Bottom line, Mourinho won things for us every year, you may not appreciate the FA Cup or Carling Cup but Mourinho had never won the former and it was his last trophy in England he had to win.

As for the January transfer window I am not naive, he was asking for defensive cover as I am sure you are aware, he was not wanting Ronaldinho to come over and play for us. He was worried about our defence not our midfield or attack.

He simply wanted some cover and unlike Grant this year, he did not get anything.

That had grave repercussions for the rest of the season.

Thanks for the stats Israeli.

Of course, I initiated (and not ignited) this topic this time. What’s wrong about discussing this? Discussions and arguments are what the blogs for, provided they stay decent enough!

this is the 4 big teams table in the last 13 EPL games ( thats AG’s games as Manager)
scoring points l d w
21 + 31 2 1 10 man u 1
17 + 30 1 3 9 chelsea 2
13 + 30 1 3 9 arsenal 3
11 + 27 2 4 7 liver 4

Let me say it once more and please try to understend my point
JM is still one of the best ever Chealse managers if not the best , but (and thats my point)
this fact does not mean that AG is not doing good job till now
He is doing great and with this long list of players that will start come back to the first team i think we need to be very wishfull and positiv.

Jose the special, AG is special for his wife, (i didnt say this, they said it themself.)lol

he won 2 league titles and also won fa cup and carling cup. such ingratitude after all this hardwork!

grant would deliver nothing and then you’d start supporting man utd or liverpool. if that’s the cost of getting rid of cheap fans, i’d take that.

We won the FA Cup and the Carling Cup.
Came close to getting into the semi final of the champions league.
Came second in the premier league.

No we did not win the league or gain the much more important cup trophies but we still earned silverware AFTER Roman shut his wallet in January this year and refused to spend any more.

I obviously have a lower threshold of excellence in that I am quite happy to embrace a coach who gives me the number of trophies and records Jose did in his time here – the fact he still failed in your eyes as a manager of quality or for the long term – well that’s your view and I will respect you but not in any way agree with it.

The reasons we were a threat during those first two years was because of the great team spirit that Mourinho engendered and phenomenal will to win. Ranieri built the bedrock of that side initially that Mourinho added to and yet they did not win the league with Ranieri and Roman gave him lots of money – why was that I wonder? He had quality players and lots of cash – in that case should Ranieri not have won things?

Could it possibly have been Mourinho inspiring the players with the force of his personality to raise themselves to higher levels of endeavour then ever before tbat made the vital difference? May be not for you but I like to think he did.

You can’t just get a group of high calibre players together, throw them on the pitch and expect to produce a winning team, yes they will win games and be there or thereabouts but you need to be a fighting UNIT a TEAM working for each other.

That’s what Mourinho gave to Chelsea along with his success and I’m surprised you think Mourinho’s character was not a huge factor in how we approached games back then.

I certainly agree that there were problems with the team after the second season in terms of player balance and our football was not as good in the third season – like you I am not blind to went on and things certainly needed sorting out but I still feel on balance there were far more plus points than minus ones. Every team has faults, none are perfect specimens and neither are their managers!

Now Mourinho has gone we look to Grant to inspire the players in the same way he did. I personally doubt he can do this having listened to the man but perhaps he is a different person behind the scenes with the players.

I am willing to give him a chance to show what he can do for us this season with the players we have plus any new ones he buys that he likes. I personally don’t want us to play like Barca, Arsenal or Real Madrid I enjoyed our football under Mourinho more often than not and never yearned for 5-4 scorelines week in week out. I can be just as much entertained by an excellent lower scoring game that is of high quality than the mess that was the Villa draw.

So I appreciate you responding back to me, despite others being none too happy with this thread turning into a JM v AG conversation yet again.

Happy New Year again to everyone and lets hope for a win tomorrow against Fulham to keep the pressure on Arsenal and MU.

I didn’t say that JM was a bad manager.That is your own interpretation.
What I am saying is that sucess alone isn’t sufficient .

I could argue your argument – given the calliber of players the owner bought for him,he had to be a loser not to win trophies.Or further ,I can argue that with these players any coach could have made it or even without a coach they could have won trophies.

This of course shows the ridicule in your measure of greatnest !

The proof for it is easily demonstrated – when the owner didn’t open the wallet the success was gone!

No ,my arguments are not for or against attractive football!
Where did you get that from?
I clearly stated that having a fast moving forwarders enabled Chelsea to
move the balance of play into the opponents side ,quick and lethal !
I don’t think that Chelsea played attractive football during the duff/Drogoba/Robben time.They were never in the class of Barca , Real or Arsenal .But they were very effective.The style of play was such that the opponents was constantly under threat – that what made them afraid of Chelsea -not the presence of JM or his charismathic personality.
And if AG play attractive and win nothing I will be the first one to tell you he had failed . I want teams to worry when they play Chelsea ,that is the first step towrds winning a game – and that can only be achieved with attacking
style,be it attractive or not !
(and for that matter I see Ballack gaining his position in the team together with JC and Essien – I don’t see Lampard in his current level able to carry Chelsea further – each one of us has his moments ,I hope I am wrong but Lampard seems to be over his best – an average player with some moments of briliancy- sorry guys).
As I said ,my message is not to undermine JM and his achievements – not at all.
I am proude of them as you are .Yet ,I was not blind to see the problems we are facing as from the end of the 2nd championship ,I could see it coming. If you can’t recognize that the players he brought in like Kalou,Mikel,Malouda Pizaro SWP Tal B H and some others are 2nd rated players(that cost fortune) than you will never understand the problem we are facing now.We don’t have the tools to win the big games.Not JM not anyone could turn things arround with the current players .
As far as AG record goes.It seems you know more than I do,and it doesn’t look bad at all.Look at England this year and tell me if a 3rd place with France and Italy is a bad result. I was told that during his time they could not played home games due to the security situation there.If this is the case that is even more impressive.
Look I am not an AG guy ,nor JM , I am a CHELSEA SUPPORTER and that what matters to me and I want them to win and win ,but please let the new guy work and give him a break . JM got his with Porto (I was told he was an interpreter in Barca in his earlier life- that how close he was to football ),
maybe it is AG with Chelsea – one never knows .
And if he is got the owner support (for what ever reason-it is immaterial) I beleive that he can make it,if not this year than the next one.Abramovitz is not a loser and he will not throw away his money just for the fun of it.
I once read that he wants to build a team and a legacy for the next 100 years.
Isn’t this impressive ? Isn’t this enough to trust him and let him prove his point? Isn’t it what you want for Chelsea?