Question of the Week (Chelsea Conspiracy Theory)

Welcome back!

Don't forget to answer the Question of the Week by 3pm on Monday.

And we have Italian sports apparel giant Lotto on board for this month, as they've upped the ante to provide an unprecedented bonus for readers.

Each Letter of the Week winner this month will be outfitted from top to bottom, in Lotto gear, for a total package worth
$250.

For male winners, this includes a choice of football boots (or street shoes), with the model being the kangaroo leather
Lotto Vento KL II FG boot (the one with green trimming in the first picture) worth $149 alone.

For female winners, they get Lotto sports tennis wear and a choice of female specific football boots or turf shoes (see 2nd
picture - the Lotto LG Captain FG with studs or LG Captain Turf models respectively, in a choice of pink or blue). The
boots alone are worth $60.

The Writer of the Month (who also makes the effort to answer all my other midweek questions) will get a bumper package
worth $500 (kitted from top to bottom, with extra gear like a Lotto Postman messenger bag, ball, socks, Lotto's Petr Cech
gloves and ultra-soft kangaroo leather Zhero Leggenda boots worth $230 - see 1st picture, the boot with white and gold
trimming).

Aren't Lotto kind to you guys? For more about Lotto's products, click the link on the right.

In the meantime, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been complaining about clubs trying to over-inflate the prices of their players when they hear he's interested, ever since the transfer window opened this month.

He has said he would rather play his 55-year-old assistant than pay for a centre-back
in the English market.

He has said he does not need to buy, and that all he needs are the return of injured stars John Terry and Petr Cech.

The Postman's question and conspiracy theory poser: Could Chelsea's Russian owner Roman Abramovich be purposely tying Mourinho's hands by keeping his fat wallet firmly in his pocket, to see how the self-proclaimed Special One gets out of Ferguson's trap this season?

This, after Mourinho seemed to hint last month that he should call the shots for buying players, referring to the case of Andriy Shevchenko, whom Abramovich is rumoured to have personally brought over.

Reply in not more than 200 words please (word counter link on the right here)

Comment online here by clicking on "comments" below my sign-off here.
(Or e-mail to The New Paper's sports desk under the title "Dear Postman" by clicking the link right)

(PS. Please e-mail us your full name, age, occupation, contact numbers and favourite teams, to be selected as prize winners or have letters printed. Bloggers, e-mail me your blogging nicknames too, so I know which post is yours).

At your service,
Ernest Luis
The Postman
The New Paper

Ready to Roar with our Lions?

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a great X'mas and New Year long weekend break and since it's the new year, it's time for our very own Lions to defend their title as Asean champions next week in the Asean Championship (formerly known as the Tiger Cup).

I prefer it being known as the Asean Cup, because that would have been a good way to get it stuck in our minds, in the absence of a cup sponsor.

So I've got a few questions for you before tomorrow's Question of the Week is published in The New Paper.

1. What would it take to get you interested in this Asean Championship, or is it that you can't wait for it to start?
2. Do you find a general lack of public fanfare generated about the Lions? (Public training sessions - would you even be interested in attending?)
3. Would you even watch the Lions in action at the National Stadium next week, or wait to see if the defending champions win or lose their opening match?
4. Should national coach Raddy Avramovic quit if the Lions fail to get past the group stages, or should he stay since there are so many coaching changes in this part of Asia?
5. Do you expect the foreign-born players to be the same standard as Singaporeans, or better?

Just list the numbers in your post and answer accordingly, by clicking on "comments" below my mini-poll here.

At your service,
Ernest Luis
The Postman
The New Paper