The Insane Reaction To Jose's Sacking Has To Stop!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

The sacking (again) of the most successful manager in the history of Chelsea FC was always going to be an emotional affair, but the reaction to it among the Chelsea fan-base has been nothing short of mass hysteria. A hysteria that has manifested itself during our much needed win against Sunderland with the targeting of specific Chelsea players with nonconstructive boos from the crowd as well as down right disgraceful signs calling them rats and snakes.

Jose was always going to get the sack after the last four months. Any sane evaluation of the situation would conclude that, for some time now, it has been a question of when Jose will be fired, and not if; with the most optimistic predictions giving him until the end of the season. What did those who were shocked by the sacking expect? Chelsea Football Club, the current champion of England is involved in a relegation battle in the middle of December!

Whether or not Jose was the main culprit of this fiasco of a season is completely irrelevant. As the man in charge of the team he was always going to be the one to suffer the consequences. That is the actual definition of a position of power and responsibility. Whatever you believe was the main cause of this disaster, the board's decision to sack the Portuguese was not unreasonable.

Another irrational symptom of the sacking seems to be the abuse aimed at Michael Emenalo by people who admittedly have no idea what his actual role at the club is. It seems the Nigerian has become the John Obi Mikel of board directors, destined to be scapegoated for every unfortunate event regardless of his role in it.

But by far the most irrational response to the sacking has been the singling out of certain players, namely Fabregas, Costa and Hazard, as the guilty parties in the sacking of Jose Mourinho. The accusations are not based on performances, as it excludes some of the worst performers this season such as Matic who Jose famously singled out as "unable to make a pass", vice captain not-so-marvelous Ivanovic, and Oscar who was actually cheered when subbed off on Saturday.

Instead, the accusations are based on journalistic reports from "inside information" about a role of 'player power' in Jose getting fired. The inside information is so obviously reliable that the same papers are now contradicting their own claims and saying that Fabregas was actually Jose's biggest ally in the team (again based on inside information!). Again the uncritical acceptance by a majority of Chelsea fans of these baseless accusations by some journalists can only be explained by the irrationality resulting from the hysteria, not least because those players are very unlikely to hold any significant power inside the squad.

But even assuming, for the sake of arguing, that these stories are indeed true (besides the obvious conclusion that Jose was either completely oblivious to his own squad or a complete idiot for continuing to field players who want him fired), three players staging a 'revolt' may excuse sitting just outside the top four, but it cannot justify the champion of England being in a relegation battle zone on Christmas. So that alone cannot relieve the manager of responsibility nor make the sacking unfair or unjustified.

I am in no way saying that those three players, or any other player, bar maybe Willian, are innocent from this 'crime' that is this season. Everyone at the club shares responsibility, from the players, to the manager to the board. But ultimately, Jose is gone, so the booing is not actually supporting anyone. On the contrary the singling out of players is completely counter productive and will only destroy their confidence and create a more tension in the team. Calling them snakes and rats is downright disgraceful for a fan base that has always prided itself on backing any player who puts on a blue shirt, even Torres! Ultimately, those upset by the team playing well after Jose was sacked are no better than those who were upset when we beat Porto because they wanted the Portuguese gone.

Finally, I fully understand the level of emotions surrounding the Chelsea faithfuls, after all we are all going through them together, but I think that at this critical time we, as fans, need to play our part in getting the team back on track, because we are in no way out of the ditch that we've put our selves in. We really ought to create the best possible atmosphere for the boys and the new manager to try to salvage whatever possible from this wretched season.

I urge you to keep calm in the knowledge that Chelsea Football Club will survive this and continue to strive because at the end of the day, no one person is bigger than the club, not even Jose Mourinho.

[zolayes 14,489]

well said ..

[Ossie the King 634]

Along with

forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/20810-no-longer-special-an-outsiders-perspective/#entry1189644

Theres A nice couple of outsiders' perspective pieces. Don't agree with everything but interesting ideas.

[robsblubot 3,205]

Fair enough on the position concerning that he may have deserved the sack and that it may have been needed.

However, I find any consideration about whether the players were against him extremely naive to be honest. We are not basing our idea that players wanted him gone on tabloid stories, but in the abundant evidence on the pitch as well as from Jose himself.

Don't actually remember a manager saying that he had been "betrayed by his players." When I heard that I thought he was pretty much gone and if he still had some support from some of the players, that was sure lost after that remark.

Once again, players don't have to go to the press, complain to a friend, or leak information. All they have to do is not give 100% in training and/or matches.

I believe in continuity in football, and changing managers as often as we do makes no fucking sense to me. Now the tampon manager comes and who can he sign? Would it be his signing or the luminary Emenalo's? Then we buy a physical player who is not the style say Guardiola (or whoever the next manager may be) wants.

Can't see any silverware coming our way any time soon.

[Changingman_2000 876]

There has been links over the last few months with regards to Costa, Fabregas and Hazard all copping the hump and throwing their toys out of the pram. IF they have contributed to Mourinho's downfall then why shouldn't they cop some flak? Fucking sick of players getting away scot free on the premise that they can just sit back, look blameless and let the manager get the shovel. As Alex Neil said, players have far too much power now.

Allegedly Costa had left the premises by 17:05 yesterday. If his toys are still out the pram then he will be gone in January, Good riddance. Hazard and Fabregas will have the ready made excuse at the end of the season of "Oh you know we would love to stay, but we don't have Champs League Football"

With regards to the Director of Football, whats he done before to earn such a prestigious job at a club like Chelsea? No fucker seems to have heard of him before.

And, I'm sorry, but all this pony about "look how well we played against Sunderland", erm, excuse me, it was Sunderland? Lets see how well they perform against Watford next week.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

well said ..

Thanks.

Fair enough on the position concerning that he may have deserved the sack and that it may have been needed.

However, I find any consideration about whether the players were against him extremely naive to be honest. We are not basing our idea that players wanted him gone on tabloid stories, but in the abundant evidence on the pitch as well as from Jose himself.

Don't actually remember a manager saying that he had been "betrayed by his players." When I heard that I thought he was pretty much gone and if he still had some support from some of the players, that was sure lost after that remark.

Once again, players don't have to go to the press, complain to a friend, or leak information. All they have to do is not give 100% in training and/or matches.

I believe in continuity in football, and changing managers as often as we do makes no fucking sense to me. Now the tampon manager comes and who can he sign? Would it be his signing or the luminary Emenalo's? Then we buy a physical player who is not the style say Guardiola (or whoever the next manager may be) wants.

Can't see any silverware coming our way any time soon.

My point was more about singling out of those three players based on reports and not on whether he had lost the team. I don't think there's anything wrong with booing the entire team if you think they've let the manager down. That would probably motivate them more as a squad. But picking on two-three players based on reports that have already been disputed by the papers that published them is irrational to me.

Btw, the quote about being betrayed was, as is the case with like 90% of Jose quotes, taken well out of context. The original sentence iirc was something like "We identified in training four movements that Leicester make and the two goals came from one of them: Vardy making a diagonal run when Maherez is on the ball. So I feel that my work is-I don't know if this the right word-betrayed." You can find the original interview on YouTube if you like.

There has been links over the last few months with regards to Costa, Fabregas and Hazard all copping the hump and throwing their toys out of the pram. IF they have contributed to Mourinho's downfall then why shouldn't they cop some flak? Fucking sick of players getting away scot free on the premise that they can just sit back, look blameless and let the manager get the shovel. As Alex Neil said, players have far too much power now.

Allegedly Costa had left the premises by 17:05 yesterday. If his toys are still out the pram then he will be gone in January, Good riddance. Hazard and Fabregas will have the ready made excuse at the end of the season of "Oh you know we would love to stay, but we don't have Champs League Football"

With regards to the Director of Football, whats he done before to earn such a prestigious job at a club like Chelsea? No fucker seems to have heard of him before.

And, I'm sorry, but all this pony about "look how well we played against Sunderland", erm, excuse me, it was Sunderland? Lets see how well they perform against Watford next week.

Links like this? Come on mate, it's the media selling papers/clicks: https://www.google.com.lb/search?q=Chelsea+news%3A+Jose+Mourinho+and+Cesc+Fabregas+were+allies+not+enemies&oq=Chelsea+news%3A+Jose+Mourinho+and+Cesc+Fabregas+were+allies+not+enemies&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

Let me put it this way: I think that Emenalo's post is about as deserved as the criticism he is getting for the sacking of Jose.

I agree about the performance against Sunderland, though. Thought we showed a bit more determination in the first half but the second half was a typical performance from this season. The two early goals and the fact that Sunderland's defense was schoolboy level made the performance look A LOT better than it actually was. As I said in the OP, we are in NO WAY out of the ditch that we've dug ourselves into.

[Stingray 9,441]

Well put Charmoutah. Glad rationality is still among us fans.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Well put Charmoutah. Glad rationality is still among us fans.

Was actually hoping you'd weigh in about how psychologically that irrationality and hysteria come to be when it concerns something as emotional as that

[Stingray 9,441]

Was actually hoping you'd weigh in about how psychologically that irrationality and hysteria come to be when it concerns something as emotional as that

Well, mass hysteria is a strange thing, but it is oh so easy to fabricate. Group compliance is one of the easiest things to fabricate tbh.

Check Solomon Asch, the authority on the subject :

Also: this stuff has been replicaties time and time again.

Also: you have a nobel prize winner that claims an identical point: Elias Canetti with his book : Masse und Macht. I do not know the english titel tough.

Conclusion: in emotional situations groups are a very, very scary thing ......

[robsblubot 3,205]

My point was more about singling out of those three players based on reports and not on whether he had lost the team. I don't think there's anything wrong with booing the entire team if you think they've let the manager down. That would probably motivate them more as a squad. But picking on two-three players based on reports that have already been disputed by the papers that published them is irrational to me.

Btw, the quote about being betrayed was, as is the case with like 90% of Jose quotes, taken well out of context. The original sentence iirc was something like "We identified in training four movements that Leicester make and the two goals came from one of them: Vardy making a diagonal run when Maherez is on the ball. So I feel that my work is-I don't know if this the right word-betrayed." You can find the original interview on YouTube if you like.

Agree on singling out players which is very difficult and prone to err. For ex, I am convinced that Oscar was another strong dissident as were many other squad players. The entire squad was not giving 100% for a number of reasons and Jose IMO was one of them. Which is a bit ironic since he built this small squad which makes losing players all the more damaging (no hungry replacements).

Concerning the actual quote, disagree there because I feel it's irrelevant. Not doing what is instructed by the manager is exactly how players get managers sacked. I am not paying too much attention to the word used, but what it meant.

I honestly thought the players looked happy, freer in the last match, which is far from surprising.

make no mistakes though, this establishes a precedent which empowers players. It's a very difficult balance to strike and I feel the club has been historically favoring the players every time.

BTW, I don't think Fabregas was a 'rat' - never thought much of him though.

[Strike 6,958]

Agree. Manager is supposed to unify squads and handle players

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Well, mass hysteria is a strange thing, but it is oh so easy to fabricate. Group compliance is one of the easiest things to fabricate tbh.

Check Solomon Asch, the authority on the subject :

Also: this stuff has been replicaties time and time again.

Also: you have a nobel prize winner that claims an identical point: Elias Canetti with his book : Masse und Macht. I do not know the english titel tough.

Conclusion: in emotional situations groups are a very, very scary thing ......

I wanna get high witchu and talk about shit like this.

[DavidEU 2,023]

I know STHs who spend every last penny they have on this club. I think they have the right to react whatever way they wish.

[Henrique 9,133]

Good words, but those people barely understand what football is. Jose will soon belong to past and they will find someone else to worship. These people are easy manipulated.

[Fulham Broadway 16,385]

Some of the responses on the internet have been hysterical to say the least. At the game it was one woman with a home made rats sign. Theres no evidence that any player criticism had any detrimental effect on the performance whatsoever, however cringeworthy the response.

Fans pay all that admission, the players wages, and can do what they like,

We need more fan dissent in this money driven industry, not blind cheerleading of whatever decision(s) are deemed right by an inner circle of a billionaires lackeys, regardless of what team it is.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Agree on singling out players which is very difficult and prone to err. For ex, I am convinced that Oscar was another strong dissident as were many other squad players. The entire squad was not giving 100% for a number of reasons and Jose IMO was one of them. Which is a bit ironic since he built this small squad which makes losing players all the more damaging (no hungry replacements).

Concerning the actual quote, disagree there because I feel it's irrelevant. Not doing what is instructed by the manager is exactly how players get managers sacked. I am not paying too much attention to the word used, but what it meant.

I honestly thought the players looked happy, freer in the last match, which is far from surprising.

make no mistakes though, this establishes a precedent which empowers players. It's a very difficult balance to strike and I feel the club has been historically favoring the players every time.

BTW, I don't think Fabregas was a 'rat' - never thought much of him though.

Agree with all of that, really. Might add to the point about player power that that is necessarily the case in modern football especially at top clubs where short term success is always a must, so I think it's less of setting a precedent and more the players realizing that they have always had that power.

I know STHs who spend every last penny they have on this club. I think they have the right to react whatever way they wish.

Of course they do. I'm not saying ban booing! Just pointing out that in this case it is rather irrational. The first direct consequence of anyone's right to express his opinion is the right of others to criticize that opinion. Criticizing the opinion they are expressing is not taking their right to express it.

[Fulham Broadway 16,385]

Very reactionary response to an understandable expression of passion that will pass as quickly as it surfaced -just like the Arab Spring

Its a football stadium, not a Nuremburg rally

[Ossie the King 634]

I know STHs who spend every last penny they have on this club. I think they have the right to react whatever way they wish.

Exactly. I find the calls for rationality hilarious. NOTHING is rational about supporting a football club, especially this one sometimes. It's a labour of love.

Not many of us sat down with charts and graphs and worked out which team would be the best to support from a success point of view. Most of us didn't have that choice because we weren't likely to have much. So to criticise those supporters, to deride their actions or the way in which they express their love and frustration for this club.....what on Earth are we attracting nowadays?