F.A. Cup Final 2010 – Chelsea vs Portsmouth

Being a football fan, wherever you are in the world, you will have heard of and probably watched an FA cup final.

People have said that in recent years the FA cup has lost it’s appeal and it’s magic. I couldn’t disagree more.
The FA cup is still a major draw for foreign players coming to the Premier League. The FA Cup still provides shocks, upsets and drama, and no more so than this year.

Who would think that Portsmouth could make another final despite their off-field dramatics this year. They may be a Championship club next season but when it kicks off today all that will be forgotten and those Pompey players will want to reward the manager, Avram Grant, and the fantastic Portsmouth fans for there faith and support this year.

I find it hard to believe there will be many neutral fans getting behind Chelsea for this one.
Of course they will be the bookies favourites and it would take a brave man to bet against them, but in my heart I really believe that Portsmouth can proivde one last upset. After all a lot of the Chelsea players have a World cup to look forward to and injuries now could be enough to rule them out.
In my opinion any team with the mighty Drogba in, will be dangerous but of course Chelsea have quality in abundance right across the field.

Portsmouth though do have some quality players, they will obviously all be putting themselves in the shop window for transfers following their relegation, and let’s face it shop windows do not get much bigger than the FA cup final.
Reportedly nearly 500 million people watch the FA cup final world wide.

So on a day when my heart says Portsmouth but my head says Chelsea, it could prove to be a very exciting final and once in a while I do let my heart rule.

With nothing to lose I say Portsmouth to win 3-2 after extra time.

Chelsea Fc – Managerless, who will touch them?

With the departure of Avram Grant this week I can’t help but think that the Chelsea managers job, although probably one of the most financially rewarding jobs in world football, is going to be harder to fill than people might think.

When Mourinho left the club and Avram Grant was given the position of Chelsea Manager, I was quite shocked.
I knew about his background in football, his domestic success in Israel proved he was an intelligent manager, but still to suddenly be instilled as manager of Chelsea in their position at the time raised my eyebrows more than a little.

After a couple of months in the job Avram had quietly stamped his own feel to the squad, continued to grind out decent results and more importantly and remarkably began to win over the Chelsea faithful who still pined for their maestro Jose.

There was none of the controversy from Grant that Jose had following him around. In fact from what I saw over the last season Avram Grant conducted himself impeccably, he finally got Ballack playing football again, something he hadn’t done so far in his time at Chelsea, and more remarkably he dragged Chelsea in the final weeks to compete point for point with what I believe to be the best Manchester United team Sir Alex Ferguson has ever assembled.

Add to that a first ever champions league final appearance that went down to the lottery that is penalties and I’d say it was a remarkable season for Chelsea and Avram Grant. I’m not even going to mention the carling cup final!!

But Mr Abrahomivich wants more, he wants all those trophies and more and unfortunatley he seems to surround himself with people who will say anything to keep him happy. I am absolutely positive Roman has not got to where he is in life through being easily led by hangers on but football is a million miles away from the oil business and he needs to identify an asset when he has it.

So there are a few names in the hat for the job but there’s certainly nobody banging on the Chelsea door shouting “Give it to me!” which has got to be a worry for the Chelsea fans. Rikjaard has been mentioned which I think is ridiculous, he’s just pulled apart the spirit of a great Barcelona team much as he did in the Holland camps when he was a player. Mark Hughes?? well I am a massive fan of Sparky but would he really allow the Chelsea board to control him as much as they like to control a man, he didn’t let it happen for Wales!

So whilst I’m sure there will be plenty of people knocking on Mr Grants door offering him lucrative contracts I’m not too sure there will be as big a queue knocking at the bridge.

So I guess it’s true money can’t buy everything……yet!