CheLOLsea

[REMTARDROYAL]

I thought the Mourinho stuff was that players were brought in over his head and that it boiled down a scrap between him wanting control and RA wanting control.

[wolsey]

Strange plea if that came from Chelsea fans.

Isn't that the sort of football that won them the League under Mourinho, and the Champions League last year?

Some people are never satisfied.

[BR2]

Strange plea if that came from Chelsea fans.

Isn't that the sort of football that won them the League under Mourinho, and the Champions League last year?

Some people are never satisfied.

Well said and Celtic saw it as a blueprint for success but in the knock-out phase will probably have to come out of their own half at least two or three times in a game.
Celtic that is, as Chelsea may not even qualify for the next stage which would be a mega lol for being the first previous year's winners ever to be knocked out at the group stage.
Potentially embarrassing or what.

[soggy biscuit]

Bolo Zenden claims he is Rafa's assistant manager

[BR2]

Bolo Zenden claims he is Rafa's assistant manager

That's interesting (if serious)as a player for both clubs and very useful in a fight (Wasn't he a judo expert or something?)
BTW all of this has brought about a short period of fame for Kes and he will look back at November 2012 as his Andy Warhol moment.

[REMTARDROYAL]

This is about as near to my opinion on the matter as one could get.

When, on Wednesday morning, the Chelsea manager appointed on something of a circumstantial whim only five months previously was handed his P45 (along with a significant compensatory cheque), there followed something of an uproar amongst the club's fanbase. The injustice and the classlessness of the decision left a bitter taste in many a Blues supporter's mouth.

Such a reaction was not especially unjustified: Roberto Di Matteo had held the status of crowd favourite at Stamford Bridge even before he took Chelsea to Munich via Barcelona in May, and few can argue that his dismissal, based on nothing more than a poor spell of form, represents wildly reactionary behaviour from their club's chairman. Such behaviour, though, has long been the norm from Roman Abramovich, and, crucially, is not something to which Chelsea supporters have any real right to object.

The Russian's somewhat hands-on interpretation of his role at the club became ominously apparent in the summer of 2006, when he deemed the 29-year-old Andriy Shevchenko worthy of a £30m transfer with little regard for the thoughts of then-manager Jose Mourinho, and has since been concretised by a number of Stamford Bridge sub-plots, most notably the on-going and glaringly familiar one in which Fernando Torres finds himself inhabiting the role of hapless protagonist.

As well as simply interfering with his managers' jobs, Abramovich has also shown a rather graceless knack of dispensing with said employees, as he did once again on this week, with all the calculation and tact of a Lee Cattermole reducer. Di Matteo - it has since emerged - was clearing out his desk at the ungodly hour of 5am on Wednesday morning following his side's defeat in Turin.

It did, at least, mark an improvement on the courtesy afforded to Carlo Ancelotti, who was informed of his sacking somewhere in the bowels of Goodison Park in the immediate aftermath of his side's final fixture of the season. His crime: the failure to bring yet more silverware aboard the Abramovich yacht after his domestic double the previous season.

Claudio Ranieri, Avram Grant, Luis Felipe Scolari and Andre Villas-Boas complete the scrapheap compiled so far by the Russian, now in his tenth season as Chelsea's owner. It is a record and a method to which many Chelsea fans object, with their agitation never more apparent than in the hours following the news of Di Matteo's firing.

But the moral outrage - as well as falling on deaf ears - is undermined by the merriment that duly occurs when Abramovich's tenure leads to trophies, as it so often does. Chelsea fans have little right to complain about the rough side of their owner's approach when they (quite rightfully) enjoy the smooth times with such glee.

After all, as much as the Stamford Bridge faithful have taken trophy-winning bosses Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Di Matteo and Guus Hiddink to their hearts, the overriding common denominator throughout what is now approaching a decade of sustained success at Chelsea has been the Russian's continual heavyweight investment. While a perpetual influx of cold, hard cash is rather less easy to love than one of Jose's snappy put-downs, or a coyly-raised Ancelotti eyebrow, Abramovich's relentless spending has irrefutably been the defining factor in the transformation of a club on the brink of financial oblivion to one that currently have their name etched on the European Cup. The downsides of such success should be tolerated.

This isn't to say that Chelsea's fanbase must consider their club to be blackened by Abramovich's heavy-handed methods, or their glories tainted - there is little room for moral high ground in football - but the fact of the matter is that it is the Russian's input which has directly led to nine major trophies arriving in west London in as many years, each one celebrated with gusto in the Shed End. Propelled by the £75m trio of Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Oscar, there can be little doubt that the near future holds yet more cup runs, title challenges and European nights that will be savoured along the King's Road.

The non-negotiable cost of such dizzying success, it seems, is a lack of civility and class towards a respected employee every now and then. But few can complain about it being an unfair trade-off.

[No Fixed Abode]

I think this thread says a lot more about the small time mentality of Reading fans than anything else.

[wolsey]

I think this thread says a lot more about the small time mentality of Reading fans than anything else.

How? Give some examples (over the last couple of pages would do).

[No Fixed Abode]

I think this thread says a lot more about the small time mentality of Reading fans than anything else.

How? Give some examples (over the last couple of pages would do).

Exactly!

[soggy biscuit]

I think this thread says a lot more about the small time mentality of Reading fans than anything else.

24 hours to think up something and that is the best you can do?

fLOLaiLOling Kes, fLOLaiLOLing.

[No Fixed Abode]

Nope - been busy.

But again - your response proves my point.

[wolsey]

I think this thread says a lot more about the small time mentality of Reading fans than anything else.

How? Give some examples (over the last couple of pages would do).

Exactly!

And how Exactly does asking you to back up your statement, prove your point?

[leicsRoyal]

Mark Clattenberg to not face any further action from the FA.

CheLOLsea

[TFF]

I think this thread says a lot more about the small time mentality of Reading fans than anything else.

Man U fans small time mentality

'pool fans small time mentality

I could go on.

Chelsea are a joke on every forum

[No Fixed Abode]

Mark Clattenberg to not face any further action from the FA.

CheLOLsea

Where was the QPROL response by you when JT was found not guilty?

[leicsRoyal]

Mark Clattenberg to not face any further action from the FA.

CheLOLsea

Where was the QPROL response by you when JT was found not guilty?

I believe he was found guilty by the FA.

[wolsey]

Mark Clattenberg to not face any further action from the FA.

CheLOLsea

Where was the QPROL response by you when JT was found not guilty?

But he was found guilty by the FA. Or is he being banned for another misdemeanour?

[No Fixed Abode]

Here we go again.

[No Fixed Abode]

Would have thought you guys would be worrying about your own club, what with 1 win all season.....

[leicsRoyal]

Would have thought you guys would be worrying about your own club, what with 1 win all season.....

I'm sure we are worrying about our own club with regard to league position. I suppose that's better than making ourselves a laughing stock though.