Lamps signs & Chelsea FanCast Presenter says “Bring it on” to Manchester United, Arsenal and Co.

Chelsea Football FanCast presenter David Chidge previews the coming season and talks about the joy of having secured a £35 millions Frank Lampard.

He’s finally done it and signed that contract! Super Frankie Lampard will officially be reaquainting his lips with the Chelsea badge for the next 5 years, starting this Sunday against Portsmouth!!
Most, if not all Chelsea fans will be mightily relieved, not least because the saga that has been going on for far too long is now mercifully at an end. More important than that, Chelsea have kept hold of probably their most important contributor to the team, and the fans one of their favorite players.

The main focus of the arguments raging amongst the fans about “will he, wont he” have centered on how on earth do you replace a player who contributes on average 20 goals a season from midfield and a similar number of assists over the last four seasons whilst playing in 90% of the games.

In the US of A, Lamps would regularly be awarded the sobriquet “Most Valuable Player”. How right they are, and of course in more ways than one. Frank will bank £35 million for his next 5 years contribution to the Blue cause, but if he keeps fit, keeps banging the goals in (hopefully via a few deflections just to annoy the away fans), and continues to be the backbone of the side, I for one will not begrudge him one penny of it!

The other significant factor for Chelsea fans in putting a lid on the Lamps transfer issue, is that we have kept him in spite of very stiff competition. A mark of a truly big club is the ability to fend off other big or bigger clubs when they try to poach your best players. With none of Chelsea’s best players departing for sunnier or better paid climates, it could well be that Chelsea are now becoming the force globally that Kenyon so desperately craves.

The same can not be said for Arsenal and Spurs, and we await the denouement of Ronaldo’s petulance at Utd.
We’ll no doubt be celebrating Super Franks decision at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, and even more vociforously (if possible) in the Chelsea FanCast we’ll be recording after the game. And talking of the game, there really is nothing like the start of a new season is there. Everyone starts on an equal footing, everything to play for – we all have hope before it all goes Pete Tong!!
Chelsea fans will be looking forward to this season even more eagerly than usual. The arrival of Big Phil seems to have injected the club with a massive confidence boost after the horror of losing to Utd in the Champions League final in the worst possible circumstances.

The squad looks even stronger having lost some of the dead weight and a little bit of minor surgery with the additions of Boswinga and Deco. Arsenal and Utd already have injury problems, and Liverpool were terrible against Standard Liege last night. So bring it on, bring on Harry Redknapp’s Chelsea B team and roll out the new season.
We’ll be discussing the season opener against Portsmouth in the Chelsea FanCast a mere couple of hours after the match (so we should be able to remember what happened, lager permitting!).

We’ll also be discussing a few issues raised by some of our listeners from India and Phoenix, Arizona no less. In particular how to start your own Supporters group out there, and how you can get hold of tickets when you pop over for a holiday.
Of course, most non season ticket holders would like to know how to get hold of tickets at any time!! And on that point, the Guardian had a very interesting article today about an issue we’ve been raising on the Chelsea FanCast for weeks. Entitled “Middle Aged, Middle Class and Muted”, it sums up many of our recent complaints in that the traditional working class fan base has been priced out of the stadium, and that “a lot of young people are growing up without ever having experienced a live game”.

Their middle class replacements (average age 44) are “too polite to generate the sort of electric atmosphere” so beloved of the TV paymasters.
Well, I maybe 43 and middle class, but I guarantee you that I’ll be shouting and singing my head off at the match on Sunday, and if any of it is repeatable, it will be on Mondays Chelsea Football FanCast.
Bring it on!!