ilovechelseafc

Is chanting 'Fat SPANISH waiter' xenophobic? What must Mata, Torres, Azpilicueta and Romeu (our Spaniards) think when they hear that? That when Chelsea fans hate someone their nationality is brought into it? Why is the Spanish part included in the insult? If a Spanish team had a few English players and an English manager the fans hated, and they chanted 'Fat ENGLISH XYZ', surely those English players wouldn't like it? As far as I understood, the 'spanish waiter' put down originated when Spaniards first started to come to England for jobs when they joined the EU, but all they could get were menial jobs like waiters, no matter how educated. As illustrated by Manuel in Fawlty Towers comedy programme. The insult started because of discrimination by English people against Spaniards. This makes me very uncomfortable, anyone else?

Small clubs fans have a mentality where when they have a really good or great player, the fans start worrying about bigger clubs wanting to buy them and worry about them leaving because another player won't be as good. I trust Chelsea to buy equal or better players should a player leave. Chelsea are one of the clubs other clubs should worry about. If Mata leaves, I won't like it because he is an excellent player but I don't worry because if he does go it will be for big money, I know RA will go out a get just as good a replacement and not hoard the cash like say Arsenal's owner would.

No, I think the time has come for Chelsea to get a top world class striker. We are one of the best clubs in Europe but we need that something special at CF position. United have RVP, Rooney, Hernandez and Welbeck and are going to buy Lewandowski, City have Aguero, Tevez, Balotelli, Dzeko and are planning on purchasing Cavani (though probably selling Dzeko). We have Torres, Ba and Lukaku on loan. IMO not a good enough forward line for a club of our stature. Torres would have to leave because I don't think we could afford to pay the wages of Torres and Falcao.

When Terry comes back into the team, I hope Azpi is kept at RB and Ivanovic at CB. Cahill should be dropped to the bench IMO and Luiz stay in midfield. Terry is our best CB, but Ivanovic is actually very good too, it was highlighted by Alan Hansen on MOTD just how good Iva is. Terry and Ivanovic are our best CB pairing.

It's true that it was Ancelotti did not fully trust Sturridge. In the fog of hate directed at Torres, it has been forgotten that the main reason he was bought was because our strikers were not scoring enough goals back in early 2010/2011 season. When we were going through our 'bad moment' to quote Carlo, our strikers were not scoring and the goals had dried up. RA and the club thought Torres would be the answer, it hasn't turned out that way but in reality Chelsea have had striker problems for two years now. Hopefully we get Falcao in the summer and all our striker problems end

What makes you say that? Anyway, I support Chelsea FC, if any players wants to leave, no problem they can go and the club will get another good player to replace them. We are not Arsenal who sell their best players and replace them with dross. TBH this thread is a small club mentality thread.

I agree with the poster above who says Chelsea have been VERY GOOD to Frank. Giving him a 5 year contract at £150,000 per week when he was 30 years old. I really hope his leaving the club does not turn bitter because it's in no-one's interests. Chelsea are good to our former players and those associated with the club, especially when compared to say Arsenal. I think that's where Martin Lipton is totally wrong and shows his bias in his piece. It's simply untrue to say 'history is dead' under RA. The club have done good things in terms of honouring Legends and employing fmr players and giving them roles with Chelsea FC. Lots of players from the past are always welcomed at the club and treated properly. Compare how Drogba left us to say how Cesc Fabregas left Arsenal. Drogba made his announcement and filmed a message for the fans at Stamford Bridge. The club issued a glowing statement about him, he was given free reign of Stamford Bridge and allowed to invite the media to do last interviews and announce his departure there. Arsenal basically bundled Fabrgas off to Spain, with a terse statement on their website announcing his sale to Barca and Fabregas posted a once sentence tweet saying he was happy to have played for Arsenal FC. In my mind it's Chelsea that acts with class, more so than supposed classy other clubs. Anyways, if we get Guardiola in the summer, do people really want a repeat of the AVB situation? If Frank disagrees with Guardiola's methods or is benched when we inevitably experience a dip in form and the media goes crazy, stiring up sh1t again, what happens then? Because if we do get Pep, it's a case of things HAVE to work because who else would be left after him? What other top managers are there? There is no doubt Frank and Cole hated AVB, probably for good reason, I didn't think he was up to the Chelsea job, but the way they were playing poorly and briefing the media is actually very selfish. Can anyone blame RA for being angry, the hiring and sacking of AVB cost him something like £18m. In all honesty Guardiola is the last throw of the dice, all conditions have to be in place to make it easier for him to be successful with us because it is surely inconceivable that he would be sacked ala AVB, Di Matteo?

I know but new fans will be attracted by Mata or Luiz, Hazard and hopefully Falcao in the future!!

You can't only support a club because of one player. I support Chelsea FC, no matter who plays for us. Players will come and go that is the nature of the game, but the club and fans will always be here. You can love a certain player, like for me Zola was amazing, but the club must always come first and it's like I've said the owner will sometimes have to make decisions in defiance of the fans. It's happened before and it will happen again. I wish Jose hadn't been sacked and also that Carlo had been allowed to build his own side of players, but it was no to be.

Ha ha. Great post. It confirms what I've written above about football's unique ability to whip up a frenzy because fans passion and emotions are so invested in the club. The discontent about Benitez is making fans hysterical and now every little thing is being blown out of all proportion.

I hope Mata stays forever, a great player who could become a true Legend for us. I do wonder what our Spainish players must think though, when they hear Chelsea fans chanting "Fat SPANISH waiter"?

I love Frank Lampard as a Chelsea player and no doubt he will be forever a Legend. Change at football clubs is very hard because it's a game of emotion, passion and strong tribal loyalty. At Chelsea, under Abramovich this last decade, has been tumultuous and the only constant has been that core of players Cech, Terry, Cole, Lampard, Drogba. Where United and Arsenal fans have their managers as the ever present at their clubs, our small cadre of players have been ours. When managers have come and gone and the club has gone through endless, media labelled crises, we as fans have counted on these players to come good and weather the storms. Now father time has caught up and it's right that the club moves forward. We have invested in some fantastic young players like Oscar, Hazard, Mata, Moses et al, and now is the time they need to be able to grow and play together as a team, to forge the same spirit and winning ways as those who played under Mourinho did. Sometimes having that 'legend' player in the team can be counter productive. For example Henry has said in an interview, he knew he had to leave Arsenal because he kept demanding the ball and his frustrations were not helping the young team Wenger was trying to build. There is no doubt Lampard and Cole were the main cause of AVB downfall and I wonder what kind of example they set the other players, when they forced out a manager. Even Luiz at the time, in an interview said he was unhappy about it. Lampard and Cole were absolutely briefing the media about what was happening, which to mind is so wrong. If Frank stays on anotheer contract and say, Guardiola comes in the summer time, it will be endless focus in the media about, "what does Frank think", "why has Frank been dropped", "is Frank happy" et al. Even now Benitez is asked these questions, despite the media knowing full well he has no imput into these matters. A manager such as Guardiola will not want such a scenario, so maybe the club is clearing the decks so that another AVB situation does not happen? Abramovich has made Frank a very rich man, with big lucrative contracts over the years, but in the era of FFP, a club like ours must make ruthless decisions because it is simply not possible to pay £150,000 PER WEEK for a 35 year old, who will be a squad player, Legend or not. Owners and Boards of clubs have got to make these calls, sometimes in defiance of the fans for the good of the club. Abramovich has brought success and fantastic memories and turned our club into one of the top clubs in European football, known all over the world. I think he deserves our respect and trust. I hope Frank goes with dignity and resists the temptation to turn the fans against the club because that would be bad for Chelsea long term. Chelsea under Abramovich treat former players and associates of the club very well unlike say Arsenal, who ostracise and freeze out people like Bergkamp, Adams, Viera etc.

LOL at West Ham fans. What a bunch of tw@ts, saying that in front of a young player. DISGRACEFUL. It's a good job Frank is a strong confident footballer because that kind of thing would really kill some young players confidence. "Without any shadow of a doubt, there will be no comparison with what Frank Lampard will achieve in football and what Scotty Canham will achieve in football." Redknapp was bang on.