These are the kinds of statistic I really relish, so thank you fyldefox.

And I must join you in doffing my hat to Chelsea. Lord knows I'm no fan of theirs, but sometimes you simply have to stand back and applaud. Yes, they had more than a touch of luck along the way, but luck alone doesn't get you from being 1-3 down against Napoli, past Barcelona, to beating Bayern on their own pitch to win the whole thing. Incredibly spirited and brave stuff, made all the sweeter (for me) by the ghastly Terry missing the final. Well done indeed.

Seeing JT jinking on the pitch in his full blue splendour at the end left me thinking 'I must have missed something-I could have sworn he didn't play'.

Personally I'm glad JT enjoyed the moment - he paid the price for his own stupidity, but you don't often get loyalty in footballers today and I admire that he has stayed the course with Chelsea. I can't remember the last Leicester player to play there whole career at Leicester, although Conrad is heading that way.

Congratulations to Chelsea and West Ham yesterday.

Although Blackpool we probably the better team on the day, it would have been a great injustice had they gone up ahead of a team that was placed first or second for the majority of the season.

And I fancy our chances of finishing above Blackpool far more than I would West Ham next season !

Surely a Swarm?

Dunge,

You didn't get to be the master tipster without knowing your collective nouns did you !? lol I just thought a LOAD of B's was more apt for this 1 star attempt at article writing. I hear it is going to be much swarmer next week by the way. <>

I was watching Englishmen Tweeting that they wanted Munich to win!!!!!!

Pathetic small minded unpatriotic GRRRR and no its got nothing to do with the relatives i lost in the war or my dad spending 2 years in a German pow camp or the death march where he and 10,000 set out on half of them froze or starved to death no not at all.

Just support your fellow countrymen the rest of the UK hates us enough for everyone

Much less difficult to be loyal when you are being paid a small fortune to play in a team winning leagues and cups every year. The likes of Matt Le Tissier, George Cohen, Ronnie Boyce, Ledley King, Keith Peacock - they are what I call loyal.

Terry’s readiness to lift the cup with Lampard, and to run about in a Chelsea shirt, give you the measure of the man.

But that wasn't always the case with Tery - he was there before the Abramovic era and he could have gone anywhere in his prime and earny more at Madrid or Barcelona. How many of today's superstars who don't need to move clubs because they get paid a fortune, just move on when a better offer comes along. Fair play to JT, yes he's a bit of a tool, but I think he's Chelsea through and through.

"I was watching Englishmen Tweeting that they wanted Munich to win!!!!!!"

I agree Nev. Although I think we Could forgive Tottenham fans for wanting Bayern Munich to win, the rest of the country should get behind the English team as I always do.

Question: out of pure curiosity, if it was Derby or Forest in the final (laughable I know but go with me) - would you want them to win? I am not quite sure myself. Luckily we will never have that problem!!

It is remarkable how there are no teams beginning with B in the Prem, yet there are 8 in the Championship! Cannot recall a time where there were no B's in the PL, I even remember when Bradford City had a couple of seasons!

"I was watching Englishmen Tweeting that they wanted Munich to win!!!!!!"

I agree Nev. Although I think we Could forgive Tottenham fans for wanting Bayern Munich to win, the rest of the country should get behind the English team as I always do."

One question - why? Not saying I wanted Chelsea to lose (although Bayern deserved to win based on overall chances and possession), just curious why fans who have no direct relationship with a club would be so desperate for them to win at all costs...

^
I'm kind of agreeing with Foxello again. Yes, I wanted Chelsea to win, but this was nothing like wanting the national team to win the Euros. Besides, Chelsea only had (I believe) 3 English players playing for them, one of whom I wouldn't want to pass the time of day with.

That said, the sight of a distraught German penalty misser was highly enjoyable as a change.

Gosh twice in a day Dunge. Jupiter and Uranus must have aligned or something like that....

I'm generaly pretty unpatriotic anyway. Use to be, but a combination of being utterly infuriated by the useless F.A. and being subjected to our God-awful gutter press media has kicked any patriotism I had well and truly out of me.

I did remark to a mate that Schweingsteiger must be the only German in the world who is useless at penalties

I don't think i'm uber patriotic if you excuse the pun.
but in a contest of two teams you are going to pick your own.
Dung unless they have moved the kings road Chelsea are English who ever plays fro them its like saying the Liverpool of the 70's was a Scottish team.

Anyway how funny it was to see the german guy complain that the goal keeper moved !!! while the Munchen keeper was having an out break of St Vitas dance

Nev - I am patriotic, very much so. I guess what my view stems from is the question: "But how English are they, really?"
Yes, they play in the English leagues, but they're owned by a Russian, managed by an Italian and most of their squad don't represent England on the international stage. Meanwhile, along with many other clubs including ourselves, Chelsea are aiming to become a global brand, to attract fans in Asia, North America and probably more. Added to this, the Chelsea fans were almost certainly celebrating club over country as they won the trophy.

So I don't find it that easy to see Chelsea as "my own", or representing me. Obviously they do more than Bayern Munich, but I can't feel particularly passionate about it. The most I felt was that I quite wanted them to win - because they are an English team (particularly against the Germans) and because I quite liked the fairy tale ending of Roberto Di Matteo delivering the trophy Abramovic has always wanted. But I can't say I'd be that upset if others didn't care either way.

On the other hand, if people are being deliberately obnoxious by shouting their support of Bayern Munich against Chelsea, well that's a chip for their shoulders, not mine.

I didn't go so far as to want Bayern to win, but I wasn't particularly behind Chelsea either – not least because I thought it was a bit rough on Spurs, who had done the business in the league.

It was all a lot easier back when the teams on the pitch were, in fact, at least 50% English. When the cup was won by English teams a remarkable six times in a row (Liverpool 77, 78, 81; Forest 79, 80; Villa 82) the starting line-up in every one of those finals contained at least six Englishmen, and no players from further afield than Ireland.

Villa fielded eight Englishmen and three Scots at the start of their final. Liverpool (77) nine Englishmen. And all three managers – Bob Paisley, Brian Clough and Tony Barton – were English. It's hard to feel quite as patriotic about a team list that starts: Cech, Boswinga, Luiz… and ends with Manager: Di Matteo.

You forgot Bl**dy Forest and Bl**dy Derby

I know the teams arent necessarily English, but the club is. The fans are. The history is. Maybe its just me though. Regardless of whether its Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool etc I want to see an English team win it every year.

I was behind Bayern. Ive been to Munich a number of times and been to 4 games at the Allianz - cant say Ive ever been to a Chelsea one and I have some German friends which I have made along the way, who all support Munich so thats my reasoning!