Bruno

Chelsea fans should boo Eto'o. If we don't we are nothing but hypocrites. We childishly put a top manager through hell last year because of some wind-up comments he made years ago about plastic flags. Now we have a Striker who made comments which similarly besmirched our club. FACT: ETO'O OUT

Is there a bit Sam Allardyce in J.P. Morgan?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._P._Morgan

Thanks for the responses folks.

Sorry if I am being ignorant, but why haven't we been wearing the "star" above the crest on our shirts for winning the champions league. Isn't that how it works? Or am I missing something?

Decent article. Best line is "They (the fans) seem offended he is offended by their efforts to offend him". http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2286808/Des-Kelly-Rafa-Benitez-rant--lets-John-Terry-better.html

Not at all. I believe Rafa has to go. I just think the carry on at Stanford Bridge should finish. I think the nasty atmosphere is affecting morale within the team / club in general. It is an unnecessary distraction. The best things the fans can do is create a positive atmosphere at the Bridge. Spurs and Arsenal aren't going to hand us top 4.

I think the poor form started because what happens when things are overly transient manager wise is that players loose their edge because players start to think "well the manager will be different soon so I can relax in the knowledge I will have a fresh start in a few months time". Does anyone think the players thought a drop in form wouldn't lead to the sacking of RDM? Ofcourse they knew RDM would be sacked at the first drop in form. For too long Chelsea players have been provided this luxury.

Great read. Will be one of the best players in the world. Deserves stability.

Have Real Madrid been successful though? Sure they have won their fair share of league titles, but their budget is just so much bigger then all but Barca's in Spain. In Europe, I don't think they have done all that well at all from a performance / budget perspective. We don't have the same luxury because Man City, Man Utd, and to some extent Arsenal and Liverpool all have big budgets too. He who spends the most isn't necessarily the most successful. You've got to build a good club with a strong philosophy. Transiency is not a winning philosophy. As for Bayern Munich... They've won Europe once in the best part of 40 years.

I think stability brings fight. If everything is short term everyone gets a transient "we'll come to pick up our paycheck but not REALLY care attitude about the place" attitude. This is slowly what is happening at Chelsea. This is why I think we need a manager from one of the home nations who plans to stay for a long time... not just use us as a pay cheque. You can't build a club on such a philosophy. You'll wind up with a team of uncaring Ronaldinho's.

If I took a sign to Stamford Bridge which said... "Rafa In / Fans Out - Fact" ... what would happen? The media would probably report my one isolated sign as an indication that Rafa's rant worked and the fans are finally starting to come around. By the way folks, do you think you are getting whipped up by the media?

Absolute truth. Most players playing for the first team haven't been there all that long. Hazard, Mata and Oscar are probably calling their managers saying "What sort of circus have you sent me to. The money is great but everything else about the club is a soap opera. I am not sure if I am at Stamford Bridge or Albert Square".

If the atmosphere doesn't matter why do we sing in the first place? Sure it's fun, but isn't part of it to create an atmosphere in which the players play better? No amount of money can change human psychology. Bad energy equals bad football. Note: I am not saying poor performance is entirely down to the crowd. I am saying it is part of it. It is contributing to the smelly funk. So Benitez is right to go on telly to try to create a circuit breaker. It's in every Chelsea persons interest to move on from the Sack Rafa attitdue. His message basically was "I am going anyway so don't worry about putting energy into getting rid of me. Instead put your energy into creating a positive feeling around the club". We are in a fight for fourth place folks. It will be a lot tougher to attract top quality players this summer if we can't offer Champions League Football. Therefore all energy should be put towards being positive, not worrying about some guy who won't be there in a few weeks anyway.

Nah. I am a newby here but not a troll. He's done stuff all at Chelsea but Chelsea fans were booing him from the beginning of his tenure... so it has nothing to do with his results. I just agree with Rafa that the fans haven't helped the situation. The atmosphere at Stamford Bridge on match day is toxic. Just like a band feeds off the energy of it's audience, so to does a football team. Now, having said this, what Rafa should have done after taking the roll though was do an interview give a cheeky grin and apoligize for his remarks from a few years back. Say something like "yes, I said those things, but I didn't mean them. That was just to wind up opposition fans. Chelsea fans are the best in the world. I really hope the forgive me and because I really want us to achieve something together this season".

I reckon I am almost the only Chelsea supporter who likes Rafa. Great manager who has won a lot of trophies in his time. Yeah he said some things about the club but isn't this all just part of the theatre?

There is no excuse for being unfit / burnt out before Christmas. Who is the head of sports science at Chelsea out of interest?

Abramovich needs to understand "blips" are part of team sport. Managers are paid the big money not for ensuring teams don't have blips, but rather for getting them out blips when they inevitably occur. The culture at Chelsea now is that as soon as a blip occurs, everyone is looking at each other thinking.... "we'll this blip may as well continue until the current manager is sacked and the new manager arrives".