Public relations are at an all time low with the recent disasters, not just changing the coach, but the JT mess, Ashley's tweet, the flatten burg mess etc

The ground decision, move or stay is like a soap opera

The squad is out of balance, with only 2 strikers - how has that happened?...ridiculous

Lamps and ash contract renewal discussion what a mess, everyone in football says give em 2 years, except our management

We have squad rotation happening too fast, where is the strategy, why did we let Anelka and Alex go

We have impotent chief exec and chairman who are no better than puppets of the owner, and a comms director who spends all day trying to polish a turd

Mean time the fans get criticised for not welcoming a coach who has previously criticised our club, players and fans and who does not wear a club suit and tie - last night he was wearing an orange tie!

What next".....oh yes we continue to be laughing stock, and our players don't deliver

Honestly you couldn't make it up

Sorry clattenburg...typo

Public relations are at an all time low with the recent disasters, not just changing the coach, but the JT mess, Ashley's tweet, the flatten burg mess etc

The ground decision, move or stay is like a soap opera

The squad is out of balance, with only 2 strikers - how has that happened?...ridiculous

Lamps and ash contract renewal discussion what a mess, everyone in football says give em 2 years, except our management

We have squad rotation happening too fast, where is the strategy, why did we let Anelka and Alex go

We have impotent chief exec and chairman who are no better than puppets of the owner, and a comms director who spends all day trying to polish a turd

Mean time the fans get criticised for not welcoming a coach who has previously criticised our club, players and fans and who does not wear a club suit and tie - last night he was wearing an orange tie!

What next".....oh yes we continue to be laughing stock, and our players don't deliver

Honestly you couldn't make it up

I couldn't agree more. I've never felt so deflated and that's coming from someone who had to suffer relegations, Blanchflower, Hurst, Porterfield, et al. We should be on the crest of a wave right now but three months into the season we're the rotten egg of English football. When you look back on things over the last few years, the fuss over Ovrebo, the non-goal at Anfield, the Rikjaard/Ref thing in Barcelona, Airguns, Terry, we've often felt the world was against us but I'm slowly coming around to thinking maybe we deserve it as the attitude of the club to everyone outside it stinks. I can live with an us against them thing but it's happening all to often.

Edited November 29, 201213 yr by Peckham Blue

Not necessarily. If it were a publicly traded company, the management would be responsible to the shareholders. If they were sufficiently satisfied with the financial state of the company and the revenue being generated, irrespective of the views of the public, there'd be no reason to make changes at the top. Public relations only become important when the bottom line is negatively impacted as a result. Regarding the rest of your points:

The ground decision - it's a bit of a mess, yes, but it's not the club's fault alone. Staying in Stamford Bridge simply isn't tenable long-term, we need to move. Some fans can't accept this, the CPO is an obstacle, the scarcity of suitable locations is an obstacle, these are all factors that the board has limited, if any, control over.

The squad being out of balance - true, Torres is not any good and Sturridge can't stay healthy, but even if Sturridge were fit I can't imagine he'd get many games given how nailed on Torres is. That's a bigger problem than depth in my opinion. Some people will suggest that we should have kept Lukaku. Personally, I think that's bollocks. He had a lot of work to do and West Brom is a much better environment for him to do that than we would be. Loaning him was the right decision, then and now.

Lamps and Ash contract renewal - there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that I'd give Lamps a two year extension. You're thinking with your heart and not your head. I'm not even sure a one year extension would be justified. He's a club legend and it's a shame that he probably won't break the goal record now, but that doesn't mean we just hand him 2 years at his wages when he's obviously not the player he once was. Ash is a bit of a different story. Keeping him for two years could certainly be justified and we may very well regret not doing so.

Squad rotation - my issue is not that rotation is happening, but rather the arse-backwards way we're going about it. Mata is our best player by far. If he's fit and not terribly fatigued, he should be out there. I understand Robbie's rationale for resting him against West Brom, even though I'd have done things differently. On the other hand, FSW resting him against Fulham was utterly nonsensical. We went from overusing him last year (out of necessity, I might add) to treating him like a precious little flower this year. Whilst our added squad depth ensures we don't need to run him ragged, we're going too far to the opposite extreme. There was no reason he couldn't have started against Fulham. Furthermore, based on form, if anybody should be benched, it's surely Hazard. Marin created more danger yesterday than I've seen from Hazard in a month or more. The fact that FSW went with our backup fullback up front instead of Moses or Marin just further illustrates that he is an imbecile.

Anelka and Alex - Anelka was one of my favorite players before he came to Chelsea and it hurt to see him go, but I'm tempted to say that it was time for him to move on. However, the fact that Torres is nailed on as our striker gives me pause. At this point, Anelka is a better player than Torres, so even if letting him go would ordinarily have been justified, it seems silly to insinuate that it was based on him not being good enough given that Torres clearly isn't. Alex, on the other hand, was completely justified. He was utter rubbish for us towards the end of his time here. The only regret I have regarding him is that we weren't able to get a work permit sorted earlier. We'd have gotten a few more productive years out of him.

Buck and Gourlay - hard to argue with what you've said about them.

Rafa's tie - honestly, this is such a rubbish complaint. I don't give a damn what color his tie was. Would wearing a blue tie make him less sh*t? No, it wouldn't. That's the issue.

I don't know what to think of the club right now...first time I've felt like this in years. My passion is still there but the board (Buck, Gourlay etc.) are just, to put it bluntly, ruining us. Benitez is our manager, the whole bloody club revolves around Torres and he still isn't scoring yet Abramovich is still trying to get the best out of him...The players look like they feel how I feel.

the board are *****!

I agree the board, and the running of our club has become a circus.

Edited November 30, 201213 yr by stevo

Hold on, hold on. FSW? Fat Spanish w**ker?

Edited November 30, 201213 yr by Teritus

Wouldn't go that far. The club is better by the day IMO. Only thing going sideways is the managerial situation.

We have no identity and it sure as h*ll wont form with these sackings. We had it before. We were tough and defended brilliantly. That was the identity. This transition period is to change it but it wont as we go back and forth. Attack with flow, defend in numbers, attack some more, no take it back lets defend again. Bringing Rafa in for this short period wont help it a bit. Oscar, Mata, Hazard, Moses and all the young players that came to a big club for the first time and they are wondering "so this is what big clubs do?".

Inside one season we change from being a mess to a small dog defending its master to a well oiled machine. And not in that particular order either. There is no Drogba to save us, Lampard to score 20 it seems.

To the business side. Every big club is a business first, football second. Barca can fool you with their foundations and magical games but it is a business. I'm not even going in there as it is a given. Protest against it or live with it but it is a fact. I don't blame the board as they have to live with Roman.

We need someone here as a manager who has luck. Experience and luck. Carlo did really well but CL ruined it for him.

Hold on, hold on. FSW? Fat Spanish w**ker?

Fat Spanish Waiter.

We might as well be called Fernando Torres F.C because that's what I feel like it is at the moment. You're earning £175k a week. Score some f**king goals. You don't have the "Lampard is too slow" excuse now as he isn't playing but yeah I agree with most of your points. As much as I love Lampard, unless he wants to take a 70k wage cut, then I would only offer him a year.

Benitez is a c**t. RG and BB are c**ts. Chelsea are full of c**ts. Let's get rid of the c**ts.

Alex and Anelka were sold because Anelka didnt want to sign a new contract and Alex asked to leave because he wasnt getting game time and to be honest last season he was terrible so it was rightly so he wasnt getting played.

It might not be a bad idea if someone fell on their sword.