I have never said the reasons he should have been sacked is he failed to win either the title or the Champions League.

If he had got us within a couple of points of the title that would have been acceptable but it was a massive 11 points. With the investment put into the club he had every opportunity to do better he did very well but other managers would have done better.

Getting to the Champions League final was a very achievable goal with the draw we had. So getting to the Champions League final would have been acceptable. If the mistakes he had made in the Semi's had been one off's then again there would have been a argument for giving him the benefit of the doubt but they was more symptoms of his shortcomings that we had seen a few times and their was little evidence to show he would have removed those shortcomings from his style.

You keep looking at people's points in a very simplistic fashion. You cannot keep boiling people's views to such black and white statements

RDM took us down to an unimaginable 6th place in the league. Yes, we won the CL for us and every fan will be eternally greatful for that. However, we did have an incredible amount of luck going our way to win that CL, though that was payback for all the bad luck we'd had over the years.
Sadly, the following season all the faults of the previous season were returning and we were going backwards again. I just did not think Robbie was up to the job.

We finished 3rd under Rafa, and moving up 3 places near the top of the table is good going for any manager. He also won us a trophy with our players in a fixture pile up. which made us the only English club to have won 3 different Euro trophies. I think that is something to be proud of!
After a dodgy start, he was using Lamps to perfection! Luiz was finally being used in the right spot and Mata, Hazard and Oscar were linking very well together, and that's after lots of people saying we could never play the three of them together.
It is my belief, with the players we had and were looking to recruit, Rafa was the right man for the job at that time. That time is now gone so i would not want him back again. God knows who we'll have next though.

It was no disgrace finishing 11 points behind that brilliant Arsenal team! We won our titles with ease, so us finishing 11 points behind was no big deal. Also,they were our bogey team at that time as well, and it only came to an end when we beat them in the CL.
We were moving up and up, and that is all i cared about and Ranieri was brilliant at finding top quality players at very decent prices, which is something Jose has never been any good at!

But why is what you care about important?

What has Arsenal being "our bogey team" got to do with anything? How does that make a different to how many points we finished behind them?

Which team finished first or how brilliant they are or not is not important, In any sporting field its your own performance that matters and there was many times throughout the season those performances did not match the level we should have been

Its fine making of a list of the things he was good at but when those points was not ones that he was being judged on.

His K.P.I's was being judged on winning football matches and a credible title challenge.

It is fine to have those abilities but they was totally irreverent to the job he was being asked to do

You seem to have very low standards of success. We spent a awful amount of money during the course of the season and rightly when you spend big you are held to higher objectives.

Ranieri spent a huge amount of money but was unable to take the team to the required level. His failure in the CL will forever be one of the most baffling team selections ever seen at Chelsea. He went with his head held high with fondness from the fans.

Jose came in and took the team and many players to another level. Other managers also reaped the benefit of that. The club went onto win every trophy possible.

The influence Jose brought to the club has been huge and I find it very sad that a long time Chelsea fan cannot even acknowledge this or enjoyed the trophies he helped us win.

Whats the point of supporting a team if you can't enjoy winning ??

The title was won the second he sat down for his first press conference.

Yes we might have won the title if we didn't change manager, we more then likely would have won it sooner or later BUT it was 100% certain the title was ours under Jose. Even during the Bolton game it was a cast iron certainty we was going to win it there and then

I shed some tears of joy when we won the title at Bolton! Is that not good enough for you?
Is it not possible to enjoy winning but overall not like Jose's way of playing the game?

I'll say it again, under him, there are just far, far too many games that are as dull as dishwater. Yes, all teams play poorly at times and even the best have to 'win ugly' at times if they are going to win title. Sadly, far too often, especially against the better teams, Jose deliberately sets his teams out to spoil and do no more than try and hang on for a bore draw or try and grab a goal then hang on for dear life.
Just a few examples - The mind rotting 0-0 at Old Trafford a few years years in what only was the second game of the season. Last season, parking the bus at home to a poor UTD team when the title was all but won.
His players play with fear and that is not what i want from a team with the resources we had/ have.

I would agree, that, for that season, he did not spend the money well.
It was almost like panic spending, because he felt he had to spend it to win something, rather than carry on with the kind of buys he was was making up until then, which were buys that were great for the team and great value as well.

And once again none of those things matter.

Tomorrow at Palace will be a real test, although you get the impression that Gus is sorting things out. He's including players more that were marginalised under Mourhino and that's good for morale.

At the back we need Zouma, not least for his pace. He makes the odd mistake, but his pace is a must, whether at rb or cb. I'm still for moving Ivanovic into a CB position if necessary. He did very well there under Rafa when asked to do a job.

Up front, it's been said many times that we need another world class striker, although there are attacking midfielders who should now be chipping in with goals.

Team?:

Courtois

Zouma Cahill Terry Azpi

Matic

Fabregas

Willian Pedro Hazard

Costa

Oscar was looking a bit ineffective last game, and Mikels' passing was poor at times. A big improvement defensively though.

It's early days for a new manager, but I'd like to see Kennedy and Traore get used more. Late on in a match they can make a big difference as long as they have been integrated well in training.

Long term Manager? As R'mond said, why not bring Rafa back? Guardiola first choice though.

Or he was ok when buying players within certain budgets but was unable to transfer those skills when given a much higher budget.

He had a certain set of skills that was fine when working at a club at a certain level with a certain set of objectives but when it came to the a club at a higher level with higher objectives and a higher budget those skills sadly for him was not needed

Well, they matter to me!
They matter to me because i'm a football fan first and foremost! If Chelsea FC ever ceased to exist i would still love the game of football. Sadly, i doubt you, and some others on here. would give a toss about the game anymore.

If it's all about winning, the i guess the likes of PSG fans are as happy as a Pig in shit at the moment watching there teams stroll to yet another title. A proper football fan would be starting to get mighty bored with it all by now and very concerned about the lack of competition. Same with Bayern and Celtic etc.

Gallas for 6 million was fantastic football business! As was Joe Cole,. Lamps, Cudacini, Robben and all the players he bought that took us into the CL. It showed we did not need mega millions to build a great team.! We certainly never needed to start throwing money around like it was going out of fashion and wasting 30 and even 50 million on washed - up players.
By the time he left, all we really needed was a top class striker to complete the team.

There is more chance you answering my questions than Rafa ever coming back.
It must never happen and thankfully won't.

I am a Chelsea fan

I think you are a football fan that follows Chelsea.

Nope I don't care about other teams.

I care about the connection I have with CHELSEA, The songs we sing,The relationships I have formed with many different people over the years.

The style etc might matter to you but in the real world and not the romantic "world of football" winning is all that matters.

So you would rather Chelsea lose 5-4 in a cracking game than win 1-0 in a dull one ?
If so then you are a football fan first and supporting Chelsea is secondary.
That's fair enough as clearly you are not a totally committed supporter.

You posted while I was writing. Totally agree.

Of course you don't need the big money but that was not the way the club was being run at the time. In any line of business or work you need to work within the framework of the company you are working for.

The club changed he did not. It happens in many lines of work, A business is taken over things change and there are certain members of staff who are unable to make the changes needed or unable to work within the new framework. He was the perfect example of that. It was sad and a shame but not unexpected when taking account of the levels Roman expectations of us and his style of management. The styles was very different.

So, you seem to think that just because i don't like Jose's way of playing football, that means that all i'm interested in is watching gung-ho style of football with no thought about defence and tactics etc.
Fyi, i appreciated the likes of Terry, A Cole, Gallas, Makalele and Cech, every bit as much loved watching the skills of our most skillful, attacking and creative players.

And by not giving him the time he deserved to finish the job he started, so started the merry- go- round of managers we've had ever since.

If Chelsea was playing on Eel Brook Common and had a bunch of part time players who could not pass a ball to save their life (hang on sometimes this season I have been watching those players) I would be there week in week out. Sky have done a great job with football but at times I think they have created very different fans to the sort of fan I recognise. It has become too much of a individual game both on the pitch and off. Fans are more bothered about one player instead of the team and spend too much time watch too much football and on their own on their sofa with laptop on watching the scores of the other games and phone in hand either tweeting or facebooking about the games

But he did have the time he needed to get closer to the title and the time needed to get to at least the final of the Champion's league all was obtainable.

He only deserved time if the former owner had stayed. Under the new owner he was working with a clean sheet and working under a new set of objectives.

Was finishing closer to 1st place then 11 points achievable? Yes

Was the Champions League final achievable? Yes

and all very achievable.

You what ? I said no such thing. Lay off those magic mushrooms, they don't mix with your usual skunk.

I can't see any signs of Guus "sorting things out". Mikel back in defensive midfield, and he was forced to play Hazard as some sort of false no 9. He should have taken off Oscar a lot earlier, so why not give RLC a chance ? Bringing him on with less than a minute to go was absurd.
At least you're now naming a side now, which is better than just rubbishing half our team like another poster here. I wouldn't play Fabregas though, it puts too much pressure on Matic.
That's the problem with any three you choose from Hazard, Willian, Pedro and Oscar (or even Kenedy and Traore)..playing Fabregas in the deeper role makes any combination look weak defensively.
We either have to buy, or hope RLC steps up to accept the challenge. The only other alternative is going back to Milkel or Ramires. That sometimes works, but it's far from the perfect solution for a team with our ambitions.

People go on about the money spent at Chelsea, but both Manchester clubs and probably Liverpool have spent more in the last several years. If anything not enough has been spent recently.

Agree about PSG, very boring, and where is FFP now? It was nice to see Leicester hold City recently, and Leicester's team cost less to assemble than David Silva. £23 million compared to the £300 million spent on City's team (not the whole squad).

Mourhino often inherited teams that just needed the finishing touch, and then claimed all the glory. How about building a team from scratch?

So what would you prefer. A 5-4 defeat in a cracking game or a dull 1-0 win ?