Chelsea stats - Its 10 years since Abramovich bought CHELSKI

On the morning of Wednesday 2 July 2003, Tim Henman was preparing for a crucial Wimbledon quarter-final and David Beckham had signed for Real Madrid, but both were elbowed off the top of the sports pages by a little-known Russian businessman.

Roman Abramovich had bought Chelsea from Ken Bates for an initial £60 million that would more than double but represented no more than a drop in the Black Sea compared with what he would pour in over the next 10 years, while changing English football.

And here is the 10 years Run Down

2003-04 Buys club for eventual £140m
Transfers: £121.3m (net £111.3m).
Main buys: Damien Duff £17m, Hernan Crespo £16.8m, Claude Makélélé £16.6m, Juan Sebastian Veron £15m.
Wages: £114.8m.
Losses: £87.8m.
Team: 2nd in Premier League. Claudio Ranieri replaced as manager by Jose Mourinho.

2004-05
Transfers: £95.8m (net £92.2m)
Main buys: Didier Drogba £24m, Ricardo Carvalho £20m, Paulo Ferreira £13.2m, Arjen Robben £12m.
Wages: £108.9m.
Losses: £140m.
Team: PL Champions, League Cup winners.

2005-06
Transfers: £54.2m (net £27.9m)
Main buys: Michael Essien £24m, Shaun Wright-Phillips £21m.
Wages: £114m.
Losses: £80.2m
Team: PL Champions.

2006-07
Transfers: £66m (net £36.2m).
Main buys: Andriy Shevchenko £30m, John Obi Mikel £16m.
Wages: £132.8m.
Losses: £74.8m.
Team: PL 2nd, FA Cup/League Cup winners.

2007-08
Transfers: £43m (net £18m)
Main buys: Florent Malouda £15m, Nicolas Anelka £15m, Branislav Ivanovic £9m.
Wages: £172.1m.
Losses: £65.7m.
Team: PL 2nd. Champions' League runners-up after Avram Grant replaces Mourinho.

2008-09
Transfers: £28.2m (net profit £12m)
Main buys: Jose Bosingwa £16.2m, Deco £8m.
Wages: £167.2m.
Losses: £44.4m.
Team: PL 3rd. FA Cup winners after Guus Hiddink replaces Luiz Felipe Scolari.

2009-10
Transfers: £21.5m (net £14.7m)
Main buy: Yuri Zhirkov £18m.
Wages: £174.1m
Losses: £70m.
Team: PL Champions and FA Cup winners under Carlo Ancelotti.

2010-11
Transfers: £95.8m (net £81.7m)
Main buys: Fernando Torres £50m, David Luiz £21m, Ramires £19.8m.
Wages: £191.2m.
Losses: £67.7m.
Team: PL 2nd. Ancelotti sacked, replaced by Andre Villas-Boas.

2011-12
Transfers: £72m (net £51.6m)
Main buys: Juan Mata £23.5m, Romelu Lukaku £18m, Raul Meireles £12m.
Wages: £172.9m.
Profit: £1.4m.
Team: PL 6th. Champions' League/FA Cup winners after Villas-Boas replaced by Roberto Di Matteo.

2012-13
Transfers: £84.5m (net £64.5m)
Main buys: Eden Hazard £32m, Oscar £25m, Victor Moses £9m, Demba Ba £7m.
Wages: £140.3m.
Losses: tbc (February 2014).
Team: PL 3rd. Europa League winners after Rafa Benitez replaces Di Matteo.

Which makes a total of....

Wages: £1.49bn

Transfers: £642.3m (net £510.1m)

Training ground: £20m

Losses: £629.2m

Rigging will be difficult in 2015 – Jega

INEC Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega

The National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mr. Atahiru Jega, has said electoral malpractices will be a near impossibility in 2015.

He said reforms in the commission were geared towards achieving this, adding that permanent voter cards would be issued to Nigerians before the end of the year.

Jega spoke during the annual dinner and awards night organised by the Olivet Baptist High School in Lagos on Sunday.

He said the commission had put in place new and advanced systems that were being used in the world.

He said, “When we came in, Nigerians were complaining about the credibility of the voter register, which is vital to ensuring the credibility of the elections. What we found in place was that the voter register had to be redone, if we are serious about having free and fair and credible elections.

“We now have a very rich biometric data base of 73.5 million which has phone numbers of Nigerians. I believe it is the best that we have in this country presently.  We were able to catch almost a million multiple registration and removed them from the data base before the 2011 elections.

“We are going to issue permanent voter cards. As I speak, we have received from the contractor over 20 million of the voter cards from contractors. By the end of this year, we will begin to introduce them.”

Jega said the cards, which were imbedded with micro chips, would only be useful to the owners.

He said, “The species of Nigerian politicians are probably the most reckless in the world, because they come with that attitude that is often mentioned – the attitude of do or die.

“So, politicians, as we saw it in 2011 will gather some people and purchase their cards and give to them to go and vote. They can still buy these card. But even if they succeed in buying these cards, in 2015, it will be useless.”

The INEC chairman however   said the new process would pose  challenges in the areas of training, public enlightenment, and attitudinal change of members of the public.

“We have spent the last one year planning vigorously. And our objective is to make the 2015 elections much better and make INEC one of the most reputable electoral bodies in the world,” he said.

Tonto Dikeh responds to NDLEA arrest threat

Nollywood actress, Tonto Dikeh has responded to a potential arrest threat by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) by declaring that she has not received any summon to that effect.

The marijuana pictures posted on Instagram elicited a flurry of invectives from critics and fans alike of the controversial actress and according to the spokesperson of NDLEA, Mr. Mitchell Ofoyejus the agency will see to it that action is taken on the issue.

“Our attention has been drawn to the post quite frankly and I can tell you that action will be taken on it. The law is clear and NDLEA has been very clear on the issue. No one is permitted to sell, use, cultivate or encourage the use of Indian hemp in Nigeria. The substance is one of the banned narcotics in the country.

“NDLEA Act Section 14 (b) states that any person who conspires with, aids, abets, counsels, attempts to commit or is an accessory to any act or offence referred to in this act shall be guilty of an offence under this act and liable on conviction to be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not less than 15 years and not exceeding 25 years.”

Meanwhile the actress has launched a damage control campaign by stating through her publicist that the picture posted on Instagram is a misconception.

“As much as I would like to ignore the current issue on hemp, I think I owe well-meaning people some clarification. It is so easy the misconception that can come from a picture- the genius of technology. If you cannot find me holding a wrap of marijuana then you may want to slow down on your assumptions. We shouldn’t use our platforms to spread half-truths.

“A fan wrote those words with herbs on my birthday on Instagram, and I replied: “Thank you #teampoko”. Now how does someone else’s action become my crime? If I said those words (‘Mi smoke gaja mi smoke weed while my hatez smoke ma gossip’) I will stand by them but I didn’t, and just because it is convenient for people to believe the lies still doesn’t make it the truth. The whole thing is falsified by people who just love to have fun at other’s expense.

“Let’s put some thought to some of the things we write. Don’t do cut-and-paste. The original pictures are there to see; but no! That is too boring to be the truth. We want the truth to be nasty and spicy for our enjoyment, even if it is a pack of lies. Visit my Instagram page and see if the original picture is the same as the ones being circulated”, she said.

2 Pakistani Girls Shot Dead For Dancing In The Rain

Two teenage sisters have been murdered in Pakistan after they were accused of tarnishing their family's name by making a video of themselves dancing in the rain.




The girls, aged 15 and 16, are seen running around in traditional dress with two other younger children outside their bungalow in the town of Chilas, in the northern region of Gilgit.

The sisters, named as Noor Basra and Noor Sheza, appear to break into dance and one even flashes a smile at the camera.

However, when the footage was circulated via mobile phones, it caused outrage in the conservative Pakistani town.

Last Sunday the girls were shot alongside their mother in their home by five gunmen.

Police are investigating whether the attack was arranged by the girls' step-brother, named as Khutore, who allegedly wanted to 'restore the family's honour'.

The sisters' other brother has filed a case against Khutore and the four other alleged accomplices who are now believed to be on the run.

BET Awards exposee, Amber Rose Bum Bum in the Open

Amber Rose sort of had a wardrobe malfunction at the 2013 BET Awards show which held on June 30, 2013 while hanging out on the red carpet with her boyfriend-baby daddy Wiz Khalifa.

The 29-year-old was treating the photographers to a delight when the wind push her skirt up, bearing her bare buttocks to everyone! Rose looked startled and then tried to cover up her ‘modesty’. Wiz probably didn’t know what was going on!

BET Awards 2013: Here is the list of the Champions

There were performances from Chris Brown, Nicki Minaj, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Erykah Badu, Stevie Wonder, Kendrick Lamar and more.

Check out the full winners below…

Best Female R&B/Pop Artist: Rihanna

Best Male R&B/Pop Artist: Chris Brown

Best Group: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Best Collaboration: A$AP Rocky (featuring Drake, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar) – F***in’ Problems

Best Male Hip Hop Artist: Kendrick Lamar

Best Female Hip Hop Artist: Nicki Minaj

Video Of The Year: Drake – Started From the Bottom

Video Director of the Year: Benny Boom

Best New Artist: Kendrick Lamar

Best Gospel Artist: Mary Mary

Best Actress: Kerry Washington

Best Actor: Jamie Foxx

YoungStars Award: Gabrielle Douglas

Best Movie: Think Like a Man

Subway Sportswoman of the Year: Gabrielle Douglas

Subway Sportsman of the Year: LeBron James

Coca-Cola Viewers’ Choice Award: Drake – Started From the Bottom

Centric Award: Tamar Braxton – Love and War

Best International Act: Africa  - Ice Prince (Nigeria)

Humanitarian Award: Dwyane Wade

Lifetime Achievement Award: Charlie Wilson

FANdemonium Award: Chris Brown

Neymar and Messi will be 'the bomb', says Alves

The Blaugrana right-back believes the duo playing in tandem makes for a mouth-watering prospect, and is confident both can share the limelight at Camp Nou next season

Barcelona defender Dani Alves has backed Lionel Messi and Neymar to combine to devastating effect next season by describing the duo as "the bomb".

The former Santos striker has silenced his critics in recent weeks by lighting up the Confederations Cup from which he emerged with the Golden Ball en route to winning the competition with the Selecao.

And Alves believes the 21-year-old can forge an explosive partnership with Argentina's golden boy and says both have the requisite amount of humility to succeed.

"They will be the bomb next season," he told reporters. "That is why I insisted Neymar join us so much because I'm sure he will be a very special player.

"They will have a very positive connection. Neymar is happy to play with Messi. There will no problems because there is humility with both of them."