Chelsea Will Always be the Pride of London

Anyone suggesting that we shouldn't express our disappointment simply because the boss "saved" us is wrong and must answer these basic facts. Do you know Chelsea still had ambition even before Roman? I am for one, among the few people who will not keep quiet simply coz the boss has said, No way!!! Firing RDM is debatable,(some agree and some dont) but bringing Rafa to the Bridge is something else. I will support Chelsea and Rafa, but not because I agree with Roman. On this, I dont. I will support Rafa because I still love Chelsea and he is in charge and more importantly, other than express my dissatisfaction, there's pretty much nothing I can do.

Prior to 2003, Chelsea still had fans. We still had our ambitions. We still had our pride. There are those who still walked down the Fulham road every match day even when it was clear there wouldn't be any trophy at the end of the season. Those were the true fans and they are still there. No matter what, fans are stake holders. Some have season tickets, some buy the merchandise and some support the club in more than one way. Chelsea being the "pride of London" is not a phrase that came into existence after Roman, it was there even before he came calling. It was there even when Arsenal were literally ruling London. To us the fans, Chelsea will and has always been the "pride of London" and it didnt matter if we went 50years without Epl title. We were still the pride of London.

When fans turn against you, then it will matter less if you are the owner. It has happened before with Mike Ashley at Newcastle. Eventually, he had to listen to the fans since they too are stakeholders. And you know what, the result is Newcastle is now enjoying some stability, with a coach who has an eight year contract. They may not win any trophy, but in a way they will meet some of their season objectives.

You give an example of Portsmouth,I could give you Rangers, Leeds and most recently Real Oviedo in Spain, and many other Clubs who have faced the same fate. One thing is for sure, true fans have always remained with the Club, regardless of where the club is. And fact is, even mid table Clubs (Newcastle, Everton and Stoke) also have their ambitions, and more often they do meet their ambitions. You dont support a Club because it wins trophies (Arsenal are agree). Supporting a Club is an emotional feeling that trophies alone cant be the reason. Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bolton and Blackburn though relegated at the end of last season still have fans to this day.

You make unpopular decisions, you probably will get away with the first one. Make a second and a third and you will be forced to sell the the club. To me, Abramovic's first unpopular decision was firing Mourihno, the second one is not firing RDM, but rather it is bringing Rafa, a man who is on the record to have insulted the same Chelsea fans he expects to win over their trust.

Ensure you read those banners on Sunday, then you will know, that Frank Oloo is not alone and obviously not ready to be told "he will never walk alone!" He knows that already!!!

Sincerely,

Frank Oloo

DI MATTEO SACKING!

I for one disagreed with Roberto Di Matteo on a number of occasions in his squad selection and his tactics. I have written before that for a manager to succeed you must get rid of the “Avb syndrome”.
For those who don’t know the Avb syndrome , it usually occurs when a manager sticks to a formation whether the team is losing, away from home, scoring and or even when you are playing with one man less. In my opinion, this was RDM’s main undoing.
Further, in some cases rather than change formation he opted to change personalities instead. So that Chelsea would play the same formation, but have different players. Those are the moments you would see Betrand and Ashley Cole in the same match and most recently, Ivanovic and Cesar.
Whereas the performance has not been the best in recent times, we need to look at the records since 2004 season. November and December have not always been our best times in a season. The facts are there and the records are there for all to see. I am obviously getting over his sacking, but we cannot ignore the facts. What if, just what if Sturridge had tucked those two golden opportunities at Westbrom? The score would have been 3-2. What if, Hazard and Mata had scored at Juventus in the first half? What if Cluttenburg hadn’t sent off Ivanovic and Torres while playing against United? What if Hazard had converted those glorious opportunities in Donesk? What if Torres was a better finisher or some would say, what if the team didn’t miss Terry’s leadership as a result of the ban?
Chelsea is owned by Roman Abramovic. He can always do what he pleases. Hire whoever he feels like and fire them at whenever time he feels. It has been observed that ruthless as he is, Chelsea has been the most successful club in England, having collected ten major trophies since Roman arrived. He means well for the club, that’s for sure. He has invested heavily in it and obviously, he expects results. However, as fans we are also stakeholders too. We may not contribute as much, but in as much as it’s our duty to support whoever Roman hires; it’s also our duty to show our disappointment at the way things are run.
Successful clubs usually have plans. Some would break it down to two years or five years. Napoli had a 10year plan through its owner, Aurelio De Laurentiis. And now,8 years on Napoli has risen to the fourth most supported team in Italy and almost guaranteed European Competition. Some may ask what Chelsea’s plan was after winning the Champions League. Barcelona has dominated European football, the result of a plan invented and implemented by Yohan Cruff in 1992. Twenty years later they have been reaping the rewards of that plan. I also need to state here categorically, that there was a time in the early 2000’s that Barcelona were being dominated by Real Madrid and Valencia. The president was patient enough. They stuck to the plan and it paid off.
Chelsea fans who have supported the team prior to Abramovic’s arrival will attest to one thing. The club was just another mid table team, qualifying for Europe was our greatest a achievement. We won a couple of FA cups. This club was still ambitious. We won together, we lost together. We achieved some of our targets then and also failed miserably at others. But even then, to us Chelsea was still the pride of London.

We are now just another Arsenal

I have wondered and so are many others. How come Arsenal has not won any trophy 8years in arrow? My feeling is, it has largely been due to the lack of stability. Arsenal has been doing the complete opposite of what we are witnessing at Chelsea. The stability of the team depends on players and management. Whereas we have been changing managers, Arsenal has been changing players. It takes time for these players to adjust and the moment they do, they become stars and thereafter sold to other clubs and the search for new players continues. When these new players come in, it obviously takes time for them to understand each other and as such, your team becomes less competitive.
At Chelsea, a manager comes in, learns the players, creates a system and wins a trophy or two and the moment he fails, the search for another manager continues.
I long to see the day a manager will be given his time to work out his plan, build his team and at the same time win trophies. This a tough job, that even Pep Guardiola will not find easy. If he is given the job, what will be the objective? Will it be to win trophies or build a team that would eventually win trophies? You can never build a team and win trophies at the same time! It’s our time our boss became a little patient, just like we were even when we were not winning trophies!
So, if it is Benitez or John Terry or Pep Guardiola, we need patience from the boss!