season though he is currently coaching for Portugal in the Euro Cup.

2000/2001 season: 207
2001/2002 season: 199
2002/2003 season: 179
2003/2004 season: 182
2004/2005 season: 184
2005/2006 season: 186
2006/2007 season: 191
2007/2008 season: 170

Out of 498 players only 170 were English in the EPL, or about 34.1%. “The number is important because that’s what I can choose from” said Fabio Capello (the English National Coach). “The work being done in the academies is very important. We probably have to change the system of training for young players. At Under-21, and younger national teams, we have a lot of good players. For the future, I hope next season is not 34% but 40%. It will be better for me and England football.”

However, he states that “more importantly the quality - the level of the player. At the moment the total is 34% but the (quality) level is high.” This does make some sense when you think about the Champions League where Chelsea and Manchester United (both EPL teams) had 10 English starters out of 22 players. Sepp Blatter (President of the world football’s governing body Fifa) suggested that EPLE club teams restrict the number of foreign starting players to 5. This would hypothetically improve the number of quality English players. This would also of course, completely destroy the EPL and we would see a drastic drop in viewership and the amount gross earnings; every Club team would resist this move. Despite the obstacles, he continues to press his agenda.

Teams such as Arsenal with only 0.34% English players per match would have to completely change their teams.

West Ham: 6.61%
Aston Villa: 6.42%
Middlesbrough: 5.26%
Wigan: 4.92%
Everton: 4.89%
Derby: 4.86%
Newcastle: 4.76%
Tottenham: 4.37%
Man Utd: 4.28%
Bolton: 4.24%
Sunderland: 4.11%
Portsmouth: 3.79%
Birmingham: 3.74%
Reading: 3.68%
Chelsea: 3.63%
Manchester City: 3.42%
Blackburn: 2.68%
Fulham: 2.42%
Liverpool: 2.34%
Arsenal: 0.34%

In response however, the Premier League released a statement: “Merely looking at numbers of England players in the Premier League is a blunt and misleading measure as to how well the national team should be doing. After all, in the 70s and 80s the vast majority of players in the top flight were eligible for England yet we routinely struggled to qualify for tournaments, let alone perform in them. Our figures show this season nearly 40% of the starting XIs were qualified to play for England, 10 of whom played in the Champions League Final, arguably the highest standard of football in the world. There is no shortage of players at the highest level to pick from but we all want to see more Englishmen capable of performing at this level.”

“That is why Premier League clubs invest more than £40m a season in youth development, that is why the Premier League, along with the FA and the Football League, are driving through reforms to ensure the quality of coaching and player development is of the highest standard. We must raise standards, not implement something that will never happen under European law and would only create a broader pool of average players rather than a deeper one of the right level of talent for Premier League clubs and England.”

However, we can also compare other European nations’ Club Leagues:

Italian Serie A: had 7.3 Italians per team
Spanish La Liga A: had 6.9 Spaniards per team
German Bundesliga: had 4.9 Germans per team

Grant joined Chelsea 8 months ago and has now been fired largely as a result of the chief executive Peter Kenyon as well as Bruce Buck. Avram Grant had only lost 2 of all Premiership games. He brought Chelsea to 2nd place in the EPL and Champions League behind Manchester United. “Chelsea Football Club can confirm that Avram Grant has had his contract as manager terminated today. This follows meetings over the last two days. Everybody at Chelsea FC would like to thank Avram for his contribution since taking over as manager last September. We will now be concentrating all our efforts on identifying a new manager for Chelsea and there will be no further comment until that appointment is made.”

As of now, Rijkaard, Eriksson, Brian Laudrup, Roberto Mancini, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Mark Hughes have all been linked as possible new managers.

Grant had never managed a team in England before coming to Chelsea from Portsmouth. When Morinho left in December of 2007 and signed a 4 year deal with Chelsea. “We have very high expectations at Chelsea and a couple of second place finishes is just not good enough for us. So although we never would have thought in September when Jose Mourinho left that we would be able to make it into a Champions League final as we did - and that is fantastic - Chelsea are here to win trophies. So although it was an excellent season, we are still disappointed.”

Either way, Avram Grant did an excellent job at Chelsea. He came 2nd in the English Premier League. Probably the best club league in the world. Not only that but he played against what could easily be considered one of the best teams to ever play football : the 2007/2008 season Manchester United team. This team was incredibly versatile with some of the most innovative passing that anybody has ever seen. Consider just what Ronaldo has done this season: he has made every player at Manchester United bloom, not only that, but he has shown what can be accomplished by using English passing and foresight with the Hispanic style of dribbling and finishing. This was, and may well continue to be, one of the best teams to ever be assembled. Tevez himself kept West Ham in the Premier League by saving them from relegation. One season later after transferring to Manchester United he continued to show the same skill and ability. His innovative quick cuts and bulldog attacking style has fumbled many a defense.

Its unfair to criticize, or fire, a manager for competing with what could be considered the best team ever (Man Utd) and coming within inches of taking both the English Premier League Title and the Champions League Final. Think about it, he only lost 2 games in the EPL, and he almost won the Champions League, by only losing in penalties. He gave his players the opportunity to win both Titles, a manager can only do so much for the players. I believe that in this case Avram Grant gave the Chelsea players every opportunity to win both Titles.

Arsenal recently lost defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini and now they’ve lost attacking midfielder Hleb. Hleb and Flamini have both been part of Arsenal’s midfield for some time and losing both will severely impair with the development of Arsenal’s team. Wenger will have to find new starting midfielders to take their places as well. “Alex has spent three good seasons at Arsenal and he wasn’t sure he could maintain the same level that he has been showing if he stayed. It’s also true that he felt uncomfortable off the field. Alexander wants a change of scene. That’s had a large part to play in his decision.”