A lot of you seem to have decided already Rafa is only till the end of the season. I have a few questions about that. 1. What does Rafa have to achieve to convince fans he can stay? 2. What would he have to achieve to convince RA he can do the job for longer? 3. Are those expectations in line, fans and RA. Obviously answering 1 and 2 will give us 3 Who do you lot want to take over for those of you insisting this is a season long only tenure for Rafa? Guardiola The team he left behind is dominating more since he went. He has for me not been around enough to walk into another league with a different game and hit the ground running. I doubt ye have 2\3 years of patience, in fact we know RA doesn't Jose Not an option for me. RA will not share control and Jose likes to pick his own players, RA derailed Chelsea when Jose was in charge and did it further sacking Wilkins. The above are opinions, not stated as fackt
the question is who else is there? and how many would be capable of hitting the ground running?? if rafa keeps the results coming in and gets us into the cl next season i think he should be kept on for sure, it does not matter what fans think of him its about chelsea winning games.
All I can say is I don't like the way Chelsea are playing at the moment, all this backing off and not getting in there. Its not just about winning games its about enjoying them as well for me. Also if Rafa stays so do bloody useless Torres
If Rafa has to go, I would imagine it would only to be to bring in Pep. Jose is a lovely thought, but will RA really get over himself? Nope, doubtful. I think I would rather keep Rafa, as I really think Pep is a disaster waiting to happen. I may be wrong, but I doubt that.
1. Rafa has to get the team playing consistently better than before, and really push for winning the PL. 2. Nothing will convince Nero the Roman Emperor to allow any manager the time to do the job properly. He is an instant gratification merchant who sees that his money brings success as quickly as building wisely. He is fixated on "brands" hence his lusting after Pep, who like Varier, I think is a disaster waiting to happen. 3. Some fans will settle for Rafa, most won't. RA couldn't care less.
BM2, Roy is like me, getting a bit long in the tooth to cut it with our new young team. By the way, a question if I might?? Who is REALLY making the decisions regarding the buying and selling of players?? Normally the Manager would have a big influence, but not in our case obviously. They have done a pretty fine job the last 12 months, just got the shape a bit wrong, but my mate Luiz has helped us out in midfield.
Pep I agree with you both. He is a long term project, and an unproven one at that. There's a lot to be said for managing a sh!t team and getting the most out of them for a few years before managing quality. You just learn more as a result. Still all just speculation and probability guided opinion I guess. The league is there for any of 4 teams right now. It involves you City and Spurs not gifting United wins in the next head2heads in the 2nd half of the season. I am looking for ward to Rafa's Chelsea v United, the mancs hate Rafa as he put the sh!ts up them when it looked like we were heading for 19 till we fooked it all up. and I will be looking for a Chelsea win that day Lets hope Webb or Clattenberg ain't reffing that one. Last two home games those reffed you got 2 sent off and 3 penos against? So much for the homer ref theory. If Rafa puts together some good football AND results and challenges for the prem and wins the EL I think he has a good chance of staying, and if Torres ends up with 30 goals. Nando although not turned around totally has improved somewhat. Chelsea have improved. Add Alonso for a season from Madrid why not? Good form apart, Rafa would serve himself well hammering United Arsenal and Spurs in the 2nd half, that may soften some of you up
Not here to wum. The biggest problem you will have in getting in Pepe Guardiola is that you have a mad dog Russian as an owner, who has sacked some of the best managers in the business. Someone like Benitez has absolutely nothing to lose, and the chances are that there was no other top club willing to take him on. The Chelsea job was made for Benitez (RA not quite sure about RDM, Benitez having a special relationship/understanding with Torres, RA needing to make good on his outlay on Torres, etc), so it was hardly surprising that he jumped at the chance to take over, even in the continuing face of fans' opposition to the appointment. Does Guardiola need the money? I doubt it. Is Chelsea the only big club that would pay top money to gain his services? Almost definitely not. Is there any compelling reason why he would want to go to Chelsea as opposed to any other big club? I don't think so. Therefore, why would he take the risk? My general feeling is that no successful manager who is currently in charge of a big club would voluntarily pick CFC as the club to manage. You may be forced to look at the crop of managers who are looking to move up to the next level, such as Steve Clarke or Chris Hughton.
RA's spy in the camp is Michael Emmanelo, and who is a big steer in buying decisions. He used to show his face a bit in the early days of CTV, but you dont see him on there these days! I think he's been the snake in the grass in a fair few of our managerial sackings, and anyone on the Chelsea payroll cross him at their peril! He is still on the payroll (but I didn't see him on the CL coach parade!)
I've said from the start that the "short term contract" thing was just so the fans didn't go completely mental, I think Rafa will get the job long term. Well as long term as that job can be.
