Chelsea - European Giants

[catch325]

After my Aston Villa save was corrupted, I jumped back into an old save. In this save, my goal was to turn Chelsea (the team I support) into a powerhouse.

Now, this may not seem like a difficult task, but I wanted to do something most Chelsea manager's have struggled to do in the past. I wanted to nurture and develop the youth teams, bring young players into the club, and bring them through into the first team. I also set myself the goal of ensuring my net spend was as low as possible.

It's now the year 2021, and I'm still with Chelsea. I've also taken the reigns of the England national team, after Roberto Martinez was sacked.

Anyone interested in the story so far?

 

[MrWisdoman]

As a Chelsea fan myself, I will stay tuned to the story

 

[catch325]

Career stats so far...

 

[catch325]

Chelsea - Five Years of Clark

We take a look at the reign of current Chelsea manager James Clark.

The fortunes of Chelsea Football Club are well known across the footballing world. A team that struggled for stability and struggled financially for a number of years, and found moderate success under the guidance of Ken Bates. That is, until a helicopter ride changed everything.

The story goes that, in 2003, a Russian businessman was being flown across London to see White Heart Lane, with the view of buying Tottenham Hotspur. During this flight, Abramovich glanced out of his window and spotted another stadium, this located in South West London. One look was all it took. Abramovich bought Chelsea, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Abramovich has now owned the club for eighteen years. Under his stewardship, the club has undergone the most successful period in their history. They have also seen twelve different managers in that period. Abramovich has earned himself a reputation as being trigger happy. In fact, the longest serving manager under Abramovic was José Mourinho, who steered the club for nearly five seasons across two managerial stints. That was until Mourinho was axed, and Abramovic told the bold step in hiring a 27 year old former England international, much to the dismay of many fans.

James Clark, a Woking-born defender whose own professional career was brought to an end after a series of knee injuries, was given the post on an initial one year contract. The life-long Chelsea fan was delighted. Many expected the inexperienced manager to be out of Stamford Bridge within six months. Clark has held the position for six years. In fact, only three men have managed the club for longer than Clark, who has led the team into 355 games. By the end of the season, should he still be in charge, Clark will have overtaken Dave Sexton as the third longest serving Chelsea manager, and will be hot on the heels of Ted Drake and his 426 games in charge. Will Clark ever overtake the impressive record of David Calderhead, and his 966 games in charge? Time will tell.

 

[catch325]

First Team - Information

Player	Position	Age	Nationality	Value	Previous Club	Joined	Fee Paid	Homegrown?	Regen?	League Games	League Goals
Thibaut Courtois	GK	29	Belgium	£30.5m	KRC Genk	2011/12	£7.75m	-	-	244	0
Brad Carter	GK	21	England	£6.75m	CFC Academy	2015/16	-	Club Grown	Yes	16	0
Miguel Cardoso	RB	20	Portugal	£18.75m	Leiria/Sheffield Wednesday	2018/19	£3.5m	Club Grown	Yes	34	0
Felipe Arriola	RB/CB/LB	21	Chile	£20.5m	Deportes La Serena	2018/19	£525k	-	Yes	17	1
Gabriel Diaz	CB/RB	23	Argentina	£16m	Atletico Tucuman	2020/21	£3.8m	-	Yes	20	1
Andreas Christensen	CB/RB/DM	25	Denmark	£23m	Brondby	2012/13	Free	Club Grown	-	64	3
Daniele Rugani	CB	27	Italy	£43m	Juventus	2016/17	£30m	-	-	136	15
Kurt Zouma	CB/RB	27	French	£34.5m	St-Etienne	2013/14	£12m	Club Grown	-	160	15
Zdenek Filip	RB/RWB	21	Czech Republic	£31m	Mlada Boleslav	2016/17	£3m	Club Grown	Yes	69	1
Jorge	LB/LWB	25	Brazil	£24.5m	Flamengo	2016/17	£16m	-	-	95	4
Lucas Borg	LB/LWB/DM	22	Sweden	£8.5m	Elfsborg	2017/18	£2.2m	Club Grown	Yes	5	1
Ruben Loftus-Cheek	CM/DM/AM	25	England	£37m	CFC Academy	2010/11	-	Club Grown	-	136	3
Youri Tielemans	CM/DM	24	Belgium	£49m	Anderlecht	2016/17	£18.25m	-	-	120	9
Paul Pogba	CM/DM	28	France	£57m	Juventus	2018/19	£95m	Trained in Nation	-	75	7
Sotiris Pavlidis	CM/AM	19	Germany	£30.5m	Stuttgart	2019/20	£35.5m	(Not Yet)	Yes	28	2
Luis Garcia	RM/RW	20	Portugal	£16.25m	Sporting Lisbon	2021/22	£28m	-	Yes	8	1
Pedro Martin	RM/CM/RW/AM	18	Spain	£12.75m	Real Madrid	2021/22	£20m	(Not Yet)	Yes	5	0
Andy Cohen	LM/CM/LW/AM	22	America	£27m	DC United	2017/18	£5m	Club Grown	Yes	65	14
Robson	CM/AM/ST	23	Brazil	£43m	Sao Paulo	2018/19	£15.25m	-	Yes	80	25
Facundo Hernandez	LM/LW	23	Argentina	£30.5m	Colon	2019/20	£5m	-	Yes	50	12
Eden Hazard	LM/CM/RM/LW/AM/RW	30	Belgium	£49m	Lille	2012/13	£29m	-	-	285	116
Romelu Lukaku	ST	28	Belgium	£35.5m	Everton	2017/18	£31.5m	Trained in Nation	-	90	57
Sergey Fedotov	ST	21	Russia	£31m	CSKA	2021/22	£30.5m	-	Yes	7	3
Marco Bukowski	ST	20	Germany	£9m	Karlsruhe	2017/18	£2.7m	Club Grown	Yes	27	8
Arner Iribarren	ST	19	Peru	£675k	Aceros Arequipa	2020/21	£29k	(Not Yet)	Yes	2	0

Bold dictates a player/transfer that predated my appointment.
Italicised dictates a player promoted in recent games (Lukaku ruled out for 8 months with ligament damage).
Stats are just league games, not all competitions (so someone like Fedetov has 6 goals and 3 assists in 10 games).
Blue names are players who are considered 'club grown'.

 

[catch325]

Season

Position

W

D

L

G/D

FA Cup

Capital One Cup

Champions League

Community Shield

Super Cup

Club World Cup

Spent

Received

Net Spend

Most Expensive Purchase

Most Expensive Sale

2015/16

4th

22

8

8

+39

3rd Round

3rd Round

Winner

N/A

N/A

N/A

£30.35m

£30.5m

-£0.15m

Gabriel Barbosa (£14.75m - Santos)

John Obi Mikel (£13.25m - PSG)

2016/17

1st

25

5

8

+44

5th Round

4th Round

Quarter Final

N/A

Winner

Winner

£91.67m

£146m

-£54.33m

Daniel Rugani (£30m - Juventus)

Willian (£57m - City)

2017/18

1st

27

5

6

+67

Winner

3rd Round

Quarter Final

Winner

N/A

N/A

£96.05m

£104m

-£7.95m

Romelu Lukaku (£31.5m - Everton)

Pedro (£30m - Juventus)

2018/19

2nd

27

5

6

+47

3rd Round

4th Round

Winner

Lost

N/A

N/A

£127m

£187m

-£60m

Paul Pogba (£95m - Juventus)

Nemanja Matic (£51m - Barcelona)

2019/20

1st

30

2

6

+63

3rd Round

Quarter Final

1st Knockout

N/A

Winner

Winner

£90.37m

£110m

-£19.63m

Kingsley Coman (£42m - Juventus)

Gabriel Barbosa (£47m - City)

2020/21

1st

30

6

2

+69

6th Round

Quarter Final

Winner

Lost

N/A

N/A

£7.92m

£181m

-£173.08m

Gabriel Diaz (£3.8m - Tucaman)

Ante Coric (£25.5m - AC Milan)

2021/22

1st

8

3

1

+19

Unknown

3rd Round

Group G Winner

Winner

Winner

Unknown

£85.2m

£169m

-£83.8m

Sergey Fedetov (£30.5m - CSKA)

Kingsley Coman (£50m - PSG)

 

[catch325]

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Team v @ManUtd: Courtois; Cardoso, Rugani, Zouma (C), Jorge; Pogba, Loftus-Cheek; Garcia, Cohen, Hernández; Bukowski. #BPL

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Subs v @ManUtd: Carter, Arriola, Díaz, Martín, Hazard, Iribarren, Fedotov.

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CHELSEA GOAL! Bukowski heads Chelsea into the lead! Cohen releases Hernández down the left, and his cross is met by Buko. 1-0 #CFCvMUFC

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CHELSEA GOAL! Cohen with the corner, met at the far post by Rugani. His header rebounds off the crossbar, hits Aboubakar, and goes in! #OwnGoal #CFCvMUFC

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AND THAT MAKES THREE! Cardoso finds the feet of Martín, who spins away from his man. He gets space, and whips the ball low into the box, where Cohen meets it. He deserves that goal! #CFCvMUFC #CohenShow

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FULL TIME: Chelsea 3 - 0 @ManUtd #CFCvMUFC

 

[MrWisdoman]

A win against man united always puts a smile on my face

 

[catch325]

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Team v @s04: Carter; Cardoso, Arriola, Zouma (C), Borg; Pogba, Pavlidis; Hazard, Róbson, Hernández; Iribarren #UCL #Unbeaten

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Subs v @s04: Courtois, Rugani, Díaz, Martín, Loftus-Cheek, Bukowski, Fedotov.

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PENALTY! Geis trips Pogba in the area, and the referee points to the spot...surely a Hazard special? #UCL #CFCvS04

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GOAL! Hazard dispatches the penalty with ease! 1-0 Chelsea. 6 minutes gone #UCL #CFCvS04

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STUNNING STRIKE! 41 minutes gone, and Pavlidis shows the world what a talent he is! 25 yards out, collects a cleared header, and he thunders his strike into the top corner! No saving that! Flashbacks to the great Frank Lampard there! #UCL #CFCvS04

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HALF TIME: 2-0 to Chelsea, and there is movement on the bench. Róbson off, Bukowski on, and Clark is changing things up. Chelsea going 4-2-2-2 and pushing for more goals #UCL #CFCvS04

 

[catch325]

GOAL! Bukowski, with his back to goal, finds Hazard running into space on the right. He charges into the area, the only Schalke defender was Matip who closes him down, and Hazard sweeps across a ball to the unmarked Iribarren. Cool as you like, two touches, and he beats the keeper! #UCL #CFCvS04

 

[catch325]

FULL TIME: And that makes it 5 wins from 5 in the #UCL this season. An incredible 17 goals along the way. Atlético and Schake dispatched with, Dinamo up next. A wonder strike from Pavlidis, and Iribarren's second goal of the season see us continue our European march.