Still can't look at it as a great move for the fans to chant his name at Stamford Bridge, though—seems too much like an expression of resentment toward Abramovich, which looks a bit spoiled from the outside given everything his money has done for the club.

Personally, I'm still undecided about Grant. I thought he was a ridiculous choice for the club given his anonymity and inexperience, but he really hasn't done all that badly (remember when we all thought he'd be forced to play Shevchenko in every match?) and I think gets worse treatment than he deserves because he's so clearly the opposite of Mourinho when it comes to media presence—he really does look clueless on TV. Whether that means he's actually clueless, I don't know; I sort of doubt we'll have time to find out.

We weep, because this seems like the last glorious incandescence before burning out. Gong out in a blaze of glory.

There are more points to be made. One, I hate the neo-realist movement with all my heart. Yet, greatness and misery go hand in hand. Also, I think the aesthetic sensibilities of the average football fan is still Pre-raphaelite (Arsenal), and most have not ascended to Cubism and Picasso (Chelsea).

As for love of the team, Ten Cats and Uncle Fester have managed to rupture any feeling of brotherhood in the team. During Mourinho's era, the team functioned as a slick well-oiled machine, not pretty perhaps to the more lush and sensitive souls, but certainly endearing to someone as bourgeois as me who likes silverware instead of never fulfilled promises and history. We do not make a song and cry about a club 103 years old.

As for Lampard and Terry, given that they are the most succesful and certainly two of the longest serving players of the club, should not their views count for something? If, as JohnSt says, their views regard managers and players really held that much power, Mourinho wouldn't have left, Frank's contract would have been renewed by now, and Shevchenko wouldn't have been in the club.

Last, but not the least, that great seducer of hearts and corruptor of morals, the Prince of light and lies, the man who induces greatest heart-ache and hangover in his players and supporters alike, Jose Mourinho. Few people ever recover from contact with him, either good or bad. His loss is mourned by personalities with interests, characters and positions re:Chelsea as diverse as Sir Alex, Arsene and Richard Attenborough. He may have been a bastard, but he was ours. He gave the club their greatest victories, numerous silverware, and made a band of brothers ( a la Spartaaaaaaaaaaa) of his players, the slow disintegration of which is painful to see and believe. Avram lacks the je ne sais quoi to dislodge him from our hearts. We (supporters, players, commentators, other managers, ex-players of Mourinho) are still mourning him, and Avram is feeling the wrath of our combined broken hearts .

Yet, I can assure you, love for this utterly strange club reigns supreme, and grows greater every time I hear a disparaging remark, (suspiciously, almost always from the lovers of those two teams directly beneath us in the league table).

Your posts continue to make my days brighter. *applauds*

pre-abramovich chelsea sounded kinda romantic.

ranieri got them into the champions league pre-abramovich. with attacking play and ridiculous substitutions. and looking back further, weren`t they an attacking side?

the big question is what happens when the boss finally gets bored and leaves.

And the unsettled Drogba, with annoying regularity, whines about moving on to a better club.

"Who likes Chelsea?" The players have little love for the club, they owe their allegiance only to money or their former boss, Mourinho… not to the well-being of the club.