[Archived] Chelsea Vs Blackburn Rovers Preview 4pm Sunday 17th May 2009

[Quack]

Welcome to my first preview - so be gentle and remember I am following the legendary Bob Fleming.

As I write this review, Rovers barring a set of bizarre results are safe and out of range of the trap door into the Championship. This is our last trip of a reasonably indifferent season and it will interesting to see how many travel the 233 miles to Stamford Bridge after paying an eye watering £47 for a ticket. Chelsea however have sold out but it is a game which matters little to us but Chelsea will want to secure third place in the premiership.

Surprisingly enough, Rovers used to be Chelsea's bogey team but the last 4 games have been home bankers with Chelsea scoring 11 goals with only 2 in reply - both from little Craig. Chelsea may have to field a strong side to secure third so I find it hard to see past a home win.

I will come back to the match later but in an attempt to be a little different I will review famous supporters of both sides. The Chelsea list is much longer than Rovers and includes luminaries such as Lord Coe, Michael Caine, Steven Redgrave, Paul Weller and Dennis Waterman. The Rovers list is reasonably brief but is quality rather than quantity!

Several media types appear as Chelsea fan's but our TV star is Jim " Bullseye " Bowen. Jim has split loyalties as a Morecambe Town fan. Hestarted work as a binman in Burnley - a more than full time post but he entered teacher training and became a deputy head of a Lancaster primary school. He became interested in show business and ended up fronting Bullseye - a quiz tied loosely in with darts. The show ran for 14 years and had numerous catch phrases; the ones I recall were " Super,smashing,graaate " and " Let's check it with Bully" which was followed by what sounded like a constipated cow having a good evacuation. A common theme in these celebs is a degree of controversy and Bowen left Radio Lancashire after describing a guest as a "n*g n*g, he still is occasionally seen at Ewood.

The most irritating Chelsea media person is Tim Lovejoy who spent over 10 years sitting next to the gorgeous Helen Chamberlain on the Soccer AM couch. He widened his portfolio to include radio DJing and then joined Radio 5Live on 606 where he is marginally less obnoxious than Alan Green. His extra-ordinary bias towards Chelsea has to be heard to be believed and he dismisses clubs like Rovers as complete and utter non events.

Sport and in particular motor sport is well represented in the ranks of supporters for both clubs. Our own Carl Fogarty was born and bred in Blackburn - he won the World Superbike Championship on four occasions riding a Ducati and then a Honda. He also held a lap record at the Isle of Man TT for 7 years and retired after a major collision in 2000 and continues to voice his strongly held opinions which you either love or loathe. Two motor sport personalities in Chelsea's ranks are Johnny Herbert, ex F1 driver and Bernie Ecclestone who is a billionaire as a result of his interest in Formula one, he also co-owns QPR. He was a racing driver but retired after a collision which threw him out of the car into an adjacent car park. Bernie then made money from real estate investments which he used to buy the Brabham team. After several years of management he headed up the formula one constructors association and made his money by securing TV rights to show formula one. He continues to irritate British F1 fans by threatening to take away the British Grand Prix and got embroiled in a political scandal relating to donations of £1 million to the labour party after F1 had been exempted form the ban on tobacco advertising. Bernie has a personal fortune of £1.46 billion, a loss of £934 million in one year.

Politicians of all persuasions are found supporting Chelsea, Rovers has one, Jack Straw - the secretary of state for justice and MP for Blackburn since 1979, he is seen at Ewood fairly frequently. He has climbed the slippery political pole and has been home and foreign secretary in the past. Jack has also been in trouble for comments made to the LET by suggesting that wearing face veils that cover faces can inhibit inter-community relationships and communication - this caused a very heated debate. David Mellor is a staunch Chelsea fan and was involved in a kiss and tell scandal after an affair with an actress Antonia de Sancha with 2 completely untrue stories of toe sucking and being asked to make love with him as he was wearing his Chelsea replica kit ! John Major the ex prime minister also had several problems to deal with - after his 1993 back to basics campaign promoting family values; numerous politicians were in trouble for adulterous relationships and other financial misadventures. Most surprising of all was his 4 year affair with Edwina Currie which was a fly in the ointment after his retirement but it is all ok now as Norma forgave him!

Money - Roman Abramovich is the rather wealthy owner of Chelsea but his fortune is down by 30% to a mere £8 billion as a result of the global recession. He started his business career by selling plastic ducks and dolls but rapidly expanded in the 1990's to be involved in oil conglomerates across Russia. Several scandals have followed him including the theft of a train carrying 3.8 million roubles worth of oil but all criminal charges were dropped. Other scrapes have included alleged bribes, share dilution and aluminium wars. His career as a politician has also shown extraordinary generosity,in 8 years whilst governor he spent over $1 billion on Georgia. He has numerous homes, a flotilla of boats in his personal navy and his own Boeing 767 and Airbus A340. His cars include 2 Maybachs and a Bugatti Veyron.

As regards our own financial heavy weight - there is only one Jack Walker - I need say no more.

Any way all this seems to show is that celebs have too many problems so back to football.

The last time Rovers won was a frenetic finish in 2002-3 when Dwight scored on 86 minutes followed by Hasselbaink and Dunn goals in the 90th minute, since that dramatic finish it has all been down hill. 2-2 in 2003 - 4 when a certain Andrew Cole scored twice, 2004 - 5 was a 4-0 demolition with a Gudjohnsen hat trick and Duff adding salt to the wound. 2005 - 6 finished 4-2 with Drogba, Lampard and Ashley Cole scoring with Craig Bellamy replying. 2006-7 was 3-0 with the Drog, Lampard and Kalou scoring. Last season was a stale 0-0 draw in a completely unremarkable game.

Chelsea have some outstanding individuals but 3 have been outstandingly obnoxious recently - Ashley Cole. On 4 March 2009, Cole was held after swearing at police officers outside a Central London nightclub. Police said a 28-year-old man was held in Brompton Road, South Kensington, at about 02:15 GMT. He was taken to a police station and given an £80 fixed penalty which he could not afford to pay.

In the Champions Leage semi final Didier Drogba was somewhat unhappy with the Norwegian referee and nearly assaulted the official after the recent 1-1 draw with Barcelona. He could then be heard shouting obscenities at a live TV camera.

My least favourite Chelsea player however is John Terry - he too behaved disgracefully in the Barca game but has a long history of berating referees, running half of the pitch to get involved in arguments as well as thinking it is acceptable to grab players by the throat - a real role model.

Anyway - hope you enjoyed the read and I am sorry but 2-0 to Chelsea.

[edit]

[chocky]

I thought about going but decided against this time...I think 2-1 Chelsea...can't see us winning this but just try to keep the score respectable....

[Plastic Head]

4 - 0

[b12_simon]

4 - 0

[nods sadly in agreement]

[Guest Vinjay606]

Doubt it will end exactly 4-0 (as the Liverpool/Arsenal away games did) maybe 3-0 or 5-0 this time.

Then again maybe it will be a respectable display like the one at Old Trafford. The only decent display against one of the top 4 all season. I certainly see no reason to play the same negative tactics as at Anfield considering the changed situation. Obviously not all out attack either but instead of playing for a point or damage limitation there's no reason not to try and win.

Conceding an early goal wouldn't help though sometimes as at Anfield some goals are of high class and can't really be prevented.

[watty]

A thought we won a few years ago. We beat them to secure a european place? Super Robbie Savage scoring?

A could be mistaken though.

[yankrover]

A thought we won a few years ago. We beat them to secure a european place? Super Robbie Savage scoring?

A could be mistaken though.

We did, but that was at Ewood.

[yoda]

not a pressure game for us, sam will say enjoy the match, draw at least!

[yoda]

not a pressure game for us, sam will say enjoy the match, draw at least!

[67splitscreen]

Nice review, can't see anything but a heavy defeat, the way they put L'Arse to the sword does not look good.

Our MF will be totally over run and out classed, We won't have enough up front to score.

Robbo will be on over time.

4+ -0

i can live in hope 1-1

[Blue n White Rover]

2-1 to the Rovers, Pedersen with a free kick and McCarthy.

I'll reveal the Lotto numbers later

[1864roverite]

A different but nice read, well done.

For me, the game is an opportunity to win some money spread betting.

Using the scoreline 5-0 to Chelsea pick you selection of first time goals scorers for some good odds.

Its death by TV, Rovers to lose heavily, even if Chelsea have secured 3rd spot.

[Guest Vinjay606]

Shouldn't bet against your own club.

[Presty On Tour]

2-1 to the Rovers, Pedersen with a free kick and McCarthy.

I'll reveal the Lotto numbers later

Have you started smoking the same gear as me

Boswinga said at the start of the season he fears Pedersen which can be read HERE

I think his goal on Saturday could boost confidence and if he adds to his 61 attempts then the net will be bulging at the Bridge.

Nothing to lose here and we should just go for it.

[mellison24]

Shouldn't bet against your own club.

get over yourself mate. he may bet against rovers, but he's still a fan. in principle, yes its wrong. but if it gives him a better chance of a bit of dosh then its fine by me. go support ManUre. they are more your kind of people in that they just wind every1 up.

[John]

go support ManUre.

Can't believe you just said that! Worst possible insult to the V-Jay!

[American]

I thought about going but decided against this time...I think 2-1 Chelsea...can't see us winning this but just try to keep the score respectable....

I'm only about 15 minutes away, but at 47 quid, forget it.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Forget this one with Lager and Prozac!

[joey_big_nose]

Boswinga said at the start of the season he fears Pedersen which can be read HERE

Forgot about that. Hilarious!

Hopefully he will be so terrified that he will stay really deep and play everybody onside.....

We're going to get mullered. Chelsea have a stronger midfield than Utd, we won't get any space or change out of them, plus we are nearly safe. Only hope is if Terry et al cannot handle Samba which actually is possible. I don't think they will have played anyone like him this year.

4-0 again.

[Blueheart]

A matter of damage limitation, we need to put 11 men in front of goal to stop them scoring or at least reduce the damge to our goal difference.

A matter of damage limitation, we need to put 11 men in front of goal to stop them scoring or at least reduce the damge to our goal difference.

[gazsimm]

a point would be great, but i can't see us getting anything here i am affraid; i think we should try a few players out who have not had much of a game this season, now that we are safe (unless something not normal happens)

Robinson

Oojier Samba Nelson Givet

Diouf Grella Warnock Gamst

Carlos

Benni

[Atomicrover]

A matter of damage limitation, we need to put 11 men in front of goal to stop them scoring or at least reduce the damge to our goal difference.

A matter of damage limitation, we need to put 11 men in front of goal to stop them scoring or at least reduce the damge to our goal difference.

So.........that's 22 in front of goal for Rovers.....sounds about right

[Amo]

Eh, when we try putting 11 men behind the ball we always get hit for six. Let's just play to our usual game plan and see what happens.

[RibbleValleyRover]

It’s going to be interesting to see how our midfield fairs against the best, all round box-to-box midfielder in the world. The monster of a player that is Michael Essien.

Perhaps Keith Andrews can do a number on him? Mark him out of the game

[philipl]

Nice review Quack- you missed off Abramovich's six superyachts!

Cannot see anything but a heavy defeat.