blizeH

Unfortunately I think they're only available to members, which would add another what, £70 on top for two memberships?

What... why... why would he have signed an agreement like that?

I think it's an interesting approach - Lukaku has always looked well up for it recently, and Torres showed once again on Saturday that he has a lot to offer the team even if he isn't scoring goals, and was probably the best player on the pitch (though that's not saying a lot) when he came on.

That is a great article and sounds completely believable, thanks for posting that Bez. What it also confirms for me is: 1) AVB was an autocrat. He put his all into this, working tirelessly, getting every single meticulous detail right, but the players did not respond to this approach. He didn't seem like he was a people person, a motivator, or someone who could easily deal with players who caused trouble. 2) We have big problems with our players, which Roman has correctly identified. I'm expecting (and hoping for) a big clearout in the summer. It has to happen, if not purely to send the message that no single player (or even collective) are above the club. Both are positive as far as I'm concerned. and have somewhat restored some faith in the board for me.

And they know that how? I imagine (and hope) that's pure speculation. Robbie seems very personable to me. Very friendly, very approachable, generally a nice guy. I think we need someone like that because the players clearly didn't respond well to AVB's approach.

If that happens, then big questions will have to be asked. Sure it may vindicate the decision to get rid of AVB, but if certain players massively up their game tomorrow I'm going to be pissed.

I'm sorry but the more I read on this matter, the way he treated players, his attitude towards them (and yes, in cases their attitude back) the more I just can't help but shake the fact he had completely lost the dressing room. The fact they have left Robbie D in charge proves this.

This time next season a lot of people on here will be saying "I knew we should've ditched AVB, [insert name of random new manager] is doing a fantastic job". This thread will be funny to look back on, no doubt.

Robbie D and Zola would be a dream for me, otherwise I guess Mourinho would do ;-) I really can't see us going in for Benitez, he's out of a job at the moment so surely we'd make a move now and not wait until summer? After all, the club will want to give ourselves the best possible change in the FA Cup, the Champions League and of course securing 4th place, and now whilst I personally would question whether Benitez would give us the best possible chance at any of those, if the club identified him as our next manager I'm sure they'd want him to take over ASAP. So in short, nothing to see here, move along...

Just hearing about how he treated Alex and Anelka before they left - think that was maybe a big part of why certain players turned against him.

I know, of course this wouldn't happen, but wouldn't it be amazing if (since we're just sticking with Di Matteo and not bringing anyone else in) AVB was re-appointed (since afaik he hasn't been sacked, they've just parted ways? so no compensation etc paid) and every single one of the trouble makers were transfer listed and AVB was able to form the squad just how he wanted? :E

We don't know that, yes Miereles looked out of his depth at times but always gave his all, which is more than can be said about certain other players. Agreed with pretty much every point loz made by the way. One thing that may work in our favour is that managers often have big egos and will no doubt relish the chance to try and turn us around. There are plenty of mangers who would relish that challenge IMO.

Just look through this gallery: http://www.skysports.com/gallery/detail/0,,11668_7568679,00.html#photo=0 It's amazing the happiness, the passion, the confidence he showed in the early photos all just faded. And it's important to work out just why that happened. Pressure from above? Player power? Simply out of his depth? If it's one of the first two we have very, very serious problems.

f**king hell someone comes on here and offers a reasonable, honest opinion on our situation (I agree with you btw, but hope you're wrong about Jose) and they get attacked just because they're not a Chelsea fan? That's the kind of classless sh*t you expect on a site like RAWK.

Can't beleive we left Guus sitting around for the majority of the season, then ditch AVB just a couple of weeks after he joins another club

I, for one, welcome people like Alan on here, he's level headed and it's always good to hear the perspective without the blue tinted specs

My main worry is where do we go from here? We all thought we needed a young, talented manager to completely revamp our squad - we had one, and now we've sacked him. Who else is available that could do that? My main worry about AVB is that he didn't seem able to motivate players, and maybe wasn't as ruthless with his selections as he should have been... still very mixed feelings about all this

Lots of knee jerk here. I'm with you guys don't get me wrong, we have serious player issues that need sorting, but if Jose comes back in the summer there's going to be a lot of happy people on here...

Butch

We don't know for sure those are the players responsible

We can't comment until we know exactly what the plan is here. Jose has said he wants to return to England and if he comes to us, I'm sure there will be a lot of very happy people here... If of course it turns out the club doesn't really have a plan and they simply bowed to player power as we expect, then what a f**king joke...

Chelsea have been woeful lately, yes that's mostly down to the players and the attitude of certain individuals has been f**king awful at times, but we don't know for sure what plan the club has right now, and we've recently seem Jose in London house hunting... Hate to say it, but if we did bring him back and gave him a free reign, this could actually be a very good move. But in the meantime, yeah, massively disappointed, we definitely need to rebuild and I hope we do, regardless of who's I'm charge.

Interesting that the higher ups are trusting Robbie D to be in charge until the end of the season, they must have really lost faith in AVB. Also indicates we're after a manager already at a club, so no Benitez, no Capello and no Rijkaard

To quote my girlfriend when we saw it on the ticker during the Sunderland game: "What? That's really sad for him, it's not his fault the Chelsea players have been so lazy recently!" Interesting comment from a newcomer to football, that even she observed the problem surely lies with our players (and certain players in particular) - although I guess it is the managers job to motivate, them, there's only so much you can do, and if reports are true that certain players were really going against him, this is a real, real shame.

I agree to a point, but did you see the service he and Drogba were getting? I mean, even with 5 minutes go to, 1-0 down, and we seemed to be happy to just knock it around the half way line...