Anything that keeps us out the Europa League is fine with me.

We have a chance of getting top 4 next season but only if we are not wasting our time in the Europa League. If we are in that I can see us being about where we are now or maybe lower. There is no way we can be playing on Thursday in some random country and playing Sunday's and Monday's etc, It would cost us too much in the league.

I didn't say it bothered me not being the EL, but I want those players giving everything until the end of the season. But that's been the problem this season, they haven't.

Conte has a job on his hands.

Think I accepted that was never going to happen pretty much halfway though the season. Not really expected a win from any game lately. If we get a draw from a ball off someone's backside then I would be happy.

Conte has almost mission impossible on his hands BUT on the same hand I think he is probably Out of the possible candidates someone who might just be able to take that on

Top four target even Jose could only get 3rd when he came back.

And Hazard must be sold asap let the rebuild get going..

Well, we've always disagreed on that one. I think the Europa League has a higher prestige value around the world than many in the UK seem to think.
Whether we could cope is a different matter. I think that depends largely on our activity in the summer transfer window. if its another sticking plaster effort, then you're probably right. But if we're going to town on a rebuild of the squad, some extra games might not be a bad thing. Conte will need to try out different combinations to find the right balance, and what better way than against some very average opposition in the EL ?
But as it stands, I don't think we'll have to worry about it anyway. I can't see us qualifying.

If we was in any other league and we was in any other time in the history of the premier league then I would go for the Europa League like I expect us to go for any trophy but with the current strength of the league and more and more teams becoming a force I not sure we can risk it even if we was as good as we have ever been. The traveling and the timing of the games just don't suit teams in this country. If the games was played on Tuesday's and Wednesday's i could see a reason but in its current set up and with our league as it stands no matter how respected the competition i think it will always cost any team in this league more then it is worth

I'm all for a '2nd tier' European trophy. We took 30, 000 to the final, so clearly our fans were up for it.
As you said, there are problems with the EL is the length of the competition, the night it's played on the stupid idea of putting CL losers into it.

The one big thing going for us is that the other so-called big teams aren't all that great themselves. If the likes of Utd, Arsenal and others were as good as they once were. then Conte, would indeed have an almost impossible task on his hands.
If Leicester can go from bottom to the brink of the title, then we can get back from mid-table mediocrity to the top four again.

I was one of them (awful awful stadium one of the worst I ever been in).

Our fans will turn up for a game against anyone and for any reason they have always on the whole been the same.

But yep all for there being another European trophy run in the right way it would be a very worthwhile venture but there are just to many teams of not a good enough level and pitches not in a good enough condition on the wrong day and wrong locations for the Europa League to be considered a good enough 2nd tier European trophy

It's more then possible but we cannot afford to make even the smallest of mistakes.

Pre-season has to be spot on (last pre-season IMO could be considered maybe the biggest mistake of Romans time at Chelsea) and everything from today on has to be.

I am confident we will do it but I think we have all been confident about something Chelsea related but ended up wrong

They are never going to drasticly reduce the number of teams in the CL, so the 2nd tier comp will always have too many small clubs in it.

The advantage we had when we won it, and its a big one, is that we dropped from the CL.
From that point there is only the one extra round to play.
I really don't think it will do us any good starting so early and then playing catch up on a Sunday most weeks.
I would prefer a one season of no European football and just have the early League Cup round.

Blimey, you're more pessimistic than Dixon !
I don't think it's a mission impossible. I'm taking the first half of this season as some kind of aberration. I've never seen almost an entire team go backwards so quickly in my life !
We still have a lot of talent, the first thing is to find out who wants to commit their future to the club.
So many names, so many rumours. Costa, Hazard, Oscar, Matic, Courtois....those alone "should" raise close to £200m if they want to leave. Then there's all the really dead wood to sort out. I can't believe all those players will want to leave, or that Conte will want to get rid of them. My point is that there is still a lot of real quality in the squad if they want to commit their future to us.

Don't get me wrong, I looked into getting odd for us to win the league and lecester to go down a few weeks ago.

We have all the tools needed but I still not sure we have the ability to use them as good as other teams might be able to use the ones they have.

If players are going then they should be identified by now same as bringing players in we should have a short list handed to Conte to see what he wants.

From March onwards we should have been doing work for next season.

The trouble I have is the extreme different ways we seem to be able to go. Not sure any of the "top" teams have the ability to be as good as us or as poor as us.

If all our players could get back to the level we know (from previous seasons) they're capable of, we probably wouldn't need more than two or three quality additions..with the accent on "quality". That's forgetting those where age is catching up with them of course.
As Dixon says, our main rivals haven't been that inspiring this season either. On paper, Man City are stronger and can only be better next season. My money would be on them for the title, but it would have been for the past couple of seasons as well.
Arsenal aren't too far short of having a very good side, but Wenger is such a stubborn barsteward he'll likely continue to get it wrong. Despite their league position, I don't think Man Utd are in much better shape than we are. In fact, I'd sooner have our squad right now.
Spurs have had a good season, but have they got the funds to take them to a another level ? Liverpool the same, they'll improve but can they compete with the best financially ?

I am not so worried about who stays and who goes. I more concern has Conte had any say in pre-season. I not so bothered if we are having a clear out or keeping with what we have, my question is more do we as a club know? If keeping with what we have have we identified a shot list of quality additions, if we selling big names then have we identified replacements.

If we have not done any of that work already then we are at a massive disadvantage, yes the other big teams have issues but even with those issues they are ahead of us and then you need to think about clubs like West Ham. Most of the other top teams issues ate understandable, Utd was always going to struggle when SAF went and no matter who they got in as manager it was always going to take time to sort out, While I think it is time for Wenger to go I can understand why he and to same extent the board are struggling to make that decision. City are probably our nearest rivals for shooting themselves in the foot but while I think it will take time for Pepe to truely make his mark, Work started awhile ago in that he had "his" people work at City for quite a while.

We will always be able to attract top players but without the right preparation it's pointless having them. I honestly think that was just as big as a reason we are where we are this season then players not playing anywhere near their level. Do we have even the most roughest of game plans for day one of next season?

Conte will have only one season for "Team building"! this is Chelsea, no top 4, no Conte.!

According to the Express, we are willing to sell him for £32 million.
Also, our price tag on Courtois will have to be "drasticly reduced" if we want to let him go to RM.

And then win the title in season 2.

Of course we're not willing to sell him for £32m. Laughable story.

Don't really have a problem with that.

You take a job at one of the bigger clubs, you will have massive objectives just like in any other business and if you fail then you get the sack.

The days of managers getting time are long gone. The business has changed.

We can romanticise football all we want but for clubs like City,Utd,Chelsea they are a business and when you have such a senior job then you will be expected to at times work with difficult expectations

Who says every top club has to follow the RM way of running a club just because it's 2016?

It's stupud for any club to expect a manager to go to a club that's in a bit of a decline and turn things around in a year.
To 'stop the rot' and start finding the right players and style of play etc, should be the first season's goal. Second season to see significant progress and then to seriously challenge for the title in the third season.
Though there are exceptions like Man City, where anything less than a serious title challenge is not good enough!

Is it really?
He's gone into a bigger decline (going back to the last month of last season, not just this one) than the Torres we got from Liverpool.

Nobody is saying that BUT the reality of the situation is we are and so are other big clubs

If you was running the club that would be fine but you are not. Lets deal in reality and not what we think should happen or want to happen.

If we had appointed a different type of manager then we might have been going for a long term solution but we have not.

Its fine coming up with these wild and wonderful ideas but they are only any good if they have any basis in reality.

The model we are following is instant results. That's the reality of it. We can either live in reality or waste time in discussing what is happening on Earth Two.

Usual knee jerk of cfc fans on social media blaming JM for selling KDB.

It wasn't his choice, JM wanted him to stay but KDB did not want to fight for his place. If he couldn't be guaranted a starting position, he wanted to leave.