Chelsea are not getting an awful lot of credit for winning the Club World Cup, though is that about us all being Little Englanders?
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Another title with * next to it
So Chelsea have basically bought another trophy, this time not by Russian Billions, but by bending the rules, consistently spending vast amounts and somehow still getting away with it. Football is dead and long gone for me to care anymore.
Pete – at least Spurs ended their trophy drought
READ: Chelsea biggest transfer summer spenders of 2025 but Spurs are coming
Does the Club World Cup matter now?
‘Chelsea are a proper team and Premier League champions in waiting after winning the Club World Cup, while Cole Palmer has entered the Ballon d’Or chat…’
Hold on. I thought the Club World Cup was a nothing meaningless tournament and we all shouldn’t care about it.
Oh, it’s a meaningful tournament that we should care about because an English club has won it.
I see.
Dan, London
(No, it’s meaningful that Chelsea dismantled actual European champions PSG; it’s still a sham of a tournament – Ed)
On the MAGA World Cup
So now we know what Grandstand would have been like if Himmler had presented it.
Lawrence Evans
A domestic trophy next?
Good win for Chelsea. The Club World Cup will sit well with their two European trophies from this decade.
They’re still winless in their last six domestic cup finals. Can they finally end that hoodoo this coming season?
Stephen, Toronto
A genuine shock
I saw the score 3-0 and I wasn’t surprised. I was genuinely shocked when I saw who had 3… Even the most die hard Chelsea fan couldn’t have seen that coming?
Lee
From a giddy Chelsea fan…
This is one of my happiest nights as a Chelsea fan. This “billion pound bottle jobs” young team has proven everyone wrong once again. They said you need experienced players to win but we’ve proven that wrong. Again. What you need has always been good players. Age is just a number.
Maresca has been abused from day one. He’s a manager who’s never managed in top-flight football. We were told he was not good enough. But he’s shown just how good he is. His tactics tonight was absolutely spot on. I am so happy for him. PSG couldn’t cope. Everyone talked about how Chelsea will handle PSG but forgot to ask themselves how PSG will handle Chelsea.
Cole Palmer: absolutely fantastic but that’s normal now. Jwow Pedro: amazing. This guy was on a beach in Brazil 2 weeks ago and he slotted into this team like a glove. Sánchez with his best performance in a Chelsea shirt. Not just the saves but his distributions in the game were Neuer-esque. I’ve been an ardent Gusto hater but he proved me wrong tonight. The entire team played out of their hearts to win this game and I couldn’t be happier.
To people who say we were on the easier side of the draw, I say it’s not our fault Inter and Man City got knocked out. To those who say “when you throw enough sh*t at the wall some are bound to stick”, I ask them why didn’t they think about that when criticising us when things were going poorly.
This tournament has been derided by many people (for admittedly some right reasons) but watch this match and see just how much it means to the players and coaching staff. I don’t even need to bring up (I just did. Sue me) the Brazilian clubs and their fans to show you what it means.
Now the 3 weeks of rest and we go again next season. I have no idea how next season is going to go but frankly, I don’t care. I’m going to enjoy tonight and worry about that later.
Abdulazeez (a very, very happy Chelsea fan in case you haven’t noticed), Bristol
Very Little England not to care about CWC
The general response to and attitudes towards the CWC in the ‘home of football’ (sic) has betrayed the Little Englander mentality that has alienated other members of the ‘football family’ (ibid) for nearly a century.
Consider the precedents : The FA refusing to enter the 1st 3 iterations of the World Cup, The FA refusing Chelsea permission to take part in the 1st European Cup in 1955/56 season, Sir Stanley Rous (the archetypal FA ‘Blazer’) thwarting the aspirations of non European/South American nations by restricting the World Cup to 16 teams (thereby creating the conditions for the grotesque corruption of Havelange, Blatter etc al).
The CWC is by no means a perfect creation and can be rightly criticised on many levels BUT it is clearly here to stay (not least because of how it has been embraced by the rest of the world).
It seems that Little Englishness is alive, in rude health and, as usual, fearful of the future.
Kirk Howard
Do Arsenal have the whiniest fans?
As I scroll through the mailbox having a nice read on a summer’s afternoon, the criticism of Arsenal fans got me thinking, are they the whiniest?
Every fanbase has its awful section….Liverpool have fans that think they have/had the best world XI at their club alone. Manchester United fans think it’s still the 90’s, Chelsea fans think football began in 2003 and Citeh fans in 2008.
Even my own club (Newcastle) has fans that follow every private jet coming into our local airport speculating which player it might be.
So what makes us so critical of Arsenal? It’s easy….its their social media/youtube/podcasters.
They all mix the worst of the others into one big giant mess. Entitlement, the invincibles, every player is ‘the greatest’, that every player must be desperate to play for them……
So if Arsenal want to shake of the ‘whingy’ tag, unsubscribe from AFTV and hope your next set of ‘online stars’ are more palatable.
Rob G (Still want the parentheses back)
Here’s an Arsenal fan with some opinions…
I’ve got some issues with Arteta’s transfer record, as most Arsenal fans probably do and I feel this Madueke deal has added more fuel to that particular fire.
I think most Arsenal fans would agree that the attack has needed freshening up since the summer after Jesus arrived but that side of the team has been, not totally but largely ignored. Money has been spent in that time but not really where it was needed. For example, last summer £73.6 million was spent on Calafiori and Merino. That’s the fee that is being mooted for Rodrygo now. Did that really improve the team in areas that where lacking?
I feel the Madueke deal is Arsenal spunking more money on a player that again doesn’t solve any problems. Plus where did this £55 million pound valuation come from? If Arsenal don’t pay it, is there another club waiting to swoop in and pay that amount? I very much doubt there’s competition for his signature and we all know Chelsea need to sell.
I don’t know if Gyokeres is the answer either. I don’t like the away a lot of his goals bounce before they cross the line. Unless he’s deliberately shooting like that, as it may make it more difficult for the keeper but I really like the ball to be hit truer than that. I love the way Isak strikes the ball and maybe this is why Arsenal aren’t overly keen on bringing in Gykeres, as Isak is definitely gettable next summer if he doesn’t sign a new deal. He is a big Thierry Henry fan after all.
If Arsenal plan to persevere with Havertz (again who else was waiting to swoop in with £65 million) to wait on Isak, then the money needs to be spent on real competition for Odegaard. Something is off with Odegaard, I hope he was just playing in pain last season but even if he was, there’s a fragility to his confidence that has been on display and it’s not guaranteed that this will be solved by some rest and recouperation.
And finally in regards to Stewie Griffin, I think most Arsenal fans don’t like his mails because he gives us all a dose of reality we don’t really want. I don’t like the points he makes but he’s generally correct in his assertions. There’s been a lot of money spent but I’m not sure how wisely. Our best players are Gabriel, Saliba, Saka and Rice and only Rice was purchased by Arteta and if we put up him up for sale today, I don’t think we’re getting our money back. I think he’s good but I don’t think he’s £100 million good. We need players that fix the weak mentality that is inherently Arsenal and not just conform to it when the going gets tough which Rice often does.
Arsenal were presented with many chances last year to put pressure on Liverpool and for my mind didn’t take any of them. And what is more, when Liverpool did leave the door slightly ajar, we all knew Arsenal wouldn’t capitalise on it. We need mentally strong players, that drag everyone else up to there level but unfortunately the mentally strong ones are often the best and most expensive ones. With that in mind, shouldn’t Arsenal just be spending big on proven quality and just making do with what they have in other areas? Instead of just ploughing £100 to £150 million each summer on OK players. I think if Arsenal have a sprinkling of world class players in certain positions across the field, they can make do with cover that comes from the academy because the academy at Arsenal is pretty damn good after all.
Even if this doesn’t get published, this has been a useful exercise in journaling. Quite often writing down something that is really bothering you, can help liberate you from it.
Seamus, Sweden
For the aggrieved Forest fan…
Can we please take a moment to appreciate the brass neck on Keith, Worthing and his beloved Nottingham Forest.
Whilst I’m ignoring his horror at bigger clubs taking their players (for large amounts of money) because the very second Forest we’re promoted, they didn’t sign a bucket load of players from the championship or less well funded clubs like Union Berlin… trying to use Crystal Palace as an example of a club they’re happy for is just bit ridiculous isn’t it.
Had they not literally petitioned to UEFA to have them expelled from Europe, for the very same issue Forest literally had to overcome for their own inclusion, then perhaps. But come on, a bit of self awareness wouldn’t hurt that much, would it?
Overton Terrier
…To the Forest fan who’s worried about the bigger teams bullying them and stealing their better players – relax. There’s a number of reasons it’s not as bad as you think.
1) On the fabled xG-based league table you were behind 15th place United last season. Please don’t think I’m taking anything away from your season – it was fantastic. But there’s likely to be a regression to the mean* (or midtable) next season anyway, even with your best players. Now is the time to cash in.
2) On that subject, your actual xg was lower than United’s. You’re selling attacking, creative players who according to such a stat are worse than ours for pretty hefty sums giving you the opportunity to buy better ones. If you could teach our board how to do this, we’d be eternally grateful.
3) Elanga is better suited to a counter attacking team. This will be less effective for you next year if clubs realise that them dominating possession against you is your biggest weapon. His pace can be replicated by other players who you could sign for less (and sell for a profit years later) though it remains to be seen how effectively. You could get Marcus Rashford for less than you sold Elanga for. Even I would say Rashy is probably the better player. Wages though I suppose.
4) Your manager thrives on having a solid defence and a big lad up front. Losing Chris Wood or Matz Sels would be bigger issues for you.
5) You’re in a pretty good position this year to do a bit of bullying yourselves with the Europa League (more on that in a minute) money and a positive balance on your transfer business so far.
It must be hard to compete with bigger teams when they buy your players but then presumably you buy players from less rich teams than yourselves? Though of course you would never have tapped these up as Spurs apparently have with MGW. There is a great deal of sympathy to be had for a club that has a great season, qualifies for European competition and then has it spoiled by having to rebuild significant portions of the team.
But then of course your club got Palace relegated from the Europa League for absolutely nothing other than your own personal gain. A club who you have out spent by £70M (net spend obvs) in the five years up to the end of last season despite being in the Premier League two years fewer than them in that time. A club who had never played in Europe before much less been two time winners of Big Cup.
So yeh, bullies suck. But welcome to the club because your owner is one so we’ll not be taking any complaining from poor little Forest. You want to be in the big leagues and you’re prepared to tread on the little guy to get there. So own it.
Ashmundo (Badwolf’s defence of Greenwood being published in the mailbox is a much bigger issue than the continued presence of Stewie G’s rants.)
* sadly this still means United finishing 12th.
