jaycee

The World Club championship was an unwelcome side show. He knew that and the players knew that too. If you have X amount of energy to spend in a season then spend it wisely. What Robbie had he had at the start of the season though. Fatigue was never going to set in and our squad was never going to be tested until the end 10 games or so. I don't agree Robbie was wrongly sacked. Churchill was a good war time prime minister but a pretty sh*t peace time one. RDM was a good CL manager but a pretty average EPL one. Where is he now, btw ? Not heard his name come up in the managerial merry-go-round. I suspect there is a reason for that.

Nice reponse. Genuinely, I mean it

Thanks

15 years.

Ok - I apologise to everyone I have, unintentionally, insulted (thought the 'normals' was a term of endearment, nothing more) . Apart from you that is. Notice I have never sworn at anyone ? (Which you have done to me twice now). I don't apologise to the likes of you.

With the exception of ONE season I , too , could come up with a list of embarrassing results for the club under the guidance of one manager. The problem with your argument about results is that you were onto him from Day1, giving him abuse and not supporting him. As I said, why didn't you all just get behind the team and allowed the results to dictate just how good or bad he was ? The atmosphere in the ground from the first day affected the team (if you don't think it did then what can I say ?) Let's backup what I said then. o Won the Europa Cup o Finished 3rd in the league DESPITE an horrendous fixture backlog (Anyone who thinks we were entitled to finish higher is deluded). Fatigue sets in at the end of the season, not at the start, o Finished 3rd in the league despite a depleted squad, o Finished 3rd in the league despite the boo boys. And one more point - notice that prettymuch every single commentator and football pundit, both TV and in print agrees with me. What qualifications do you have which makes you believe your argument is better than all of theirs ?

What I meant by 'normals' was 'all the other supporters' rather than the jacket and tie brigade.

I don't sit in a corporate box (the boxes are upstairs), I sit in the block next to the directors. While I do tend to remain seated I do get up and shout and celebrate like the rest of them . It is not quite as silent as 'muted' ! What I meant is that I don't spend the game singing bawdy songs about the opposition, I just concentrate on Chelsea and supporting them.

Why not embarrass yourself by elaborating ?

I don't have a superiority complex. Your inferiority complex just leads you to believe I do.

No worries - it's not like you cannot find out for yourself. £7038 That's every home game apart from CL (but first dibs on the seats). All the drink I can drink , 3 course meal. Oh, and a match programme. Sometimes Kerry Dixon and Ron Harris come into the room for meets and greets too. BTW - I am not at all wealthy, I am just Mr Average who doesn't smoke or spend his money on other stuff. I just love football and this way suits me.

I don't disagree with you there. It is a bit quiet. That's how I can gauge, pretty well, what is going on in the rest of the ground and where the pockets of noise come from. I like watching football, sat down and in silence, it gives me the opportunity to appreciate the art of the game. The only time I get to go with the 'normals' is at Wembley for the FA semis. I quite enjoyed the experience this year - mainly because I thought the Citeh fans were awesome in the way they appeared as one and didn't launch into that tedious "Stand up if you hate Tottenham" song after 2 minutes. I also didn't have to stand within 5 seats of a supporter who spent the whole game giving w**ker signs to the opposition fans rather than spending their energy supporting their own team.

Nope - I pay for it out of my own pocket. It's a bit of a misnomour that 'hospitality' is all corporate clients. Only about 50% of them are, even some of the 'corporates' are just businessmen putting it through the books to get the VAT back

You blame only Benetiz, I see a little further than that. Your barometer to Benetiz is guided by 20 or 30 people who you drink with before the game. Mine is guided by listening and watching just how many people actually agree with you each game. I wonder how many of those people, in that pub, are driven by the pack mentality and have not even sat down and thought about things a little bit more rationally ?

I don't enter through a gate. I go into the Millenium Entrance put by ticket on the turnstile , turn left, wait for the (very pretty indeed) woman life attendant to call the lift, get in it then go to the 3rd floor into the Drake suite. <waits for calls of 'he's not a proper fan. he can't be' >

Block - we don't have blocks where I sit. I do go through the Millenium Entrance, though ? Does that help ?

West Stand - Row 97. Edit - blonde moment. 97, not 107!

I am a Chelsea season ticket holder. I love the way that just because I don't fall into line with the anti Benetiz brigade that I must be a Liverpool fan!! Is that the way this forum works ? Either fall into line or else ?

Ah... a man of little literative substance that resorts to foul language. Classy. If you think the vocal fans are a source of pride then you stick with that . I

Can't stand Gerrard myself. I'm a Chelsea season ticket holder, by the way. Your point is ?

Again - I'm not laying into the fans. It may have escaped you, being in your little 'Rafa out - everything else doesn't matter' bubble that the vast majority of fans weren't shouting along with you. What I am saying, if you care to read it all, is that there were SEVERAL things which combined to cause the team problems. Are you saying there weren't , and that everything was his fault and his fault only ? Slightly myopic don't you think ?

By 'baggage' I mean what he had said when at Liverpool. As you may have gathered, I'm not a Terry fan.

This, I'm not sure going back to RM is the right thing to do. I think we should look at a young coach from an emerging power like Germany (or Spain). Probably not going to do my rep here any good at all but I think the biggest mistake we've made recently is getting rid of AVB when he was only doing what needed to be done. We should have put Terry and Cole in their places instead. Some players in this club hold too much weight in the dressing room.

I haven't insulted the fans, I've CRITICISED a small minority of them. That's my perogative (I can see why you are a 'Rafa out' person as you appear to be overly precious). I haven't blamed the players. I have said the fixture list did not help. I've also criticised Rafa if you care to read back. If you honestly think that throwing spiteful bile at a manager has no effect on the team then, well, what can I say ?!

True - but Hiddink didn't come with 'baggage' did he ?