TJB

My scouse friend (I use that term loosely) let me break it down for you. It doesn't matter how many mini goal runs Torres goes on, or how many goals we stick past sh*te opposition, we will never, ever accept him as our manager. Ever. And the sooner he's moved on the sooner I can get back to enjoying Chelsea again.

In shocking news Wenger has said he didn't see it.

I see a drab 0-0 coming up.

Me too. Either Dortmund or Bayern for me in the poll.

My view of the Europa League is this, it's not a competition I'd strive for us to be in (given the choice I'd rather we weren't), but since we are in it I damn sure want us to win it now. We can never win too many European trophies (or any trophy for that matter), even if it means Rafa wins something during his time here.

It was comfortable in the end but for the first hour or so (and particularly in the first half) they were the better side. Their mistakes at the back led to goals and a couple of late goals made it look more convincing than it was. All that said though, even Benitez should be able to manage a win tonight.

We should win, I stress should, but I don't think it will matter. I think Juve will get what they need in their game.

I feel sorry for AFC, they were unlucky. They should have scored just before MK got their goal.

03 I think.

Who the hell is that???

They've deserved it. We've been cack this half.

Terry-esque from Cahill there.

Condolences to his family. RIP

With Barca and Madrid, they found success when they stopped the cycle of sacking managers and just let people manage. Rijkaard wasn't successful straight away. It took him a few years to turn Barca around, and then Guardiola continued his work. When Real actually gave a manager a chance (Mourinho) and let him get on with the job, they finally managed to overtake Barca and win the league.No club sustains success by sacking managers every season (or in our case every six months or so).

I've done the man a dis-service. I was understating his work there. I sincerely apologise to him.

Yeah, I'd agree. I was actually a little surprised they didn't offer some sort of apology. But then again, it would likely be used as another stick to beat us with.

Holland

He was atrocious at Inter (they had won 5 Serie A titles in a row and were reigning European champions), and left Liverpool after finishing 7th. The majority of his signings were poor (with people like Torres and Alonso being exceptions), though that won't be a problem at Chelsea where he won't have that control. Plus he has spent a long time out of the game for a supposedly top class manager.

There was only ever going to be one outcome, and this is it. We're gonna take stick for this, but what's new? We'd have taken sh*t even if the FA found him guilty. It's just the way it is. I believe the club was correct in reporting it (as the FA statement said) and it would have turned out far worse for us if it had come out after that we had "covered it up". I didn't think it likely that Clattenburg would have said anything to Mikel anyway, and that a misunderstanding was the likeliest scenario. But at least it's over now......I hope.

I dunno if I can produce adequate words to describe how I'm feeling about Benitez coming in. Of all the people they could have approached, Rafa f**king Benitez. It shows 1 of 2 things. Either they are completely clueless about what the fans want or what we feel about him, or else they are aware but don't care. Not good either way.

I just feel disgusted at the decision. After sacking Carlo, I didn't think they'd ever make me as angry as that again, but fair play to them they've managed it. I know I shouldn't be surprised but I genuinely felt that we were finally going to give a manager a proper chance to do something. I don't give a sh*t if he wasn't their first choice, they gave him the job so why not give him a season at the very least before judging him? It's another wasted season. We're back to square one again. If it's Rafa that comes in, short term or not, I'll lose my f**king mind.

I wouldn't have thought it possible to put it that high over unless you were doing it deliberately. Shocking.

But surely if it was politically motivated he would have followed up on it, made it clear why he was doing it, gain as much publicity as possible, yes? Not much of a political move otherwise is it? The most likely reason I can think of is 6 of the people who died on Bloody Sunday in 1972 were from the same estate that McClean grew up in. Perhaps he felt uncomfortable or was worried about the possible reaction he would have gotten from people on the estate (or even his own family for that matter). It's a far more plausible explanation (and understandable I would think) than him having political motivations for it, or just trying to garner attention for himself. But that's only a theory, I don't know the reason.

Something which just caught my attention and is worth noting. As we all know, Chelsea didn't involve the police, it was that lawyer who's involved in setting up the black players union. But this bit at the end of the police statement is definitely worth noting; "The matter will remain as a recorded incident. Without a victim and/or any evidence that any offence has been committed, the matter cannot currently be investigated. If the situation changes and a victim and/or evidence to support an allegation of a crime comes to police attention then further enquiries will if appropriate be made." Essentially they are saying nobody has made a complaint and they can't proceed without one. That is not the same as saying there is no case to answer. Just thought I'd point that out.

Well the police investigation ending should make no difference to the FA. They've already shown with the Terry case that their laws are above the laws of the land. But that aside, I have always felt it hugely unlikely that Clattenburg would make comments like that. On the other side though I would echo Bruce Buck's comments that the club had no choice but to report it, however unlikely it was. Chelsea haven't done anything to Clattenburg's reputation. It's the media who have harmed it with the way they have reported this story and all the rumours and gossip about what was said to who.