Liam

I realise that Nibs.

I take no "pride" in disliking him. You're being ridiculous. And if you respect my "self-serving twaddle" you grant your respect too easily. Well, I've never been asked. But as you seem interested I would bring back either of Gullit or Vialli in a second but my first choice would be Van Basten.

Anytime anyone criticises Mourinho around here this is the sh*te that follows. What is about the adulation he inspires? Why are his fans so idiotic that they cannot undersatnd how someone can criticise their hero and still love Chelsea.

I hope I'm a proper Chelsea fan. I've certainly been around long enough. With the arrival of Abramovich and his unprecedented injection of cash I thought that the opportunity to do something really special had arrived for Chelsea Football Club. Here was a guy with an almost childlike love of the game and with the willingness to invest any amount of money to achieve his dream. I envisioned great times ahead for the club as we forged ahead embracing all that is good about the beautiful game. At the time we had Claudio Ranieri at the the helm - deeply flawed as a manager - but a dreamer and a genuinely nice person. Whether or not he would have won things we'll never know because by that time we also had Peter Kenyon. It was obvious with Kenyon's arrival that things had taken a turn for the worse. A nasty piece of work. His first job was a public undermining of the decent man that is Ranieri as the club had already identified the one to take us forward in Mourinho. I've disliked Mourinho since before he came to Chelsea for reasons which I've repeated ad nauseum to the annoyance of many. He has brought us levels of success beyond which we could ever have hoped for pre-Abramovich. But now Abramovich is here this level of success should be sustainable once we can continue to invest in the finest talent available. I believe we can sustain the success we have enjoyed under Mourinho without the stench that his antics and the likes of Cashley and Kenyon create around the club. I believe we should be able to achieve this success by embracing the positive rather than always focusing on the negative. I would like to see Mourinho leave at the end of this season.

No problem Elliot. I overreacted . Phew - passions are running high these days. I don't get Ethical Strategy's point about Woods though. I'm not suggesting that he likes losing - of course he doesn't or he wouldn't be the winner he is. My point is that he is gracious in defeat at least in his public persona. That is all I would ask of Mourinho. Just some common decency.

You made a point about winners having necessarily to be bad losers. I posted a photograph which illustrates exactly the point I was trying to make, ie, the most successful sportsman of modern times in the process of being a good loser. And you come back with this: What's your problem?

First class stuff G4.

To be fair Loud and Proud I don't think too many people are calling for his head just me. Sorry if I annoyed you and any other Mourinho fans out there. I don't like him and never have. I didn't want him to get the job and I was saying that at the time and I've said it ever since. I would put our success down to to The Players, Abramovich's Money, and Mourinho in that order. You would obviously have a different order. That's fine. I am no less passionate than you or no less a fan than you because I don't like the manager. Managers come and go I just hope that the next one has a bit more class, and a love of the game of football, rather than just success for the sake of it.

Because Drogba.

I would give Essien, Terry, Makalele and Cech a 7 and everyone else 5 or less (including new CSR favourite Mikel).

and the one question isn't usually followed by the definitive answer. I'm eternally grateful also - to Abramovich and the players his money has bought. Mourniho can f**k off and take his brutal football and his nasty persona with him.

Less of a match more of a slugfest between 2 muscular teams. Champions League semi-final? Football can't survive as a spectator sport if this is the best on offer. I feel sick for the genuine heroes in our team, particularly Cech and Terry. Lost a fortune tonight as well. For next season if we're going to lose at least let's lose with a bit of style.

I have to say, though I hate to say it, I have a really bad feeling about this. I feel sick now and just wish it was over and we were through.

Killjoy!

I thought it was a joke when I was reading it. Surely he can't be serious. I love Terry. He is my favourite Chelsea player by a long way and in my top five of all time. But I don't see him as management material at all. He's not the brightest as far as I can see. And he'd only burst out crying if things didn't go his way.

I think it is time we reviewed our style of play, particularly our midfield. During the summer break last year, when it became obvious Mourinho favoured athletes over artists in midfield, I wondered would this signal the "death of football". When the club with more money to spend than any club in the history of football chooses to spend it on athletes rather than footballers what would this mean for the beautiful game? Tragically for Chelsea fans, but I have to say happily for the game of football, Ferguson has shown it is possible to achieve the massively high standards we have set, while still trusting in skill, and setting out to score more than the opposition rather than strangle the life out of them. For next season Dorset you have wondered whether Mourinho would be excited by the prospect of working with Mikel, Diarra, Kalou, Sinclair and Sahar, and I have no doubt he will be. As certainly in the case of the first three it looks like more of the same to me (although Mikel has a pleasingly languid style which I imagine Mourinho might like to knock out of him). The less hysterical speculation coming from Stamford Bridge is that Abramovich has looked for a more expansive style of football as a return for his massive investment. That seems fair enough to me, he's entitled to have a say. The challange is can Mourinho deliver on this and maintain our winning habit?

It's called blind loyalty. I'm not convinced he does it to take the heat of the players. When we won the second title his medal throwing antics were all that was written about. I think the players could have handled the pressure of celebrating their win. He's an attention seeker the way my 6-year-old is. Even if it is all part of his masterplan can he not come up with something better than today's contrived argument with Ronaldo? He has had some good moments but this stuff about "facts" is tripe.

Yes but this argument about "facts" is childish, illogical and inconsequential (although you seem to have fallen for it). Ronaldo doesn't agree that that there is a new law in football that Manure don't have penalties given against them. This makes him a liar which means he won't reach the highest level in football. That's just puerile nonsense.

In the papers today. Mourinho has directed some comments at Divealdo. Pathetic.

Touch of class.

Now that he's gone I wonder have their seedings changed.

Sorry for going off topic but while we're at it: McGrath rhymes with wah not wrath. Moran has the stress on the first syllable not the second And Doherty is not Docherty As for Ricky he was a proper centre half last night as well as his usual stylish self.

He's not a referee.

I had ten Euro on him to score first and in the 29th minute. Is it possible to say how much I'd get paid Loz, or should I find this information on the betting slip?