Drogba Released on a FREE

[mark_INIESTA_davies]

Battersey Powerstation should be left alone

[Benicio del Toney]

Why? Fam it's derelict.

[mark_INIESTA_davies]

Why? Fam it's derelict.

Well, at least let Ghost Hunters or Ghost Adventures go in there for an investigation before they knock it down still.

[Benicio del Toney]

Nah, Abramovich said he won't knock it down, said he will just build a football stadium within and keep the towers etc...

Will looked FUCKED

[mark_INIESTA_davies]

Looks nice not gunna lie!

[GrimmyGrimGrim]

it's listed you can't just knock it down

the chimneys etc would be staying

control room restored to original condition

hope it goes through

[Kompressor]

will be a very iconic stadium, that for sure

[Thizz]

So glad we didn't get the power station

/

Drogba lighting up MLS 7 goals so far.

[The Infamous]

Kaka > Iniesta

 

maniac 

[Young £]

 

Kaka > Iniesta

 

maniac 

 

darkman >

[darkman]

Let's not act like Kaka wasn't a beast at AC

[The Infamous]

ima kaka fan too check my post

Ice>>>>

Iniesta>>>>Zidane

[darkman]

Never

[Thizz]

Drogba joined Chelsea as a 26-year-old summer signing from Marseille in 2004, arriving alongside manager Jose Mourinho in his first season in London.

 

The Ivorian forward had entered the thinking of English clubs just months before, with his all-action displays in the Europa League proving too much for Newcastle United and Liverpool before the Blues snapped him up for £24million.

 

But it seems while Drogba was becoming better known on these shores, his knowledge of English football wasn't quite up to scratch when he arrived.

 

The striker's recollection of his first day of training reads: 'I noticed a tall, strong guy who looked so young, and who walked and carried himself in such a way that I assumed he was from the reserves.

 

'"That's interesting," I thought. "They've obviously brought him over to get a bit of senior squad experience."

 

'Towards the end of the session I asked another player who the young guy was. "It's the captain!" he replied, laughing. "John Terry." That's how little I know about the team – I hadn't even recognised their new young captain.'

 

Mourinho's management might have brought two league titles to Chelsea – their first in 50 years - in his first two seasons, but things weren't so easy for his star forward 24 months in.

 

Drogba had come in for flak for diving, his goal output wasn't quite up to his standards for Ligue 1 and he was unsettled. Leaving for a return to the continent after just two years was an option.

 

He recalls Frank Lampard's influence as the reason why he stayed on, after receiving a text message from the Chelsea midfield legend that summer that convinced him he was wanted.

 

'The guy who single-handedly convinced me to stay was Frank Lampard,' he says, before detailing the first message he ever received from the England centurion: 'Hi DD, I hope that you're staying, because we have to win the league together, and we have to win the Champions League together!'

 

The bond between Lampard, Drogba, Terry and Petr Cech – Chelsea's famed 'old guard' would go on to do just that with the European triumph six years later in 2012.

 

A classic example of a rift between the club and its management comes from an episode which ended in Luiz Felipe Scolari's sacking in 2009.

The Brazilian coach told Drogba he would never play for the club again under his leadership and that he would have to find a new club in the January transfer window.

 

Scolari wanted former Inter Milan striker Adriano and set about getting rid of Drogba to make room for the man now better known for his weight problem than his goals.

 

Drogba says: 'When I left the meeting, the first thing I did was call Mr Abramovich and explain the situation via one of his assistants.' But the player was categorically told: 'No, you're not going anywhere. Who said you were going?'

 

On February 9 of that year, Scolari was sacked. Player power had the club's backing over the boss.

 

Fernando Torres is still widely regarded as English football's most expensive flop after he finally left Chelsea for a nominal fee last season, four years on from his £50m move from Liverpool.

 

Drogba, who was often a direct competitor of the Spaniard, sympathises with the pressure of expectations placed on Torres' shoulders – but also says it was difficult for him to make the step up at Stamford Bridge.

 

In words that might rile a few fans at Anfield, the striker writes: 'With all due respect to Liverpool, at that club, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres had been the kings. At Chelsea, there were 22 kings.'

 

Roberto Di Matteo's achievement of leading Chelsea from turmoil to Champions League winners in the space of three months stands as one of football's biggest surprises.

 

Chelsea's ageing squad were on their last legs in 2012 – but that experience might well have helped them at half-time in their Nou Camp semi-final second leg with Barcelona if Drogba is to be believed.

 

Management by committee was the order of the hour – but the loudest voice in deciding tactics comes as some surprise.

 

'The players really stepped up to take responsibility,' Drogba writes. 'The manager was telling Branislav Ivanovic to play centre back but Jose Bosingwa said, "No, no, I will play centre back", and carried on to say where he thought others should play.

 

'"I don't care", I remember saying. "I can play left back if necessary. We don't need a striker. I'll play striker and left back, whatever it takes".'

 

Chelsea spent almost all of the remaining 45 minutes camped inside their penalty area but – with Bosingwa at centre back – they set up the greatest moment in the club's history with victory taking them to the final in Munich.

 

So, Chelsea had made it to European football's showpiece occasion – but after another staunch defensive performance they trailed 1-0 in the 83rd minute against Bayern Munich to Thomas Muller's goal.

 

Drogba would go on to net the 88th-minute equaliser before scoring the decisive penalty in the shootout – but the Chelsea talisman was already convinced the game was up for his side until team-mate Juan Mata stepped in.

 

He says: 'As I replaced the ball on the centre spot for the re-start, I was just saying "No, no, no!" But Juan Mata, all of 24 years old, was the one to urge me on. "No, Didier", he said, "you have to believe, you have to believe".'

 

As Mata lined up the corner from which Drogba would head in the late leveller, the striker could hear centre back David Luiz telling Bastian Schweinsteiger, now of Manchester United: 'Just watch, we're going to score now,' before he fulfilled his colleague's prophecy.

 

More psychological toying was at work when Arjen Robben missed a penalty that could have decided the game in extra-time. Drogba and Lampard told their former team-mate: 'Arjen, you're a Chelsea player, you can't do this! Don't do it! Anyway, we'll know where you're going to shoot.'

 

It worked. Drogba says: 'We got inside his head, definitely, because his kick was weak – definitely weaker than it would normally have been – and Petr saved it.'

[Cole Des]

Legendary stuff.

[Seth Rollins]

Loved Drogba, even as an Arsenal fan.

 

Guy was awesome.

[ag.]

Only thing he gets ratings for is his charity work which is probaly a scam as he is west African

[Thizz]

What a man.

[Thizz]

[Mame Biram Diouf]

Daems gone daem

[Haze-e]

Only read the headline and first paragraph of the statement.

 

No more needs to be read. 

[Thizz]