comrade

recovering people pleaser #cfc

[comrade @fauxcasual]

Gotta pin this.

[Daniel Finkelstein @Dannythefink]

@CharlieBeckett Home of great football. Home of Osgood and Nevin and Zola and Vialli and Hazard and Lampard and JT. Home of the team that’s won it all and is going all out to win it all again. Home of the Shed End and Matthew Harding. Home of the Pride of London. Home.

[comrade @fauxcasual]

World Joke

[Madrid Zone @theMadridZone]

🚨💣 BREAKING: CONMEBOL President Alejandro Domínguez announces that 2030 FIFA World Cup will have 64 TEAMS.

[comrade @fauxcasual]

Harry Kane for Ballon D’or.

[comrade @fauxcasual]

Really shocked Messi didn’t get that Golden Ball.

[Toni Kroos @ToniKroos]

Football won

[comrade @fauxcasual]

Tuchel, you’re forgiven.

[comrade @fauxcasual]

Merit won. Beautiful scenes.

[comrade @fauxcasual]

As a Tuchel stan, yesterday was utterly embarrassing.

[comrade @fauxcasual]

Scored a goal in the 55th minute and stopped playing. Can’t say they don’t deserve it.

[comrade @fauxcasual]

After the deadline: what did anti-immigration marches actually achieve? https://t.co/4QODgKRBvE

[Goals Side @goalsside]

Chelsea remains the only team to have conquered Europe 🏆

Won everything there is to win. 💙

[Chelsea FC @ChelseaFC]

Club World Cup champions #OTD one year ago. 🏆

[comrade @fauxcasual]

This team is different, I hope they make it to the finish line. #3Lions

[comrade @fauxcasual]

Jude Bellingham is whoever he thinks he is. Unbelievable mentality.

[Henry Winter @henrywinter]

Ken Bates saved Chelsea. Not only back in 1982 when Bates rescued the club from potential oblivion. But still now, even following the sad news of his passing aged 94, Bates’ legacy continues to protect Chelsea. He created the CPO, Chelsea Pitch Owners, which safeguards the future of the stadium.

Bates achieved much in an extraordinary life. He fought to protect the FA Cup, fought for the new Wembley to be built, stabilised Leeds United and fought for smaller clubs but his greatest legacy revolves around Chelsea. Combative, controversial, loyal and principled in his way, Bates was driven by a desire to prove himself, to make something of himself, to take on the establishment in its varied forms.

Much of this drive stemmed from memories of growing up without parents (his mother died, his father disappeared and he was raised by his grandparents) and frustration at a childhood disability destroying his dream of making it as a footballer at Arsenal. He'd been a good attacker.

It was April 2 1982, when Bates rescued Chelsea. He spoke to the club bankers who’d run out of patience. “We have two cheques here,” the bank told Bates. “One is for the share of the (FA Cup) gate which has to go to the FA. And one is the players’ wages. Which one can we bounce?”

He came in, invested money to tide the club over and started cutting costs. Entering the Bridge boardroom for the first time pre-match, Bates was shocked to see the number of guests, the feast laid on, even a cigar box being passed around at a club losing £12,000 a week. Chelsea even had a club chauffeur. Not for long.

Bates’ cost-cutting was brutal but vital. Chelsea recovered, fought off property developers through Bates’ strength of personality, established themselves as a force in the Premier League and became more involved in European competition. Bates loved Chelsea. He loved entertainers. His favourite was Gianfranco Zola because the Italian played with a smile, dribbled and lit up stadiums and fans’ lives.

Even after selling to Roman Abramovich in 2003, taking over Leeds where his cost-cutting (and Chelsea past) alienated many fans, and then living in retirement with his beloved Suzannah in Monaco, Bates would try and return to watch matches at the Bridge. He kept a flat full of mementos nearby.

On the sideboard was a framed copy of Bates’ CPO share. One day while Chelsea chairman, a fan shouted about the possibility of “your grandson sells the land for houses”. Bates’ initial reaction was, typically, “You ungrateful bastard”.

But he realised that was a very real threat – the Bridge was prime London land. Developers craved it. So Bates created the CPO; it now numbers 13,000 fans owning 23,000 individual shares (Thomas Tuchel has one) and a large majority would be required to vote for any change in use of the pitch. And they aren’t for change. As Bates intended.

We last spoke on May 18. Ken sounded frail but was typically opinionated on the footballing issues of the day. Bates had his difficult side, vendettas and views, but he was passionate about family, football and Chelsea FC. RIP, Ken.

[Etan @EtanBoss]

Landon Donovan says America is missing soccer talent because kids can’t afford to play.

“Only 2% of kids playing organized soccer in America came from households that made less than $50,000.”

“If you don’t make $50,000, your kid cannot play organized soccer.”

“Think about how many kids you’re missing out on in this country because they can’t afford to play the game.”

“There is zero chance I could have played club soccer.”

“My mom made $34,000 a year, single mom raising three kids.”

“She couldn’t pay $4,000 for me to play club. Are you kidding? She couldn’t pay $400.”

“That’s not a good system to create good players.”

[HOT SPOT @HotSpotHotSpot]

🇪🇬🇵🇸 Egypt's head coach Hossam Hassan pleas to the world for the suffering of the Palestinian people, calling it. "shame on the world":

"If there's someone in the world who doesn't feel for the Palestinian people, they're not really human. Whether that person is Arab, European, American, or anything else, it doesn't matter... We ask you, let the Palestinian people live, just live. They don't want anything else but to simply live."

“Any human who does not feel for what is happening in Palestine has lost their humanity. It is a disgrace for all of us. A disgrace for the entire world, not only the Arab or African world.”

[comrade @fauxcasual]

Mocking Ronaldo is just plain silly. Wallow in your own mortality.

[Made In Canada @MadelnCanada]

USA 🇺🇸✌🏽

[Sporting Adeptos @Sporting_CPAdep]

💚 @Cristiano