Rupert

You don't know the facts. Mourinho didn't go to Inter and got the boys playing, he went to Inter after Mancini had buiit a fine team and he demanded another 97 million pounds to buy players who were at or just beyond their peak. He then played them to death (65 games, some of them) in order to win the League knowing that he had already done a deal to go to Real Madrid. He left the Inter team knackered -15 first team players with long term fatigue related injuries and financially broke - (Rafa was allowed one purchase of 7 million). Not satisfied with that Mourinho then kept meeting the players from Inter, even when he was with Real Madrid encouraging them not to work with Rafa. He does this or something like it at every club. As for Porto - do you remember him flinging his CL medal into the crowd and walking off the pitch instead of celebrating? He had finished with them. Some delusional Chelsea supporters think - well good on him to treat clubs and teams like that because he really loves Chelsea. He is a whore - he doesn't love anybody except himself and money. He was whoring himself to Manchester United when he was at Chelsea. And although it might hurt your pride he did apply for the LFC job but was rejected. LFC selected Rafa instead because they felt he was the type of manager who would build a club and not use it. He is despised in Madrid and Spain and he will get the sack just as soon as they figure out the cheapest way of doing it (probably in June). Abramovich won't touch him and neither will Manchester United.

The" Special One" is hanging on by the skin of his teeth at Reañ Madrid - jeered by 80% of the crowd, hated by many for the way he has stunk out the name of Real Madrid and what he has done to the clihg and losing badly to opponents. He has one one La Liga, Rafa won two when he was much younger with a much poorer team. Why would you want one and not the other?

Because if he is on form we get goals from him and from others. If the team is playing to support Torres he can pull the opponents defence out of position, tire them out thus creating more space and opportunities for Mata and the others. A team supporting Torres creates headaches for the opposition coach.

8-0, 5-1 in the same week and morons are still having a go at Rafa. He is too good for some of you. The rest of us can sit back and enjoy the expertise of this fine man. He won the La Liga twice with a team that had not won it in the previous 30 years. With or without the morons among us he will bring glory to Chelsea and do it in high style but with personal modesty.

There is a misconception in the UK media about Rafa - that he is defensive and dull. Jamie Redknapp greeted his appointment at Chelsea by saying he was amazed they would hire such a negative manager. Idiot! Raf's Valencia was amazing. It swept Real Madrid and Barcelona out of the way when he won the Liga and the King's Cup and the European Cup - and the reasons LFC turned down Mourinho and chose Rafa to be their manager was because of the exciting way Valencia demolished LFC and other teams in the Champions League. At LFC, Rafa's best teams broke all scoring records and points total for a season. At LFC he had very little cash and a lot of interference. Chelsea is witnessing what he can do with superior players and some cash. If Rafa had a longer contract at Chelsea he would also produce a stream of young players like he has done everywhere else he has been. He was in charge of youth at Real Madrid when he was a young coach.

"The trainer (mourinho) was at the center of attention ahead of this weekend's 2-0 derby win over Atletico, entering the pitch 40 minutes before kickoff to let the fans jeer him, and the 61-year-old feels the former Chelsea manager is only thinking about himself. "The only winner of that action was Mourinho. But the president knew what to expect when he brought him to Madrid. He has already shown at his previous clubs that he thinks about himself first," he told La Xarxa.

As Rafa said may moons ago when he was congratulating the Chelsea team, it was Abromavich who built it, not Mourinho.

Not knowing any fat, Spanish waiters - most of them are slim - and not knowing the "certain" Spanish waiter you are referring to -. it does seem that spitting out the word "Spanish" with such venom as though it were an insult is Xenophobic and " Little Engerland", isn't it? It reflects the narrow world-view of those who only know Spain from a 3-5 days break drinking Watney's Brown Ale and eating fish and chips out of their hands in the Costa del Sol. Using your argument, I guess we have to say that you and your type are jealous of Rafa for all his achievements and stung by the effectiveness of his mind games against Mourino when Rafa was at LFC. You don't hear the LFC supporters whinging about Mourinho's insults three or four years later.

Yes - it is kinda of funny isn't it. The Special One criticised by players and fans alike for his boring tactics. You do know he has been booed a lot this year by RM supporters?

You cite Spanish Xenophobia - is that a bit like calling someone " a fat Spanish waiter". ??

You must be talking about Rafa. He's the only manager to stand up to and effectively cause the removal of owners and directors who were destroying his club. He is also the only manager to stand up to Ferguson and his Mafia in the Premierle League and Media. . Mourinho kisses asses to get a job, and keeps kissing until he is well into the job when he picks a fight with the owner and runs away with a big pay-off. Name me one director or owner Mourinho has "got rid of". . I've already mentioned his limitations: 1. Failure to manage within a normal budget 2. Failure to manage average talents 3. Failure to find and develop´and play young talent 4. Restricted range of tactics - relying mainly on heavy defence. 5. Emphasis on self - "the my team" complex which frankly sounds a bit ridiculous from a guy who has never played professorial football.. 6. Waspish tongue which takes a club into the gutter and causes adverse reactions - and, in general petty,jealous disposition which affects the players and damages the image of the club. 7. His emotional manner of "bonding" with players and his abrupt dismissal of any who don't want to "bond" with him. His trophies are to be expected considering he only takes on jobs where the owners have recently spent a hundred million or more and prepared to spend more for him and where previous managers, like Ranieri at Chelsea, have developed a fine team for him to takeover. The idea of such a person building a dynasty is laughable. Disliked in Spain" - Probably because he is Portuguese and the Spanish are renown for their Xenophobic nature, he took the league title off the self proclaimed 'not just a football club' and 'best team in the world', and doesn't let the Spanish nationals rule the club the way previous occupants of the role have done.

Rafa has been offered the Real Madrid three times in the past to my knowledge and that was before they turned to Mourinho. He has been very clear. Unlike Mourinho, his first priority is to build clubs - and his second is to work in England because of the style of the Premier League suits his footballing ideas. He also has settled his family in England and does not want to disturb life for his daughters and wife who have strong friendships and other community relations. As an old boy of Real Madrid, Rafa has excellent connections there and he knows the politics. He has often said he prefers the English tradition of appointing strong managers. He believes he is better going to Madrid after he has exhausted his British ambitions. Mourinho's constant cattish remarks about Rafa demonstrate that Rafa continues to get under his skin - especially in Spain where Rafa is regarded as a master of strategy and tactics and Mourinho is not.

Of course he says he wants to settle down and create a dynasty - he knows that what his future employer wants to hear. He also knows that salary caps and budget restrictions are coming. But saying it and doing it are quite different. He is deeply disliked in Spain where he is considered to have brought an ugly kind of behavior to Real Madrid and the La Liga, He is disliked by most British football fans even though some nouveau riche owners might be attracted to his record. He won't get the Manchester United job - because they understand his limitations. He says there is one job he won't take in the UK but won't mention it - it is assumed to be LFC who rejected his application when he left Porto in favour of Rafa. His best bet is any team with new rich owners who are influenced by media - but even those types of clubs are now hiring experienced Directors who are increasingly critical of his overall effect on a club. Also he is getting old and his so-called "charm" is beginning to wear thin.

On another thread you say it makes you mad when a poster criticizes the booers because the "away supporters" booers "have earned the right". Wrong! The booers are not only the "away" supporters. Rafa was booed at home. And even if the supporters were traveling it does not earn them the right to anything, least of all to calling a decent man and internationally respected coach "fat", "cunt" and "waiter".. It is the sort of thing one might expect from those who hate the club. By your twisted logic the booers have earned the right to turn on anyone at the club wherever their hate leads. You can twist and turn as much as you like but you and the other haters do not represent the Chelsea I know. Meanwhile, Rafa has brought winning ways back to Chelsea, a tighter defence, a faster attack and a backbone. Long may he continue!

I don't check profiles I check what is written and how it is written. If something sounds like it was written by a kid I treat the writer as a kid.

Actually he is physically smaller than the average manager, but his head is bigger. He appeals to the less intelligent fan who also likes soap operas. His method is to politic for a job at a very rich club which has just bought and will buy again practically a whole team of exceptional players. He then convinces the players he is one of them (although he never played professionally but most players are pretty thick) and he encourages them to oppose the ownership. He then wins a trophy or two, picks a fight with the owners as an excuse to get a big pay-off and then buggers off to the next rich club leaving his former club drained. He never develops or introduces young talent. It's not about the club, it's about him, not the club's future, his future. When he was at Chelsea he was already politicking for the Man Utd job and still is.

To my critics - I was watching and supporting Chelsea before you were born. The booers are not representative of the Chelsea I know. I started to post because I was ashamed of the booers. But now I realize they are not representative. The club is lucky to have Benitez and I will continue to follow his career wherever he goes although I think there is a high chance he will stay at Chelsea for a year or two if we are lucky.

Rafa comes in takes a team that was leaking goals and two days later holds the PL champions to a 0-0 draw: Two days later does the same in a local derby. Loses the next game when the team dominates WH and then reverts to the defensive form it became accustomed to under RDM. Then a CL game where, true to his form Rafa wins again - 6-1. (He is one of the most winning managers in the CL). Then off to Japan where, with a few days training, the team wins 3-1 and then loses 1-0 in a final with the Copa Americana winners who had been preparing for two weeks. It should have been another win for Rafa but the team reverted to RDM style defending and Torres missed a sitter Aside from Rafa playing himself in central defence and at centre forward nothing he could do about it. Return to England, pouring rain, two days preparation against Leeds - wins 5-1 despite another RDM-era defensive mistake. And through all this very impressive start he is booed by a handful of Chelsea fans - before the first match and all through the others - some of them wishing the team would lose so they could prove their point. It is so stupid it is almost not worth mentioning. It's not going to affect Rafa but it might affect the club.

Robbie did well considering his inexperience. Beating Barcelona was good. Rafa however beat Manchester United 4-1, Barcelona and Madrid all in the space of two weeks and with a much weaker squad than Robbie had at his disposal.

If those who boo Rafa think they can destabilize him, think again. It won't affect him. He has a great family, a clear conscience, decades of experience, knowledge and achievement and a fierce determination to win for whichever team he is managing. He also has enormous respect in the footballing world. The video coaching application he recently launched is being used by managers throughout the world. He is not only highly intelligent and witty in Spanish he is also a very good man who gave 96,000 pounds the day left LFC for the Hillsborough 96 and he has contributed to dozens of other charities. The booing won't affect the owner either - he will be most affected by the results. if Rafa brings home the bacon he can expect an offer of an extended contract. (He already has an 18 months contract at Chelsea and either he or Chelsea can terminate it after the end of the season. Rafa might be the one to dotti because he will have other offers. He was offered Real Madrid before it was offered to Mourinho and most people in Spain think Rafa will get the RM job when he wants it. He started as a player and a coach at Real Madrid). The booing doesn't affect the likes of me because I will take an interest and support whatever club Rafa coaches in the future as I have since he was at Tenerife, through Valencia, LFC and Inter Milan. He makes football exciting. He has probably attracted a lot of new and intelligent football lovers to Chelsea - at least while he is still here.

Ferguson has been motivated all his life in England by his desire "to knock Liverpool of their perch".. He has still not done it because LFC have 5 CLs to ManUtd 3. When Benitez became manager of LFC Ferguson saw him as a threat to achieving his goal. At first he tried to recruit him to the "Ferguson Mafia" consisting of all the manager who paid allegiance to the Godfather. He had done this successfully with Houllier - who preceded Benitez at LFC and he did it with Mourinho. Rafa was pleasant to him but refused to be submissive. When Rafa won the CL in his first season Ferguson wrote him a letter telling him what he had done right and wrong in the campaign. Rafa never replied and talked about it a couple of years later with a grin. Ferguson defended Rafa when the new American owners arrived. But, as Rafa has said many times, Ferguson began to get bitter when Rafa started to challenge, coming second behind Man Utd in the Premeir Leazgue after beating them 4-0 and Barcelona and Reañ Madrid with the same score in the space of a coupe of weeks. When Rafa made his "rant" about how Ferguson gets special treatment and tries to run the league - he did it with a grin but was serious. Ferguson said Rafa was mentally unbalanced but he has never forgiven him. Rafa really gets under his skin because he won't submit to the Godfather the way Mourinho and others have done. (Mourinho wants the Man Utd job). Ferguson has kept it up constantly referring to Rafa as "out of work" when he knows Rafa has been offered international jobs, three jobs in the UK and some club jobs in Spain and Italy. Ferguson also constantly comments on LFC players even to the point of saying Suarez should be sacked from the club. When Rafa got the Chelsea job Ferguson was furious that he had a job and also that Rafa could make Chelsea a threat in the League and the FA Cup. Don't worry - Rafa is used to it. He is fully focused on winning.

Why don't you just stick to the FACTS and stop feeding on prejudice?. ("Prejudice" means pre-judgement - judging before the facts. I joined this site because as a Chelsea supporter I was embarrassed by the behaviour of the booers towards one of the game's leading managers who also happens to be Chelsea' manager. We are lucky to have him).

There is a certain hypocrisy on the part of those who boo Rafa for defending his team, Liverpool, when it was being constantly attacked in the press by Mourinho and Ferguson the two most active members of the anti-LFC tag team. The same people were delighted that Ferguson and Mourinho used "mind games" to good effect. But they don't like it when Rafa used them back successfully. Mourinho, for example, used to boast about silencing the KOP. In one game he ran towards the KOP with his finger on his lips after Chelsea scored. The guy in a post above who "quoted" Rafa as saying that he and Mourinho were friends until Rafa started winning got that (and several other quotes) wrong. Rafa said that about Ferguson, Mourinho boasted that he had been offered the LFC job before Rafa. LFC subsequently denied it and said Rafa was always their first choice. The fact is that Mourinho always wanted the Man Utd job (even when he was at Chelsea) and played politics with Ferguson against Rafa in the hope of sucking up to Man Utd. Mourinho still wants the Man Utd job. Rafa is the only manager who has stood up to Ferguson. People said his "rant" about "facts" cost LFC. The fact is that LFC won more games after the "rant" than before. Rafa does not have a six month contract with Chelsea. He has an 18 month contract despite the fact that he has agreed to a review at the end of six months.

You'll never find it because he never said it. But you will find hundreds if not thousands of times people said he said it - all of them wrong.

1. Rafa never said he would not manage Chelsea - that is just one of the many lies about him told by the southern Media and believed by opposition fans. He said he would never manage two teams out of respect for Liverpool fans and he said Liverpool fans knew which they were - i.e. Everton and Manchester Untied. In fact he has several times said he would manage Chelsea that it was one of his preferred options. 2. He never referred to plastic flags or" plastic" anything at Chelsea.. In response to Mourinho's constant taunts in the press he did say that LFC supporters did not need to be given flags. He never mentioned Chelsea although he probably meant it. 3. His transfer record is the best in the UK. His "net spend" over six years was about 12 million per year. When he began he was forced to buy his second and third choice because the LFC management were too slow to buy or could not afford to buy his 1st choice. In his last two years there was a negative net spend. He bought to trade and upgrade. He did this successfully. In addition to all the profits he made for the club when he sold on, there is also a lot of profit still left after he went e.g. Torres - 30 million profit - and this last year there were bids for Agger, Reina, Skyrtel, Johnson and others which would have greatly increased his "profit " for the club.. 4. He reformed the youth program brought in the two leading figures from the Barcelona youth set-up and in a short time has produced a stream of first team players from youngsters he brought to LFC - e.g. Sterling, Suso. 5. It is not true that he has no job offers for two years. He has had many and turned them down because he wanted to stay in the UK. In the UK he turned down three offers because he wanted a team capable of winning top honours. 6. It is not true that he was "sacked" at Inter. Technically he left by mutual arrangement. He engineered it. He won the World Up (Club) and immediately announced publicly that if the owner would not buy new players (which he had promised to do when Rafa took the job) then he should speak to Rafa's agent about releasing him from his contract. 7. It is not true that Inter fans wanted him to go. There were many demonstrations by Inter fans against the owner and in favour of Rafa and large flags/banners asking him to stay. .