Moneyball won't win the Premiership 2012-13

i know he's got his reputation to try and maintain by delivering whatever constitutes success this season but showing exasperation and getting bullish is kinda dumb for someone on a hiding to nothing tbh

the line to take is to subtly draw parallel with his bizarro situation and lampard's contract so the chelsea fans feel the full crushing weight of their utter inessential voicelessness in roman's empire

eh, that second quote makes far more sense and is way more believable. it did seem like a suicidally self-destructive message to be sending out at this stage in the season. i'm just too primed for any sign that rafa might be about ditch the quiet suit before ripping open his shirt hulk-style, buttons flying in all directions, revealing the hidden troll-face t-shirt beneath that he's undoubtedly been wearing to work every day for the past 4 months

is there even a possible gallows for rafa before the end of the season idk

i guess bolo and steve holland can take over

we can all dream of jt getting his day in the sun but it'll never happen

West Ham manager Sam Allardyce settled a bar bill for nearly £1,200 at a hotel where the club were staying the night before a Barclays Premier League clash, as a Christmas treat to his backroom staff.

The squad were taking up 33 rooms at the Hilton Hotel – part of the new National Football Centre near Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire - on the Saturday night in December before they faced West Brom on Sunday.

But none of the first-team had an alcoholic drink on the eve of the Barclays Premier League match and Allardyce picked up the tab at around midnight as a thank you to his backroom staff in the build-up to the festive period, with the receipts signed off by his assistant, Neil McDonald.

'This was a private Christmas get together, after the players had gone to bed, arranged for 15 people from West Ham's backroom staff and others associated with the club,' a West Ham insider told MailOnline today.

'With a busy programme of festive fixtures ahead, it was opportune time for the manager [Sam Allardyce] to say thank you.

'The bill for food and drinks, after the players had gone to bed, was settled entirely by the manager just after midnight.

'An additional receipt for two Jack Daniel's whiskies, at around 3am, was a nightcap for someone who couldn't sleep. This tab was sent to West Ham and also paid for by the manager.'

Hours later, West Ham went on to record one of their best performances away from Upton Park this season, holding Steve Clarke's in-form West Brom to a 0-0 draw at The Hawthorns.

The point put the Hammers in 11th in the table at the time, with West Brom above them in sixth place.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2285197/West-Ham-bar-Sam-Allardyce-paid-backroom-staff-drinks-Christmas-thank-you.html

Suarez has been heavily linked with Bayern, following the news that Pep Guardiola will take over as manager at the end of the season.

It is thought that Guardiola could use his football agent brother Pere, who represents Suarez, to help make the Uruguayan striker his first signing in Germany, and the player himself is doing little to discourage the talk, admitting he would like to talk to the Germans if an offer arrives.

‘If Bayern Munich makes an offer I would certainly be willing to listen and think about it,’ said Suarez.

Seems perfectly logical. Why waste an already perfect team of golden behaviour when you can buy a player who will inject venom into it and cause disruption?

it just wouldnt be a pep side without an ill-considered £40m misfit

Gómez isn't the right type of striker for a Guardiola side and Mandzukic probably isn't good enough so I think this makes sense. Wouldn't have been surprised to see Suárez join Barcelona this past summer either.

God knows Chelsea are a joke club run by idiots and an impossible job for any manager, but serious lol at Rafa blaming everyone but himself here.

typical Rafa Rant tbh

he's blaming the fans for heckling him from day one and making the whole season about him regardless of results - which is true

he's blaming Abramovich for undermining his authority from day one by describing him as an interim manager - which is true

Chelsea fan on the radio last night bleating that it was okay to boo him from the start because he'd "shown no respect" and "not attempted to win them over" - fuck you

got to say Rafa's in the right on this one. except from a pragmatic view, where it's hilarious job suicide

What about the poor tactics and results?

(I mean I know full well Chelsea could have won every game 4-0 and the fans would still have hated him but still...)

don't get me wrong, i'm not converting to the cult of Rafaism, but he's not being heckled because of results.

even the most incompetent manager in the world wd be entitled to say "shove your club up your collective arses" in these circumstances

the dude blew his top after a comfortable 2-0 win ffs

Yeah but you know, if they're in the Europa League next season it won't be the fans' fault.

I mean there's a moral here about clubs just riding roughshod over the views of their fans but hey it's Chelsea fans and anything that makes them unhappy is fine with me.

From the BBC:

We asked you earlier where Rafael Benitez ranks, by win percentage, out of the 14 managers who have been in charge of Chelsea during the Premier League era. The answer is ninth, with a win percentage of 51.9%.

Here are the rankings, courtesy of Opta.

1. Guus Hiddink (72.7%). 2. Jose Mourinho (67.6%). 3. Avram Grant (66.7%). 4. Carlo Ancelotti (62.6%) 5. Roberto Di Matteo (61.9%) 6. Felipe Scolari (55.6%) 7. Claudio Ranieri (53.3%) 8. Gianluca Vialli (52.9%) 9. Rafael Benitez (51.9%) 10. Ruud Gullit (50.0%) 11. Andre Villas-Boas (47.5%) 12. David Webb (38.5%) 13. Ian Porterfield (36.1%) 14. Glenn Hoddle (33.8%).

I've now read the whole transcript, and it really comes out of nowhere - he gets asked whether the FA Cup is really important to Chelsea since they have Man U next in the league and he goes off on one. In the interview afterwards he appears to claim he didn't know he was interim manager because it was lost in Spanish-English translation and because he has an agent.

He should probably fire that agent.

But then who whould get him a job?

That agent helped get him £2-3m for a job he doesn't have to give a shit about being successful in, fucking up a club he doesn't like.

i don't think he went there not liking them?

obviously the more simple-minded amongst the Chelsea fans are struggling with the idea that a manager of another club might be negative about you while he's working for them

I don't know, the Inter experience (of a similar tenure and with a far better side) suggests the correct answer is that he's shit rather than deliberately fucking anything up. Did he say "three or four players away" during the January window? I can't remember.

it's pretty obvious he's just not v good at his job

Answering myself, he did:

"You have to keep (evolving). That means you have to keep bringing in good new players."

Such comments raise questions as to how many new players will be arriving at Stamford Bridge this summer.

"Every year you have to bring in someone else," Benitez added.

"The English question is something you have to consider, but this year you have three or four players.

I'm bewildered as to why he bothered trying to reshape the team. They were doing well enough, he could've massaged egos and coasted to third without any damage to himself.

no, he didn't xp to aldo.

That's a hell of a misquote from 9th Jan then.

3 or 4 players away? where does he say that?

I'll give you that.

Xp to IK like dimatteo you mean? Thats all the chelsea job is since mourinho left

Really what he needs to do is find a decently-resourced second-tier European club he can take time to shape into a real force but Rafa seems to have got it into his head that he's a Megaclub Manager now. He'll fail time and time again in that regard because they just won't have the patience with him.

He's got a fitful skillset alright

Yeah, like di Matteo - it's not what Chelsea need, but give them what they need and you get sacked anyway, and look stupid to boot

i think his man management and PR stats might be a bit low for the full glare of the spotlight

They said the same about AVB last year and he's not done too badly in that regard this season. It's more likely there's just a uniquely toxic atmosphere around Chelsea that makes it impossible for any manager who isn't revered by both the Chairman and the dressing room (ie pretty much no one who would want the job).

Maybe Rafa found out they've got Mourinho lined up already and threw his toys out of the pram, I dunno.

For Chairman read owner there. No idea what Bruce Buck does.

I'd assumed Mourinho would come back to Chelsea, but he's way too smart to risk this kind of damage so I guess Manchester it is.

OMG imagine Mancini at Chelsea.

Not a great jump tbph

jose will absolutely love being crawled back to

really don't think city's the goer it looks

Mancini is doin a poor enough job at city that it looks a worse gig than it is.

Mourinho wants the United job and I think going to City could well close that avenue off.

I mean obviously Mourinho loves trolling and the Glazers are unlikely to care too much about fan opposition but it's still difficult to envisage that route working out.

Mancini is the best manager in England in the last fifteen months*!

*not counting the last seven

he wasn't that good for the other eight

121. jmpstamford
17 minutes ago

Bring back di Matteo
Give Frankie a 10-year contract if he wants it.
RA- you provide the money but let the manager run the club and stop butting in. Rome was not built in a day. Why fire the manager who gave you what you wanted all along- the Champions League trophy?

RA-listen to the fans-if we stop turning up to matches where will your finances be then?

Omg

"if the club loses money at this rate I'll have to close it down - in 60 years"

his main problem is that his christian name alliterates nicely with rant. if he was called miguel he'd probably have only had a few forgotten outbursts in his career.