The only place to be

I will readily admit that Terry is the only product we've produced but I wasn't going to include him because he was pre-Abramovich. I agree with what you're saying here. You make some good points about Emenalo, yet you also suggested we go after Nevin for that role. To use your own reasoning, what other club would he get a job at? The one that he was a Chief Exec of before they went into administration? Should we be approaching him now before Fergie gets his hands on him? My view on Emenalo is that since he's been in his position, our transfer policy has radically changed and for the better in my opinion although driven by Roman's desire to put Guardiola in place in the Summer. He doesn't have the experience that some might want but in my opinion it's way too early to come to a conclusion on the job he's done, but I do think he's being scapegoated for the mistakes made by his predecessors. He's not made the same ones so by those low standards, he's something of an improvement. Great post btw. I think we both agree on the problems in the club, but I think we just see different root causes for them. I'm also fairly optimistic that they aren't still being made (except for the head coach position) and that we're doing things the right way now.

Of course he made mistakes, but he's capable of learning from them isn't he? When he took over, both he and Roman were learning what it was like to be in charge of a big club. Now they have the opportunity to come back a little older, a little wiser and build something at a club they both love. The possibilities of that are exciting, but of course there are risks. My problem is with people dismissing it without applying the same logic to their own choices for manager.

Answering in order.... There have been a few products that have gone on to be part of first teams squads in this country, but the youth program under Roman has only been going for 10 years. Isn't now about the time you'd expect us to be churning out the type of products we are? Don't you think that this group of youngsters holds infinitely more promise than any that have come before? Of those clubs you mentioned, only Man City have a DoF I believe. You can't compare us to Arsenal or United because they have long-term managers who take on those roles. I think that actually might change in the future because Fergie will retire and Arsenal won't make the same mistake of giving a manager so much power. That's why they can't sack him despite a lot of fans wanting that. The two Liverpool clubs don't have one although Liverpool tried and failed with Comoli. On to the club's signings which Emenalo has only been part of for the last few years. We haven't signed a replacement for Makelele because they haven't got round to making one yet. The closest we got was Fellani although Romeu could well be that guy. Essien's replacement is Ramires. We signed Azpilicueta to play right-back and he's done a fucking good job in his first season. Up front we have Lukaku out on loan, Ba bought in for £7.5 million and Islam Feruz in the youth team. The Torres deal fucked us big style but Roman and Ancelotti seem to get a free pass on that one. How can a manager dictate how the whole club plays when modern football doesn't seem to allow for managers to stick around for a long-time? We take children on at this club and they could conceivably spend a DECADE playing in age-group teams. Do we change the style they play every time we get a new coach? Like it or not a DoF provides stability for the whole club when the first-team coach doesn't perform. My opinion is that it's very easy to blame the guys in between the owner and the manager for a few reasons. Firstly, fans don't want to upset Roman because he's done so much for the club and there's always that scary 'what if?' thought in the back of their minds. They want to give coaches (present company accepted) as much support as they can because they do want stability. But most importantly, I think the majority of fans don't have a fucking clue what most of these people do. That's fair enough, it's boring and it's not well-publicised and they're not high-profile people so it's easy to see them as nothing but names on a door. I know a fair few people who work in these roles and they spend most of their time telling people no. They're not popular people and they're easy to target when things go wrong. No supporters like 'the board' at any club and if they do then it's just a respite before the next salvo of 'sack the board' chants. With regards Emenalo in particular, he came into his position when the club was doing the wrong things. We were giving old players big money and ignoring the youth. Now we are playing catch-up to rectify the mistakes that were made 5-7 years ago in both the personnel side and the financial side. I liken it to doing repairs on a Formula One car in the middle of a race.You're still trying to win whilst patching up the chassis and it's damn-near impossible. Despite that we have bought in some great players on decent wages and fees and also secured some thoroughly worthwhile loans for our most promising prospects. The problem with integrating them into the first-team is the same as it's always been which is why we need stability in that position. But too often the good work done by 'the board' is ignored as people look for a quick fix or simply someone to blame.

So say he comes in next year - where does he go three years down the line? Don't you also think it's possible that he might actually have changed after his experience in Madrid? He is human and capable of growth. I'm not saying it's a certainty and that he would work out here, but what are the other options on the table right now?

Then that will be Guardiola's loss. He'll go to Munich, win three titles, get to at least one final of the Champions League and then leave. The next coach will come in, do something similar and then the next one will come in and do something similar again. He's just going to be a cog in the machine and that's fair enough. What's possible at Chelsea in the next decade is incredible. Rather than simply being the next custodian of a footballing giant, someone could come in and create one. You say he 'doesn't quite fit the criteria for what has been assembled' at the same time as suggesting David Moyes for manager. Now I respect his achievements but having watched his Everton sides over the last ten years I don't know if I could say he fits the criteria any better. In fact Mourinho has set up his Madrid team in a way that we could quite easily play with maybe one or two additions. Ignoring the tactics he uses just look at the personnel he employs. I went over it earlier but our players and Madrid's are interchangeable in a number of areas. I'd hope he would stay longer than that if he came back. The man has won everything there is to win in Italy, he won La Liga in Madrid and he won everything in Portugal. I can't see him managing in Germany because he'd be chasing Munich (and he doesn't really fit Munich's style) and whilst Paris is a great city it's a fucking shit league. That may be harsh but it's like a boy band being big in, well France. Great you're amazingly popular......in France. I'd love for him to come back and settle down for a decade.As I said above he took us to a new level and there is a chance to take us to an even bigger one in the next 10 years. Plus there's something to be said for getting every fan in the ground back onside and supporting the team.

He was linked with the club before he moved to Athletico (Arsenal too), but we got Mata instead. :blue scalf: :blue scalf: Good player having a good couple of seasons but think we have zero chance of being in for him.

I had trouble getting a phone signal when I was about to read one of your posts. That was a nice surprise.

We've had a lot of injuries this season too - sack Eva. Plus some of my tickets got lost in the mail - sack one of the women in the ticket office. I stubbed my toe on one of the steps in the West Stand - find the architect and sack him.

Mata is arguably the player of the season. Cole is still one of the best left-backs in the world. Hazard and Oscar have massive potential. Azpi has been a revelation at right-back. We have two of the top fifteen goalkeepers in the world, plus a ton of young talent. Yes it's a challenge but the opportunity to build something amazing here would tempt any top coach. Some of the pessimistic shit really needs a dose of perspective. There aren't a massive number of 'top names' around to be honest. Mourinho, Klopp and Guardiola are probably the three biggest names around right now and one turned us down, one won't leave and the other is still one of the best coaches in world football in my opinion. You call it a marriage of convenience, I look at it as possibility being a nice slice of serendipity. This club still has Mourinho's feel to it and the fans love him, so why not go for it?

Martinez is a fair shout, although he's never had to deal with the pressures of a big club. Moyes is a good manager but I'm not entirely sure what type of football we'd be playing next year if he came in.

That sounds like Andre Vill.....oh wait. There are reasons to say he's the wrong guy but there are so many positives, besides the fact that he just feels right. He feels like Chelsea. He's got that Kings Road swagger that Benitez really doesn't. Maybe we could look at Gus or Blanc or whoever, but they're all gambles.

If Mourinho does come back he'll understand that the way we do things has changed. In his last stint here there really weren't any players who stood out like the ones you've mentioned have. Who else would you suggest?

Bollocks.

I've long said that we weren't being run properly in the early days of Roman's time, but I've seen certain signs that we are trying to build something that can maintain success. Unfortunately the Torres deal and the inability to find a long-term manager has impeded any meaningful steps forward. I disagree with the idea that we've wasted resources on the young players that we've loaned out. There are a few there who have the potential to be first-team members for years to come which wasn't the case a few years back. You're right it doesn't take into the trends of both men, but I think you're overlooking an important thing - they're humans. They have the ability to learn and change their ways, especially when faced with adversity and disappointment. Jose is an older man now. He's won in Portugal, he's won in Spain, he's won in Italy....men change when faced with no more lands to conquer. Their priorities change. Roman finally seems to know what he wants, and if Jose thinks he can do that then we may finally have some stability at the club.

You forgot to mention the Champions League win as well, but one league title in that time isn't good. My opinion is that we didn't do things properly to ensure long-term success 10 years ago, but that we're making the right moves now. The number of players we've got out on loan is part of that because we need youngsters who can contribute to the first-team and this is how they get experience. I'm not entirely sure what a football person is, but the board have many, many advisors who are 'football men'. The Torres deal looks horrendous in hindsight but at the time, it wasn't in most people's opinions. If you want to use that to bash them over the head then you should probably give them credit for the signings of Mata, Azpi, Courtois, Lukaku etc. I'm not saying Jose's the best of a bad bunch either. He's probably the best of a decent bunch. Who would be better in your opinion? When you say 'let Jose bring in his own people to deal with scouting', do you mean we should get rid of the entire scouting network? Has it not done a good job in bringing in young talent? Is two Youth Cups in three years not evidence that we have good youth but struggle to implement them into the first team? Have our signings in the last 18 months not suggested we have a pretty good network? As for letting the academy manager manage, what if he wants to play a different style to the first-team coach? Do we just let him manage or do we need someone who actually makes sure that everyone at the club is working towards the same ideas, and shouldn't that person be a long-term appointment and probably not a coach who struggles to stay at clubs for longer than 3 years? What's your opinion of Emenalo based on? Sorry if it sounds harsh but people seem to keep bringing up 'the board' and those in between the coach and the owner, but I wonder how much of it actually has any basis in reality.

There are lots of people who offer advice on transfers but I'm not sure what the benefit of hiring someone like Pat Nevin to replace Emenalo is.

I don't know if we've underachieved when you take into account what we've won compared to where we were previously. I think some of the big ticket items have been dismal (Torres, Shevchenko etc.) but you have to remember he's been learning on the job and has tried to change his ways slightly. As for the criticism of the board, what do you expect chairmen to be? What's wrong with a lawyer or God forbid a businessman being on the board? That's what boards tend to be. Laporta was a lawyer and Rossell a businessman - just imagine how good Barca could be if they hired a guy who could do 100 keepy-uppies. Yes there are warning signs around Jose, but that's the same with any coach. Of the managers who will be available I'm not sure if there's a better choice.

Is that what you think Emenalo does?

We're not exactly the same, but that's football. Ozil doesn't contribute as many goals as Mata for example. I don't think Varane's price is that much of a factor. We spent more than that on Lukaku and he's out on loan after being wasted for a year. I think he's simply a good player that Mourinho hasn't let age be an encumbrance. I actually agreed with your last point up until a a few weeks ago. I simply don't know who else is out there (realistically, so not Klopp in my opinion) that would be as good a fit for us. I've used the 'never go back' argument against him and it certainly has merit, but there's always an exception to these things. Couples do get back together and are stronger for their time apart. But this is all dependant on Roman and Jose truly learning from their humbling experiences. Neither one is stupid so it's possible.

I think we're one player away from being a very similar team to Real Madrid - Modric. Defence - almost a carbon copy. Midfield - Khedira is their Mikel (but better imo) and we're missing the DLP like Alonso or Modric. Could be Oscar. Ronaldo - Hazard (hopefully) Ozil - Mata Benzema/Higuain - Ba/Lukaku/A.N.Other I think it's encouraging that he's been comfortable using Varane considering the amount of young players we have.

I know Emenalo gets lumped in with 'the board' but I'm not entirely sure he should be sacked. If you accept that we need a DoF then he's not a bad choice, especially from the point of view of a manager. He's not really ever going to pose a threat to their job like a Hiddink might, although Grant showed that anything can happen. We need a long-term presence to guide the club and Jose doesn't tend to stay at clubs for longer than 3 years which means long-term planning is tough. I was in the same boat, but I think Roman and Jose could both be in new positions - they're both humbled men. If they can learn from that (and I suspect Roman is far more capable of that then Jose) then they could build something great together. At the moment they're both on the mat for the first time in a decade. I'm a romantic so I will always look for a good story to be told.

Couldn't you say that every sacking Roman has made is him admitting he got the hiring wrong? I was against the idea of Jose coming back but it might be perfect considering where both he and Chelsea are at the moment. Unless he fancies a go in Paris I don't see many other leagues that would be attractive to him and the only other job possibly open in Summer is Man City. Don't quite know what that would mean for Emenalo though.

We bought Yossi when he was 30 for about £5 million and on a contract reportedly worth roughly £75,000 p/w. I honestly think he sums up everything wrong with Chelsea's transfer policy in the last 5 years.

Firstly, I couldn't give a flying fuck if Falcao doesn't join us. Great player, but we've spent big in the past and been disappointed. We already have Lukaku showing he can do it in the Premier League, as well as Ba and possibly Feruz. But I get your point. The financial loss would be mitigated by the increased TV revenue for the Premier League and I'm not sure how damaging one year out of the CL limelight would be. I also think that any manager we hire would be given more time simply because the bar would be slightly lower. The more I think about the possibility of this happening, the more cathartic I think it might be for everyone at the club. Sometimes you really need to clear the decks and re-assess exactly what it is you're doing.

Just wanted to say thanks for the nomination and the kind words, but every month I've been here Muzchap has been one of the best posters and hasn't won as he should have.