New Chelsea Career! 3.3 Update

[Steve10s]

So I've started a new Chelsea save and I'm looking forward at trying to revitalise the squad and see if we can avoid an AVB and approach the situation differently. One of my aims is to bring the wage budget to under £1.2 million in two seasons from around £1.8 when I took over without reducing quality. I'd like to win the Premier League within two seasons and win the Champions League within three. So in the first transfer window I've made 3 signings and let go of two major players John Terry & Didier Drogba.

• IN - Dede - £11 Million - From Vasco
• IN - Glen Johnson - £17 million - From Liverpool
• IN - Salomon Rondon - £20 Million - From Malaga
• OUT - Didier Drogba - £16.75 Million - To Barcelona
• OUT - John Terry - £23.5 Million - To Barcelona

Cech remains first choice goalkeeper but I'll be looking to move Courtois into that role next season or sign a strong goalkeeper if his development has stalled. Dede is now a central part of my defence, forming a union with David Luiz when they are both fit, he seems like a great young talent who I think will be a major part of my defence for at least 8 seasons. I've moved Chelsea to a 4 - 1 - 2 - 2 formation with a few minor tweaks. Glen Johnson is my rock of a right back with Cole remaining as Left Back (I'll try and find a younger replacement in the next summer window) with Mikel playing just infront of the defensive line (Romeu) has been loaned out to guarantee regular first team matches, if he develops he'll replace Mikel at the beginning of next season. Lampard & Essien again form the centre two with regular rotation between them and Ramires, Malouda & Meireles. In front of them, just behind the two center strikers plays Mata. Up front I've got Fernando Torres and my new signing Salomon Rondon who has had an amazing RL season for Malaga and at just 21 looks like he's really going to develop into one of the best strikers in the world but is also ready for regular full match length Premier League football.

A whole bunch of youngsters have been loaned out including Sturridge & Lukaku.

[Marc Vaughan]

Good luck

[Steve10s]

Well I've made it to the 28th of September so far. Torres is at 5 goals in 9 games, Rondon is only 4 in 8. Both averaging about 8.10 ratings. Going to have a reassessment in January.

[Steve10s]

January has arrived and we're untrack for a top 4 finish in the Premier League, currently sitting at 2nd, unfortunately 10 points behind an incredibly strong Man City who seem to have dominated from the beginning, we're the only team to have beaten them at the Etihad. We also dropped out disappointingly from the Carling Cup and came third in the group stages of the Champions League. New summer signing Salomon Rondon has scored 10 goals so far with an average rating of 7.44 while Torres has managed 11 goals in the season so far with a rating of 7.92. The team is still in need of overhaul with Cech in particular not performing well and Lampard in decline (although he has been named England captain a number of times so far this season). A replacement for the equally declining Essien is also required, preferably some of these should be achieved in this January window if money can be raised through sales.

• IN - Javi Marquez - £10 Million - from Espanyol
• OUT - Kalou - £9 Million - to Malaga
• OUT - Paulo Ferreira - £300,000 - to Stade Malherbe Caen
• OUT - Jose Bosingwa -£975,000 - to Anderlecht

Marquez was brought in as the replacement for Lampard in the centre of my midfield. Settling in well but hasn't quite got the star quality that other players seem to have. Unfortunately I wasn't able to shift any major wage earners off the books but the sale of Kalou allowed me to fund the transfer along with the sale of Bosingwa who hasn't played due to the amazing and in form Glen Johnson. Paulo Ferreira was allowed to leave due to getting no match time this season. Both contracts expire in the Summer and I thought it was better to have a positive transfer balance this window.

[Lucas Weatherby]

Looking good, KUTGW

[Jamie King]

Looks like things are going nicely. Impressed with some of your signings, Dede and Rondon should become (if not already) very good players for you - and you've got Torres scoring, so you must be doing something right.

Keep it up.

[Bantam Searley95]

You sold your best centre back and possible one of the best cb in the league? Whaattt?!

[Jamie King]

You sold your best centre back and possible one of the best cb in the league? Whaattt?!

He did state that he was trying to have a clear out to get rid of the "old guard" to be fair. And getting £23.5m for Terry at his age isn't too shoddy at all. If that offer came along in real life, Chelsea would bite Barca's hand off.

[Fritz13]

But would unofficial Manager JT endorse his own transfer out of Chelsea ....

[Steve10s]

End of First Season Report:

So I managed to complete my first season with a fairly reformed Chelsea, we managed to win the European Cup (not the Champions League), with a winner scored by Torres and we also managed to beat Manchester United in the final of the FA Cup thanks to an amazing performance again from Torres who scored a hat-trick. Unfortunately we dropped out of the League Cup early because I hadn't really been paying attention and played a weak team against Premier League opposition and we only managed a 4th played finish in the League which was a mixture of poor planning for player conditions on my part as well as just getting an unlucky number of matches in a short period of time. Due to an injury crisis with a couple of players injured near the end of the season I brought Lukaku, Van Aanholt & Oriol Romeu back early from their loan deals about 2 months from the final game and they each played football regularly. My new signings each received ratings over the season of over 7.0, including Javi Marquez who was purchased in January.

As for my two main strikers, here are the statistics:

Salomon Rondon: Played 56, Scored 20, Assists 8 - AVG R: 7.39
Fernando Torres: Played 52, Scored 29, Assists 13 - AVG R: 8.21

Torres clearly had the better season here but was out for a few matches due to injury and also the fact I refuse to play any start who have less than a 90% condition. He also regained his international place for Spain and as mentioned above helped clinch wins in the FA Cup & Euro Cup which assured I kept my job.

Overall I'm pleased with the first season, next season I'll aim for a top two finish in the Premier League. I'm also looking to reduce the wage bill further in the Summer window and bring in some youth. An update on that tonight if I have time.

[Steve10s]

Summer has come and gone and it's been my busiest transfer window so far. Some major changes have been made and the team is nearly completely unrecognizable from the team that I inherited.

• OUT - Hilario - Contract Expiry
• OUT - Florent Malouda - £2 Million - Athletico Madrid
• OUT - Raul Meireles - £4.6 Million - Udinese
• OUT - Frank Lampard - £7.5 Million - Tottenham
• OUT - Ashley Cole - £13.75 Million - Real Madrid
• IN - Fellipe Bastos - BOS - SLB
• IN - Martin Montoya - BOS - Barcelona
• IN - Michael Lumb - £4 Million - Zenit St. Petersburg
• IN - Iker Munianin - £21.5 Million - Athletic Club

With some of my loanees returning highly skilled and developed, specifically looking at Courtois & Oriol Romeu. Wage bill is now down to about 1.2 million after some younger players demanded increases. I'm going to aim for under £1 million a week within 2 more seasons I think. The new lineup is:

Thibaut Courtois - GK
Michael Lumb - DL
Dede - CB
David Luiz - CB
Glen Johnson - DR
Oriol Romeu - DM C
Javi Marquex - MC
Michael Essien - MC
Iker Munian - AM C
Fernando Torres - SC
Salomon Rondon - SC

Really happy with it, we lost the Community Shield but other than that we've had a strong start to the season.

[Steve10s]

Dede got an 8 to 9 month injury in the first game of the season and we were languishing in 4th before January so I made a few more changes. Morale was also at an all time low with a fair few players saying we lacked ambition.

• OUT - Petr Cech - £4.8 Million - To Manchester City
• OUT - Yossi Benayoun - £2 Million - To Udinese
• OUT - Lucas Piazon - SWAP - To Arsenal Arsenal
• IN - Emmanuel Frimpong - £2 Million + SWAP - From Arsenal
• IN - Steven Caulker - £10 Million - From Tottenham
• IN - Aaron Ramsey - £30 Million - From Arsenal

[Steve10s]

End of season report:

We again won the FA Cup and the European Super Cup at the beginning of the season. However we only finished third in the Premier League in a season that come to the final match.

Fernando Torres: Played 50, Scored 27, Assists 13 -AVG R 8.02
Salomon Rondon: Played 51, Scored 19, Assists 10 - AVG R. 7.56

Torres again the better performer but with a lower rating than last season while Salomon has improved. Both players played less matches. Due to the disappointment of this season my hopes for next season are to reach the Champions League final and to achieve a top 2 Premier League finish. It'll be the last season I do this report for.

[BarneyLFC]

But would unofficial Manager JT endorse his own transfer out of Chelsea ....

I laughed.