Chelsea Fc Thread

[rixalex]

it's the fact that they went out of their way to come up with a new title for him rix, because they absolutely knew that the fans wouldn't and didn't want him. by calling him 'interim' manager it's a sop to those fans and just completely unprofessional. why not caretaker manager? why not temporary manager? 'interim'? laughable.

Interim Manager, Caretaker Manager, Temporary Manager... what the <deleted> difference does it make? All amounts to the same thing. Semantics to argue one title over the other. And why has it only dawned on him now all of a sudden that its such a terrible title?

and you can keep saying it as many times as you like, you'll still be wrong. liverpool fans treated hodgson absolutely nothing like benitez has been treated at chelsea. not even in the same ballpark. think your liking for the current england manager is blinding you.

If anything, Liverpool fans treated Hodgson worse... but i guess we could argue that one all day... what it comes down to for me is that, as i say, you either disagree with the act of booing the team and the manager when they are playing or you don't.

... and whilst it might be possible to be blinded by love (or hatred), i find it hard to imagine how one can be blinded by the emotion of relative indifference, which is how i feel towards Roy. I'm simply happy that England have an English manager and whilst i don't think he is the best manager in the world, i don't think he is the worst either.

Edited February 28, 2013 by rixalex

[carmine]

Actually I just saw the Rafa interview on Beeb. He appears to be saying that the tag interim was added after he had signed up for the job, which is a bit of a shocker.

Easy to say you resign at that point, but the guy was clearly desperate to get back into work. However, having accepted that addendum without resigning its a bit much to be complaining about it now. Summary dismissal coming up? Could be one of Abramowitches few logical decsions!

Like i said earlier the atmosphere at their next home game should determine whats going to happen. I think he'll have to go and i think he knew the scenario when he did the press conference. Probably decided enoughs enough

[carmine]

it's the fact that they went out of their way to come up with a new title for him rix, because they absolutely knew that the fans wouldn't and didn't want him. by calling him 'interim' manager it's a sop to those fans and just completely unprofessional. why not caretaker manager? why not temporary manager? 'interim'? laughable.

Interim Manager, Caretaker Manager, Temporary Manager... what the <deleted> difference does it make? All amounts to the same thing. Semantics to argue one title over the other. And why has it only dawned on him now all of a sudden that its such a terrible title?

>and you can keep saying it as many times as you like, you'll still be wrong. liverpool fans treated hodgson absolutely nothing like benitez has been treated at chelsea. not even in the same ballpark. think your liking for the current england manager is blinding you.

If anything, Liverpool fans treated Hodgson worse... but i guess we could argue that one all day... what it comes down to for me is that, as i say, you either disagree with the act of booing the team and the manager when they are playing or you don't.

... and whilst it might be possible to be blinded by love (or hatred), i find it hard to imagine now one can be blinded by the emotion of relative indifference, which is how i feel towards Roy. I'm simply happy that England have an English manager and whilst i don't think he is the best manager in the world, i don't think he is the worst either.

You should always back your team no matter who the manager is. The club is more important than any one player just as it is any manager

[rixalex]

Actually I just saw the Rafa interview on Beeb. He appears to be saying that the tag interim was added after he had signed up for the job, which is a bit of a shocker.

Easy to say you resign at that point, but the guy was clearly desperate to get back into work. However, having accepted that addendum without resigning its a bit much to be complaining about it now. Summary dismissal coming up? Could be one of Abramowitches few logical decsions!

If that is true then i have a better understanding of where Rafa is coming from, but as you rightly say, the time to have taken issue with it was when it was announced all those months ago. Would he have an issue with his title now and would he be getting angry about it now, were Chelsea still within a few points of the top of the league, and still in the Champion's League, as was the case when he took over? Somehow doubt it.

[petermik]

And where does Mr Abramovitch turn to now,may be appoint Torres interim manager- worth thinking about hey? 50 million quid spent on him plus the managers brought in/out for him to produce the form he showed with Liverpool (one season wonder) sadly without success-Mr Chelski sure has money,but sense-NO NEVER-his money,his club,his players-one day he will spit his dummy out and what will become of Chelsea then

[alfieconn]

And where does Mr Abramovitch turn to now,may be appoint Torres interim manager- worth thinking about hey? 50 million quid spent on him plus the managers brought in/out for him to produce the form he showed with Liverpool (one season wonder) sadly without success-Mr Chelski sure has money,but sense-NO NEVER-his money,his club,his players-one day he will spit his dummy out and what will become of Chelsea then

One can only hope pm and then back to crowds of 6,903

Footnote : i wonder if the 3 was oldgit, keith and mjj

[carmine]

Actually I just saw the Rafa interview on Beeb. He appears to be saying that the tag interim was added after he had signed up for the job, which is a bit of a shocker.

Easy to say you resign at that point, but the guy was clearly desperate to get back into work. However, having accepted that addendum without resigning its a bit much to be complaining about it now. Summary dismissal coming up? Could be one of Abramowitches few logical decsions!

If that is true then i have a better understanding of where Rafa is coming from, but as you rightly say, the time to have taken issue with it was when it was announced all those months ago. Would he have an issue with his title now and would he be getting angry about it now, were Chelsea still within a few points of the top of the league, and still in the Champion's League, as was the case when he took over? Somehow doubt it.

Maybe the job description is an excuse. All this has happened within hours of reports suggesting a stand up row between Benitez and Terry. Captain Fantastic must have decided that its time for this particular manager to go. We also know that Roman backs Terry over his managers so it seems that its 'as normal" in the chelsea clown car.

[carmine]

And where does Mr Abramovitch turn to now,may be appoint Torres interim manager- worth thinking about hey? 50 million quid spent on him plus the managers brought in/out for him to produce the form he showed with Liverpool (one season wonder) sadly without success-Mr Chelski sure has money,but sense-NO NEVER-his money,his club,his players-one day he will spit his dummy out and what will become of Chelsea then

One can only hope pm and then back to crowds of 6,903

Footnote : i wonder if the 3 was oldgit, keith and mjj

I remember going to stamford bridge in the early eighties and you didn't need a pitch, you could have played the game on the terraces

[JacknDanny]

it's the fact that they went out of their way to come up with a new title for him rix, because they absolutely knew that the fans wouldn't and didn't want him. by calling him 'interim' manager it's a sop to those fans and just completely unprofessional. why not caretaker manager? why not temporary manager? 'interim'? laughable.

Interim Manager, Caretaker Manager, Temporary Manager... what the <deleted> difference does it make? All amounts to the same thing. Semantics to argue one title over the other. And why has it only dawned on him now all of a sudden that its such a terrible title?

>and you can keep saying it as many times as you like, you'll still be wrong. liverpool fans treated hodgson absolutely nothing like benitez has been treated at chelsea. not even in the same ballpark. think your liking for the current england manager is blinding you.

If anything, Liverpool fans treated Hodgson worse... but i guess we could argue that one all day... what it comes down to for me is that, as i say, you either disagree with the act of booing the team and the manager when they are playing or you don't.

... and whilst it might be possible to be blinded by love (or hatred), i find it hard to imagine how one can be blinded by the emotion of relative indifference, which is how i feel towards Roy. I'm simply happy that England have an English manager and whilst i don't think he is the best manager in the world, i don't think he is the worst either.

I am not a fan of Hodgson, but I totally agree with what you say. To me, Hodgson was treated despicably by the Liverpool fans, just as Benitez has been by Chelsea.

I can easily relate to my own team when they were owned by that t@sser Thaksin, who I despise in every way, and managed by Eriksson, (who in my eyes was the most over rated manager ever). I disliked both immensely, but that did not detract from the fact that I am a City fan no matter what. Even though it pained me every day, I would have never booed my team, or its manager, EVER. And had I been in England, I would have happily paid to go and see them, without prejudice.

[rixalex]

Actually I just saw the Rafa interview on Beeb. He appears to be saying that the tag interim was added after he had signed up for the job, which is a bit of a shocker.

Easy to say you resign at that point, but the guy was clearly desperate to get back into work. However, having accepted that addendum without resigning its a bit much to be complaining about it now. Summary dismissal coming up? Could be one of Abramowitches few logical decsions!

If that is true then i have a better understanding of where Rafa is coming from, but as you rightly say, the time to have taken issue with it was when it was announced all those months ago. Would he have an issue with his title now and would he be getting angry about it now, were Chelsea still within a few points of the top of the league, and still in the Champion's League, as was the case when he took over? Somehow doubt it.

Maybe the job description is an excuse. All this has happened within hours of reports suggesting a stand up row between Benitez and Terry. Captain Fantastic must have decided that its time for this particular manager to go. We also know that Roman backs Terry over his managers so it seems that its 'as normal" in the chelsea clown car.

It absolutely is an excuse. He knew the sort of snake pit he was throwing himself into when he threw himself in there.

[carmine]

Actually I just saw the Rafa interview on Beeb. He appears to be saying that the tag interim was added after he had signed up for the job, which is a bit of a shocker.

Easy to say you resign at that point, but the guy was clearly desperate to get back into work. However, having accepted that addendum without resigning its a bit much to be complaining about it now. Summary dismissal coming up? Could be one of Abramowitches few logical decsions!

If that is true then i have a better understanding of where Rafa is coming from, but as you rightly say, the time to have taken issue with it was when it was announced all those months ago. Would he have an issue with his title now and would he be getting angry about it now, were Chelsea still within a few points of the top of the league, and still in the Champion's League, as was the case when he took over? Somehow doubt it.

Maybe the job description is an excuse. All this has happened within hours of reports suggesting a stand up row between Benitez and Terry. Captain Fantastic must have decided that its time for this particular manager to go. We also know that Roman backs Terry over his managers so it seems that its 'as normal" in the chelsea clown car.

It absolutely is an excuse. He knew the sort of snake pit he was throwing himself into when he threw himself in there.

I really think he misjudged just how divisive and moronic they were prepared to make themselves. Just seems to me that if Terry doesn't get his way he organises a dressing room mutiny and Abramovich just happily carries on hiring and firing. The dressing room is seemingly controlled by three players, all in their thirties and past their best that have the ear of the owner over and above the guy thats supposed to be their immediate boss!!

No wonder Pep was having none of it! he's already achieved enough in his managerial career not to warrent being given the run around and undermined by the likes of John Terry

Edited February 28, 2013 by carmine

[rixalex]

Or maybe he didn't misjudge it, it's just that at the "going-nowhere-fast" point his career had got to, he figured, what the h3ll, however messy it got, he'd still walk away a lot richer than when he walked in.

I really think he misjudged just how divisive and moronic they were prepared to make themselves. Just seems to me that if Terry doesn't get his way he organises a dressing room mutiny and Abramovich just happily carries on hiring and firing. The dressing room is seemingly controlled by three players, all in their thirties and past their best that have the ear of the owner over and above the guy thats supposed to be their immediate boss!!

No wonder Pep was having none of it! he's already achieved enough in his managerial career not to warrent being given the run around and undermined by the likes of John Terry

[carmine]

Or maybe he didn't misjudge it, it's just that at the "going-nowhere-fast" point his career had got to, he figured, what the h3ll, however messy it got, he'd still walk away a lot richer than when he walked in.

I really think he misjudged just how divisive and moronic they were prepared to make themselves. Just seems to me that if Terry doesn't get his way he organises a dressing room mutiny and Abramovich just happily carries on hiring and firing. The dressing room is seemingly controlled by three players, all in their thirties and past their best that have the ear of the owner over and above the guy thats supposed to be their immediate boss!!

No wonder Pep was having none of it! he's already achieved enough in his managerial career not to warrent being given the run around and undermined by the likes of John Terry

The money would obviously be nice but he probably felt he needed to get himself in the shop window to find a proper appointment. It was a secret to no one they wanted guardiola anyway so he knew it was just a half season with a huge pay out.

Anyway i shouldn't be knocking them i should be thankful. They paid Porto our managers 13m buy out which Levy definately wouldn't have paid and then sacked him six months later so we could hire him. That was an absolutely mental decision sacking him

Edited February 28, 2013 by carmine

[StevieH]

it's the fact that they went out of their way to come up with a new title for him rix, because they absolutely knew that the fans wouldn't and didn't want him. by calling him 'interim' manager it's a sop to those fans and just completely unprofessional. why not caretaker manager? why not temporary manager? 'interim'? laughable.

Interim Manager, Caretaker Manager, Temporary Manager... what the <deleted> difference does it make? All amounts to the same thing. Semantics to argue one title over the other. And why has it only dawned on him now all of a sudden that its such a terrible title?

>and you can keep saying it as many times as you like, you'll still be wrong. liverpool fans treated hodgson absolutely nothing like benitez has been treated at chelsea. not even in the same ballpark. think your liking for the current england manager is blinding you.

If anything, Liverpool fans treated Hodgson worse... but i guess we could argue that one all day... what it comes down to for me is that, as i say, you either disagree with the act of booing the team and the manager when they are playing or you don't.

... and whilst it might be possible to be blinded by love (or hatred), i find it hard to imagine how one can be blinded by the emotion of relative indifference, which is how i feel towards Roy. I'm simply happy that England have an English manager and whilst i don't think he is the best manager in the world, i don't think he is the worst either.

come on then, give me specifics about how nasty the horrible liverpool fans were to poor old avuncular roy. then i'll give you specifics on how roy actually wound the fans up, insulted them and the club repeatedly and basically shat all over the position of manager of liverpool fc. and detail why you're still talking nonsense.

liverpool fans treated hodgson worse than booing him before he's even sat down in the dugout in his first match in charge? do me a favour rix.

[rixalex]

it's the fact that they went out of their way to come up with a new title for him rix, because they absolutely knew that the fans wouldn't and didn't want him. by calling him 'interim' manager it's a sop to those fans and just completely unprofessional. why not caretaker manager? why not temporary manager? 'interim'? laughable.

Interim Manager, Caretaker Manager, Temporary Manager... what the <deleted> difference does it make? All amounts to the same thing. Semantics to argue one title over the other. And why has it only dawned on him now all of a sudden that its such a terrible title?

>and you can keep saying it as many times as you like, you'll still be wrong. liverpool fans treated hodgson absolutely nothing like benitez has been treated at chelsea. not even in the same ballpark. think your liking for the current england manager is blindin

g you.

If anything, Liverpool fans treated Hodgson worse... but i guess we could argue that one all day... what it comes down to for me is that, as i say, you either disagree with the act of booing the team and the manager when they are playing or you don't.

... and whilst it might be possible to be blinded by love (or hatred), i find it hard to imagine how one can be blinded by the emotion of relative indifference, which is how i feel towards Roy. I'm simply happy that England have an English manager and whilst i don't think he is the best manager in the world, i don't think he is the worst either.

come on then, give me specifics about how nasty the horrible liverpool fans were to poor old avuncular roy. then i'll give you specifics on how roy actually wound the fans up, insulted them and the club repeatedly and basically shat all over the position of manager of liverpool fc. and detail why you're still talking nonsense.

liverpool fans treated hodgson worse than booing him before he's even sat down in the dugout in his first match in charge? do me a favour rix.

What's the point in going over all the details of what Roy did and what Roy said, and what Liverpool fans did and said? We all know what happened. Most Liverpool fans had made their minds up on Roy the moment he walked through the door, and whilst i agree he didn't do a good job of endearing himself at times to them, and didn't always make the best decisions - what manager does? - it all still comes down to the bottom line, and that is, either you disagree with people who boo their own team and think them classless idiots, or you don't. It's really not a grey area Stevie. Not to me anyway..

[smokie36]

Jealousy and fear perhaps.

Viva the blue revolution! :-)

Rafa's blood flows red.

And he's gone in May! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21611064

Good luck in your search for a manager who enjoys Thursday football.

[mjj]

I suppose it about time a Chelsea boy stepped in.

Firstly, Chelsea fans do get annoyed at Roman, just not to the extent of wanting him out. This is purely economical logic, yes?

The fans that sing and chant Rafa Out at the matches are in the minority and most on the Cheslea forums find it rather tiresome. Personally I didn't want Rafa, not just because he slagged of us fans, primarily because I don't think he is very good. Yes he was successful in Spain, but at Inter he won 12 out of 25, and at Chelsea he is 14 from 27. Not great stats are they.

Even at Liverpool I remember watching a match where he took off Torres and both Torres and Gerrard looked at each other and shook their heads in disbelief.

On the point about slating the fans, how many other managers have done it from without provocation? None? Isn't it just a professional courtesy no-no?

After the shock of him being made manager I said I would give him a chance and he was spot on when he said if he wins matches the fans will accept him. The problem is he doesn't win those matches.

In the interview the question he was asked had nothing to do with the fans or his tenure at Chelsea, yet he thought it a good idea to slag off some fans and the management again. Questionable professionalism and ethics IMO.

Complaining about the 'Interim' tag. Well he signed the bloody thing and i've done a little search and when he was appointed the term interim was in place from the off.

Rafa KNEW what Chelsea fans thought of him and the mountain he had to climb, yet he still signed.

Honestly, what does he expect? Things are not going well for him, so why would the fans support him. If he was lighting up the team week in week out and was getting abuse I would feel sympathy and anger for him and the fans.

As for the influence of JT. Yes he is an influence and so he should be after his time and success at the club, but to suggest he can influence results and players to play bad when he has been out injured is just ridiculous.

Bottom line is the RDM should never have been sacked and Rafa should never have been appointed. The only reason I can think of the Rafa was appointed is because Roman felt he could get Torres firing on all cylinders. Trouble is, he hasn't been able to.

[uptheos]

And where does Mr Abramovitch turn to now,may be appoint Torres interim manager- worth thinking about hey? 50 million quid spent on him plus the managers brought in/out for him to produce the form he showed with Liverpool (one season wonder) sadly without success-Mr Chelski sure has money,but sense-NO NEVER-his money,his club,his players-one day he will spit his dummy out and what will become of Chelsea then

One can only hope pm and then back to crowds of 6,903

Footnote : i wonder if the 3 was oldgit, keith and mjj

I remember going to stamford bridge in the early eighties and you didn't need a pitch, you could have played the game on the terraces

The dog track wasn't bad way back. a good reason to go to SB.

[rixalex]

I suppose it about time a Chelsea boy stepped in.

Firstly, Chelsea fans do get annoyed at Roman, just not to the extent of wanting him out. This is purely economical logic, yes?

The fans that sing and chant Rafa Out at the matches are in the minority and most on the Cheslea forums find it rather tiresome. Personally I didn't want Rafa, not just because he slagged of us fans, primarily because I don't think he is very good. Yes he was successful in Spain, but at Inter he won 12 out of 25, and at Chelsea he is 14 from 27. Not great stats are they.

Even at Liverpool I remember watching a match where he took off Torres and both Torres and Gerrard looked at each other and shook their heads in disbelief.

On the point about slating the fans, how many other managers have done it from without provocation? None? Isn't it just a professional courtesy no-no?

After the shock of him being made manager I said I would give him a chance and he was spot on when he said if he wins matches the fans will accept him. The problem is he doesn't win those matches.

In the interview the question he was asked had nothing to do with the fans or his tenure at Chelsea, yet he thought it a good idea to slag off some fans and the management again. Questionable professionalism and ethics IMO.

Complaining about the 'Interim' tag. Well he signed the bloody thing and i've done a little search and when he was appointed the term interim was in place from the off.

Rafa KNEW what Chelsea fans thought of him and the mountain he had to climb, yet he still signed.

Honestly, what does he expect? Things are not going well for him, so why would the fans support him. If he was lighting up the team week in week out and was getting abuse I would feel sympathy and anger for him and the fans.

As for the influence of JT. Yes he is an influence and so he should be after his time and success at the club, but to suggest he can influence results and players to play bad when he has been out injured is just ridiculous.

Bottom line is the RDM should never have been sacked and Rafa should never have been appointed. The only reason I can think of the Rafa was appointed is because Roman felt he could get Torres firing on all cylinders. Trouble is, he hasn't been able to.

Pretty much sums it up there.

[uptheos]

OK guys, where's the smart money going on who will be the next temporary manager?

Surely the Chelsea job is now only about money, albeit short or longer term. No-one can possibly think that they will be able to actually manage the club without interference....do they?

[StevieH]

it's the fact that they went out of their way to come up with a new title for him rix, because they absolutely knew that the fans wouldn't and didn't want him. by calling him 'interim' manager it's a sop to those fans and just completely unprofessional. why not caretaker manager? why not temporary manager? 'interim'? laughable.

Interim Manager, Caretaker Manager, Temporary Manager... what the <deleted> difference does it make? All amounts to the same thing. Semantics to argue one title over the other. And why has it only dawned on him now all of a sudden that its such a terrible title?

<

blockquote>

>and you can keep saying it as many times as you like, you'll still be wrong. liverpool fans treated hodgson absolutely nothing like benitez has been treated at chelsea. not even in the same ballpark. think your liking for the current england manager is blindin

g you.

If anything, Liverpool fans treated Hodgson worse... but i guess we could argue that one all day... what it comes down to for me is that, as i say, you either disagree with the act of booing the team and the manager when they are playing or you don't.

... and whilst it might be possible to be blinded by love (or hatred), i find it hard to imagine how one can be blinded by the emotion of relative indifference, which is how i feel towards Roy. I'm simply happy that England have an English manager and whilst i don't think he is the best manager in the world, i don't think he is the worst either.

come on then, give me specifics about how nasty the horrible liverpool fans were to poor old avuncular roy. then i'll give you specifics on how roy actually wound the fans up, insulted them and the club repeatedly and basically shat all over the position of manager of liverpool fc. and detail why you're still talking nonsense.

liverpool fans treated hodgson worse than booing him before he's even sat down in the dugout in his first match in charge? do me a favour rix.

What's the point in going over all the details of what Roy did and what Roy said, and what Liverpool fans did and said? We all know what happened. Most Liverpool fans had made their minds up on Roy the moment he walked through the door, and whilst i agree he didn't do a good job of endearing himself at times to them, and didn't always make the best decisions - what manager does? - it all still comes down to the bottom line, and that is, either you disagree with people who boo their own team and think them classless idiots, or you don't. It's really not a grey area Stevie. Not to me anyway..

apparently not, no. and i agree. but i'm still waiting for examples of when liverpool fans booed hodgson or didn't give him time and support. he wasn't booed into the dugout at his first match, there weren't 'hodgson out' banners at his first match, he wasn't actively turned on by the crowd until we played blackburn when the 'hodgson for england' chant was started by a bunch of berks and the relationship was utterly done by then, 99% through his actions, tactics, comments about the fans and hicks and gillett, his blaming everyone but himself and us being in a relegation dogfight.

hodgson at liverpool and benitez at chelsea are not remotely comparable. sorry.

[StevieH]

Actually I just saw the Rafa interview on Beeb. He appears to be saying that the tag interim was added after he had signed up for the job, which is a bit of a shocker.

Easy to say you resign at that point, but the guy was clearly desperate to get back into work. However, having accepted that addendum without resigning its a bit much to be complaining about it now. Summary dismissal coming up? Could be one of Abramowitches few logical decsions!

If that is true then i have a better understanding of where Rafa is coming from, but as you rightly say, the time to have taken issue with it was when it was announced all those months ago. Would he have an issue with his title now and would he be getting angry about it now, were Chelsea still within a few points of the top of the league, and still in the Champion's League, as was the case when he took over? Somehow doubt it.

Maybe the job description is an excuse. All this has happened within hours of reports suggesting a stand up row between Benitez and Terry. Captain Fantastic must have decided that its time for this particular manager to go. We also know that Roman backs Terry over his managers so it seems that its 'as normal" in the chelsea clown car.

i don't think he's using the job description as an excuse for anything, i think he's using it to point out what a shambles of a club it is and what a shambolic appointment he was and how shambolically it was done. he was on a hiding to nothing from day one when they gave him that absurd title which basically translated as 'we know the fans don't like you so we're going to stick you with this nonsense to reassure them that whatever happens you're only here until the summer'. it's embarrassing. at least the mad club owners in serie a who hire and fire managers on a monthly basis don't resort to that kind of pathetic crap.

[StevieH]

I suppose it about time a Chelsea boy stepped in.

Firstly, Chelsea fans do get annoyed at Roman, just not to the extent of wanting him out. This is purely economical logic, yes?

The fans that sing and chant Rafa Out at the matches are in the minority and most on the Cheslea forums find it rather tiresome. Personally I didn't want Rafa, not just because he slagged of us fans, primarily because I don't think he is very good. Yes he was successful in Spain, but at Inter he won 12 out of 25, and at Chelsea he is 14 from 27. Not great stats are they.

Even at Liverpool I remember watching a match where he took off Torres and both Torres and Gerrard looked at each other and shook their heads in disbelief.

On the point about slating the fans, how many other managers have done it from without provocation? None? Isn't it just a professional courtesy no-no?

After the shock of him being made manager I said I would give him a chance and he was spot on when he said if he wins matches the fans will accept him. The problem is he doesn't win those matches.

In the interview the question he was asked had nothing to do with the fans or his tenure at Chelsea, yet he thought it a good idea to slag off some fans and the management again. Questionable professionalism and ethics IMO.

Complaining about the 'Interim' tag. Well he signed the bloody thing and i've done a little search and when he was appointed the term interim was in place from the off.

Rafa KNEW what Chelsea fans thought of him and the mountain he had to climb, yet he still signed.

Honestly, what does he expect? Things are not going well for him, so why would the fans support him. If he was lighting up the team week in week out and was getting abuse I would feel sympathy and anger for him and the fans.

As for the influence of JT. Yes he is an influence and so he should be after his time and success at the club, but to suggest he can influence results and players to play bad when he has been out injured is just ridiculous.

Bottom line is the RDM should never have been sacked and Rafa should never have been appointed. The only reason I can think of the Rafa was appointed is because Roman felt he could get Torres firing on all cylinders. Trouble is, he hasn't been able to.

you're right about it being the minority who slate, boo and make banners about him at matches but if you listen to the interview that's the minority he was talking about. he didn't 'slate the fans without provocation' he slated this same minority of fans with absolutely bloody loads of provocation.

you're right about di matteo, quite agree. but when you get right down to it, in this instance benitez is correct. that minority of fans that prefer booing and slaughtering him when they should be supporting the team on the pitch ARE damaging the team's performances.

if those fans care so much about chelsea why don't they go and lobby abramovich about benitez during the week? protest his being there before the match, do a march after the match? because when you're in the ground you're there to support the team and get behind them, whoever your manager is. everything else is nonsense.

[sharecropper]

At some stage Abramovich will have to sack himself for the good of the club as the quailty of managerial candidates slides down the toilet. Employing Rafa was a sign that this has already started. Who next - Sven? Sparky?

[StevieH]

At some stage Abramovich will have to sack himself for the good of the club as the quailty of managerial candidates slides down the toilet. Employing Rafa was a sign that this has already started. Who next - Sven? Sparky?

moysey? unlikely though that they'll appoint a manager whose career high point is winning the second division as a player with preston.

[mjj]

Next manager? Wouldn't be suprised is Avram gets drafted in for the remainder of the season. If we qualify for cl I really believe it will be Jose next season.

I don't want Sven, Harry or Hughes.

[sharecropper]

At some stage Abramovich will have to sack himself for the good of the club as the quailty of managerial candidates slides down the toilet. Employing Rafa was a sign that this has already started. Who next - Sven? Sparky?

moysey? unlikely though that they'll appoint a manager whose career high point is winning the second division as a player with preston.

He'd be likelier to go to a basket case like a Suarez-less Liverpool next season as you flirt with relegation, rather than go to Chelsea. 'Arry might though.

[oldgit]

And where does Mr Abramovitch turn to now,may be appoint Torres interim manager- worth thinking about hey? 50 million quid spent on him plus the managers brought in/out for him to produce the form he showed with Liverpool (one season wonder) sadly without success-Mr Chelski sure has money,but sense-NO NEVER-his money,his club,his players-one day he will spit his dummy out and what will become of Chelsea then

One can only hope pm and then back to crowds of 6,903

Footnote : i wonder if the 3 was oldgit, keith and mjj

I remember going to stamford bridge in the early eighties and you didn't need a pitch, you could have played the game on the terraces

The dog track wasn't bad way back. a good reason to go to SB.

Great dog track actually. In my halcyon days,I used to do Hackney in the morning,do the first three at Stamford Bridge,then White City. But I digress,the more I think about it,the more I think this was a shrewd post match interview by Benitez. O.K he's leaving in the summer and he obviously doesn't like the interim tag but, I reckon, the playing staff must have known he was going and I also think they were aware of what he was going to say after,let's not forget,a comfortable victory. This didn't look like a team at odds with their coach.

He couldn't wait to wade in and blame the recent inconsistency squarely on the shoulders of the jeering fans, saying it was their actions that were putting the team under pressure,

He's now made these people the scapegoats and it will be interesting to see what reception THEY get this Saturday

[oldgit]

Next manager? Wouldn't be suprised is Avram gets drafted in for the remainder of the season. If we qualify for cl I really believe it will be Jose next season.

I don't want Sven, Harry or Hughes.

I wouldn't mind Roberto Martinez. He started the footballing revolution at Swansea and he's full of ideas,still being the only manager in the Premier League to use a 3-4-3 system.

[StevieH]

Next manager? Wouldn't be suprised is Avram gets drafted in for the remainder of the season. If we qualify for cl I really believe it will be Jose next season.

I don't want Sven, Harry or Hughes.

I wouldn't mind Roberto Martinez. He started the footballing revolution at Swansea and he's full of ideas,still being the only manager in the Premier League to use a 3-4-3 system.

for next interim manager i think roman will go way beyond bookies' faves. avram, martinez, laudrup. maybe spaletti. pellegrini perhaps.