Champions of Europe again?

Di Matteo leaves

Roberto Di Matteo has reportedly been given his marching orders this morning after Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich had decided against signing the interim manager on a full-time deal. Di Matteo is the latest in a long line of 'unfair' managerial casualties at Stamford Bridge, with Carlo Ancelotti's sacking still hanging in the back of all Chelsea fans mind's.

Our sources tell us that Abramovich will name a new manager before this evening, with Josep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Rafa Benitez and Manuel Pellegrini all favourites.

More as it comes in.

Nice start. Hope that you can take them up top and not disappoint like Benitez has done. Keep the updates rolling in Joe!

Arrival

I had arrived. The Chelsea training ground loomed ahead of me as I drove up the road. There were many TV vans from all over the world, with funny looking characters on their sides. An unrecognised face, I was ignored all the way up the road. I got out and walked into reception. I was immediately greeted by Bruce Buck and Ron Gourlay, the managing directors of the club, before being led away into a boardroom.

The Meeting

There he was.

The man who started the Roman Empire. Roman Abramovich, with a wide smile on his face, invited me into the room and introduced me to two faces. First of all, Michael Emenalo, the director of football, from Nigeria, followed by Eddie Newton, assistant manager to Roberto Di Matteo.

Then the meeting began, with only myself and Roman talking.

Roman Abramovich (RA): Hi Joe, welcome to Chelsea!

Joe Dowley (JD): Thank you! Let's get down to business!

RA: Chelsea obviously has a very large history. Would you look a report sent to you about the history of the club?

JD: Why not? Maybe I'll learn something new.

RA: I feel that our minimum expectations for this season should that you challenge for the title at least. We are willing to offer you a transfer budget of £30M and a wage budget of £2.26M.

JD: Those expectations seem in line with what the club can achieve. I happily agree with those terms.

RA: As tradition, we feel that you should have a press conference to introduce yourself.

JD: That sounds like a great idea, and the fans can find out about me.

RA: Brilliant. I'm going to hand you over to Eddie Newton now.

Eddie Newton looks up from his notes, where he seems to have been doodling. Surprised, he begins to realise it's his turn to speak.

Eddie Newton (EN): Hi Joe, would you like me to organise an intra-squad friendly between the reserves and the first team?

JD: No thanks, not much point of comparing them.

EN: Would you like me to send you a team report?

JD: Yes please, that would be a great help.

EN: Would you like me to arrange a staff meeting?

JD: That would be great!

EN: Anything else?

JD: No thanks.

And the meeting continued with myself talking to Michael Emenalo about our footballing goals for the season.

And in a flash it was over, Roman left the room and I saw him jump into his car outside, Gourlay, Buck and Emenalo left together in a huddle. Eddie Newton stumbled out towards where the Under 18's were practising. I sat in thought.

First Impressions

Wow. I sat quietly thinking to myself. I thought about Roman, and how he was far nicer than the media portrayed him. Bruce and Ron barely spoke, but seemed extremely willing to help.

However, Michael Emenalo and Eddie Newton did not impress me. Michael's footballing knowledge was not up to the standard's I would expect of a director of football. Eddie was asleep or in a daze the whole time, and I can tell that I am going to need a focused assistant manager. Here we go. I was taking over at Chelsea Football Club.

Roman, far nicer than the media portrays him.

It would have been nicer if you could make the conversation between the board & assistant manager different from the game's conversation because we already know what they say in game.

Other than that, nice start and I'll be following.

We are reporting today that, after the appointment of unknown Belgian manager Joe Dowley, there has been a mass exodus of staff at the club.

Here is a list of all those who have left:

Michael Emenalo (Director of Football)
Dermot Drummy (Reserves manager)
Adi Viveash (Under 18's manager)
Eddie Newton (Assistant manager)
Joe Edwards (Under 18's Assistant manager)
Neil Bath (Head of youth development)

-Coaches:

Steve Holland
Jim Fraser
Jimmy Morgan
Ian Howell
Andy Myers
Matt Birnie
Chris Jones
Ivan Ortega
Mark Beeney
Elliot Axtell

-Physios:

Paco Biosca
Eva Carneiro
Jon Fearn
Thierry Laurent
Alex Nieper
Jason Palmer
Steven Hughes
Julian Redhead
Stuart Vaughan

-Scouts:

Piet De Visser
Jorge Alvial
Alfie Apps
Adie Mings
Janusz Oledzki
Tony White
Victor de los Santos
Gerry Kelly
Mick McGiven
Guy Hillion
Flemming Berg
Alf Blanford
Mick Doherty
Vicente Fernandez Pujante
Scott McLachlan

It remains to be seen who will be bought in to replace the huge numbers that have followed Roberto Di Matteo out of the club.

Emenalo sucks at my save mate, perhaps a new Director of Football?

Great signings in the staff department. Eager to see who you sign! Hope that you change a little from other Chelsea stories and not sign Ben Arfa! Update more!

how dare you let eva carneiro leave lol

Great start so far mate. Some good staff you put in place. Cant wait to see the transfers you've made. Good Luck for the season

...And following on from Aston Villa, we bring you Chelsea'a transfers so far this window.

Following Roberto Di Matteo's departure at the West London club, unknown Belgian Joe Dowley took over and left his mark. He has been hard at work all window on bringing players to liven up his squad. Here are the In's and Out's at Chelsea.

Transfers IN:

Zakaria Bakkali - PSV to Chelsea - £575k

Signed on a free transfer from the Dutch giants, he looks like a promising prospect for the future. The striker's main threat is his pace.

Adam Campbell - Newcastle to Chelsea - £625k

Another young signing on a free transfer. Watch out for his pace as Chelsa look to the future.

Oskar Hiljemark - IF Elfsborg to Chelsea - £1.2M

The 20 year-old central midfielder player has bags of talent. Look out for his name during cup matches.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos - Schalke to Chelsea - £17.25M

The young centre-back was highly sought after and the Blues were the club that picked him up first. With almost 50 games for Schalke at the age of 20, Papadopoulos will surely be a star.

Joël Matip - Schalke to Chelsea - £15.5M

Another young centre-back courtesy of Schalke, the 20 year-old's main asset is his pace and anticipation. Looks set to shine.

Thomas Müller - FC Bayern München to Chelsea - £31.5M

The German midfielder is not a popular figure among English fans after being part of Germany's 2010 World Cup campaign where they dominated England. Already proven across Europe and on the world stage.

Adryan - Flamengo to Chelsea - £875k

The young Brazilian has great passing ability. Look forward to seeing him play in cup matches.

Chelsea have also agreed two signings to join them in 2013. Michael Diskerud, the young American midfielder will join on a free from Rosenborg, while young centre-back Doria will join from Botafogo for £525k.

Transfers OUT:

Paulo Ferreira - Chelsea to Sunderland - £1.1M

Hilario - Chelsea to Academica - £200k

Lucas Piazon - Chelsea to West Brom - £900k

Florent Malouda - Chelsea to Marseille - £2.4M

Daniel Sturridge - Chelsea to Juventus - £10.25M

John Obi Mikel - Chelsea to PSG - £11.5M

Pre-Season

Pretty respectable results overall in my opinion. Shame about the loss but definitely scoring lots.

FA Community Shield

Chelsea 1 (4)
Oscar (27')

Scored:
Oscar
Mata
Ramires
Hiljemark

Man. City 1 (2)
Nasri (59')

Scored:
Aguero
Nasri

Missed:
Kaka
Kompany

I lifted my first piece of silverware as manager of Chelsea, with good performances from all round the park. There was no Hazard or Terry so we did extremely well.

August

A pretty decent month of results.

Southampton:

We played very well against Southampton, we were unlucky not to score more and unlucky to concede.

Wigan:

They had 10 men. We had 33 shots. How?

Atletico Madrid:

Good result, even though Müller's goal may have been offside.

We added that second piece of silverware to our collection.

League Table

Transfers

We added three more players to the squad during the last month.

Igor de Camargo - Borussia Monchengladbach to Chelsea - £7.75M

Belgian striker with a big physical presence.

Luc Cataignos - FC Twente to Chelsea - £9.25M

Young Dutchman signed in the final hour of the window.

Sven Schipplock - Hoofenheim to Chelsea - Loan

Tall German striker.

We also had Fernando Torres leave to Lille on loan unil the end of the season.

Sorry guys, my save has been corrupted again. I will probably start a new save again so look out for it.

2013-02-23 02:42#82240 joethequin : Sorry guys, my save has been corrupted again. I will probably start a new save again so look out for it.

Bad luck, fingers crossed the next one goes ok, because you were really doing well in this.

Got another story in the pipeline not quite sure who to take up yet.