Well, I certainly had my own reservations about Avram when he was appointed manager after Jose's departure, but they were the same reservations that I held, when every manager we have ever had was appointed.
I've never been a big fan of big name managers. Most of those guys have a few successful years that earn them some kind of reputation, followed by long periods of failure or semi-failure, that last the rest of their careers.
We have a proud history of giving guys new, or relatively new to the management game, a place at Chelsea. Tommy Docherty started his career with us. With NO managerial experience at all, he won us promotion back into the top division in his first season. He later managed Man U too.
Dave Sexton began with Chelsea. He won for Chelsea the FA cup in 1970, and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1971. He also managed Man U after he left us.
John Neal, another relatively unknown manager. Saved us from relegation into Division (fu<kin') 3 in 82/83 season. He inherited a club and a team in absolute turmoil, but after he found and signed such players as, David Speedie, Kerry Dixon, Pat Nevin, Nigel Spackman and Eddie Niedzwiecki he won us promotion back into the first Division in 1984.
Ruud Gullit began management with us in '96, and won theFA Cup in '97.
Gianlucca Vialli took over in '98. That season, he won for us the League Cup and European Cup Winners Cup and Chelsea finished 4th in the EPL. The following season Chelsea won the European Super Cup by beating Real Madrid 1-0, and finished 3rd in the Premiership, just four points behind champions Manchester United in what was Chelsea's highest league finish since 1970. He won the FA Cup in 2000.
When Avram Grant was appointed after Jose left us, his appointment made me feel the same reservations that I felt, when all of the above managers were appointed. With all around him slagging him off and showing complete disrespect for a man they knew nothing about, I remembered our past. I was more than happy to give the guy a chance. My reasoning was, as it has always been as a chelsea fan. The club had decided that Avram was their man and as a fan, it was up to me to support my club in that decision, as I had done for so many previous Chelsea managers.
I admit that the insults and the critisism aimed at Avram, have been and still are quite upsetting for me. It also makes me very angry when some of our own so called "fans", join in with the character assassination of this man.
We have had a VERY SMALL minority of "fans", who have been very anti-Grant from day one. These morons have helped to give to the media, other fans and the rest of the World, a public image of disharmony at the club, and fed the hostility and disrespect aimed at Chelsea from all quarters.
These people are NOT long term, die hard Chelsea fans. They are arrogant, ignorant, disrespectful and disloyal to Chelsea. They have the nerve to demand a manager with established calibre that befits a club of Chelsea's "stature"?
If they were long term die hard fans, they wouldn't have the misplaced sense of superiority that they feel Chelsea have. Most of those people do not know or care about our struggles to continue to exist as a club, that has plagued us throughout our history. They demand what is in their opinion, the best of everything including the "best" managers.
The real fans of our club do not feel the same way. We love our club and we love our team through thick and thin, and there has been plenty of thin believe me. With that history in mind, the average chelsea fan is a much more humble fan, still struggling to come to terms with the fact that we are now beginning to grow so very big.
We are grateful and thankful that we were lucky enough to have Roman buy us up. Here's a guy with so much money to give who is hoping to take Chelsea to another level, and he is a football freak to boot. Without him we would no longer exist as a club, but that never stopped the same so called "fans", from also giving him a hard time over the last few years.
These people sicken me to be honest. In most peoples eyes they epotimise the typical Chelsea fan. The truth could not be further away. They are not typical of the restof us in any way whatsoever. They are an embarrassment to the club and to the rest of us, who do not need to use the status of a football club to feel any self importance. They are simply morons.
C'MON YOU BLUES
hehe
) have a lot of respect for Chelsea. I obviously have my own reasons for, a long time ago, having picked Arsenal as my favorite English team. I can even say it's the team that I most closely follow, second only to Porto obviously.
