john, you won't find too much sympathy that chelsea lost players to the african nations cup - most clubs wouldn't be long africans in that situation (except portsmouth gambled), but chelsea did actually buy players at the beginning of the season to cover them - it's just that they bought badly.

as they have done consistently. it takes more than simply throwing money at the problem. sure, they have bought some good players like essien... simply by topping the market.... but in the main they have a lot of pretty good players, but very few of world class quality. just because swp shone at city or sidwell was a rock at reading doesn't mean they can step up from being big fish in small ponds.

chelsea's style also leaves a lot to be desired for the neutral. they only ever do just enough.

the truth is that chelsea did not buy the league, but their improvement coincided with fergie taking his eye off the ball. now he's focused, chelsea are shown not to be that great after all.

jem, london, uk

vijay, not all investors are the same. abramovich took a club that was going bankrupt like leeds and injected enough cash to allow them to outmuscle every other club in the world in the transfer market.

by contrast, the glazers took the most profitable club in the world, one that became rich through football and fans being attracted to their style and successful youth development, and they lumbered it with the biggest debt ever seen in football. now united can't afford to buy a striker and the glazers' debt is sucking all of the money out of the club.

if you can't see the difference, you must be very dim. united's success is in spite of the owners. without abramovich, chelsea would be in the lower divisions if they survived at all.

jem, london, uk

If Ben-Haim is for sale, Arsene Wenger could do a lot worse than buy him...

Simon, Primrose Hill, London

It does make me laugh when clubs moan about losing players to the African Cup of Nations! it's hardly a new event! If you don't want your players to go and play in it, don't buy African players - rocket science it ain't!

Mike Basset, Norwich,

ian y - how many chelsea fans are from fulham? all the blue scarf wearing types I see on the train on a matchday must all have stayed out the night before or something.

if anything is "typical" it is the monotonous stupidity of pointing out that a lot of united fans don't come from manchester. united have plenty of local support. more than chelsea. so what?

and, whilst chelsea were not midtable, they were broke. without a massive injection of cash, the team would have been sold off and midtable would have been a dream. look at leeds if you want to see how it happens. and leeds had won the league considerably more recently than 1955.

jem, london, uk

Very articulate typing from a Blue Baby. Phobably should call a doctor just in case.

Ian, Glasgow, UK

Tacticle??!

iain carstairs, bedford, uk

Only person needs to go is Avaram Grant, He is not a person who can handle the club like Chelsea. Bringt a tacticle manager like Jose or someone else who know how to manage a football team. If Grant stays for 1 more season I bet there will not be any Chelsea left.

Amit, Dallas, Texas

Bet he wished he bought Arsenal now.

Warren, Southport, Merseyside

What ARE you talking about Vijay?

Andy, Beijing, China

£30 MILLION!!!!!!!!!!
I don't blame the players. If someone offered me £150,000 per week to kick a ball about for a few moments a week (John Terry, Chelsea), am I going to say no?
No, good luck to them. It's the stupid people who offer these silly figures in the first place who need their bumps felt. And it's the fans who pay in the end via rip off gate prices and rip off shirt prices.

Graham Miller, Valencia, Spain

too bad there is no mass clear out of billionaire oligarch's with illgotten fortunes

T.Andre, London,

As for the main article, a clear out is definitely in order. Hopefully the club will bring in a manager who can plan for the future and build something sustainable.

Shane P, Edinburgh, when you say back in mid-table, i can only assume you're referring back to the 1995-1996 season, cus that was the last time chelsea finished outside of the top six in the epl. the idea that chelsea weren't a successful club before RA is simply laughable. Boo hoo to those clubs that 'deserve better', whatever that means.

Will, London, England

Another paper quotes a possible figure of £100m available to boost the Chelsea squad this summer. One hundredth of this sum would be obscene if the truth is that Abramovich's billons were raised in dealings with public assets in Russia in a way that would have had auditors and possibly the police knocking at his door had the same thing happened in the UK.

Other Premier league clubs like Manchester United, though often placed in the same spending bracket as Chelsea, have had ro raise their spending from within "the business" made possible by astute management such as the vision to increase stadium capacity.

H. Roberts, N.Wales,

Shane P (a Man U fan not living in Manchester--what a surprise) should get his facts right. Chelsea were not "in mid-table" before Abramovich arrived. OK they didn't win the league, but they did win the FA Cup, League Cup, and European Cup Winner's Cup in the 10 years before Roman bought the club. Chelsea also finished fourth in the premiership and qualified for the Champions League in the season before Roman arrived, Claudio Ranieri taking the club to the semi finals the following season.
Chelsea as a club that would be mid-table if not for Abramovich's money is a myth spread by Man U, Arsenal, and Liverpool fans who feel threatened by our progress over the last decade.
We may be down right now but we'll be back, and Avram Grant could still be the man to do it.

Ian Y, London,

What was the best British T E A M ever ?
Shankley's Liverpool. Why? All paid the same = no premadonnas.

Sam M, Independence, belize

Why doesn't Roman put a few more billion of his dodgy Russian roubles in? Or is he thinking of sending them back to where they belong? To the Russian men and women in the street rather than into the pockets of the layabouts he is employing right now.

David, Poole,

john of golders green. your suggestion that joe cole is underperforming is entirely unfounded. in recent months he has been a shining light in what has been a disjointed, under par, injury plagued season for our key players

james, london,

This Mourhinio/Grant thing has now gone too far. Chelsea fans have developed a cult following with the "Chosen One Jose" and they cannot accept that he was great while Abromovitsh reveloutionized the English game by pouring more money into a squad then ever before in the history of football.This was good times for Chealsea while Abromovitch built Chelsea into a big "Brand Name" by buying everything and making it the richest club by far in the league with his own funds. But once that had been achieved and the money started drying up THE CHOSEN ONE started to fail and fail badly so he was fired and Grant brought in.Jose was s good time boy as are Chelsea fans. Its easy to succeed when all is well and the money is pouring in.A real coach is always judged in bad times. No money,injured players and still good results. Here Jose failed and Grant has suceeded. If Jose was in charge now Chelsea would be today nowhere.

Leslie Udwin, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Many of the players are past their use by dates (nearly 30 or over), which is the problem encountered by AC Milan this season. Players such as Drogba, Lampard, Belleti, Makelele, Shevchenko, Pizarro, Cudicini are all at this age, while players such as Wright Phillips, Malouda, both Coles and Kalou are seriously underperfoming.

John, Golders Green,

Chelsea used to have a flair and excitement and you don't have to go back to the Kerry Dixon days for that either. The club now, though, win ugly. The players don't seem hungry enough or inspired enough. I think they were more fun and more exciting before Jose showed up, and Avram has done nothing to turn them into a side that play with joy. The talent has been there for a while, and that appears to have bred complacency.

Jeff Myhre, New York City, USA

chelsea are a mess. it's the mentallity @ the club and paying the players big bucks to sit on the bench.

they need to get most of the surplus out and make a new start

the players are there for the money. happly sitting on the bench and collect 75 grand a week.

you here a lot of negitivity come out of players mouths, If that happened @ man u they would be shown the door.
proffesional players acting like amatuers.

and frank lampard thinks he's the best player in the world

what a joke

jamie, edinburgh, scotland

John Shrewsbury, there is a huge difference between United and Chelsea. The way they play the game for starters, the history of the club, how they deal with setbacks and the unity they show to the outside world. Chelsea's squad is so big and packed with international players they should always be challenging for the top honours. But good players don't make a good team. There doesn't seem to be any togetherness. The way they play is awful to watch, how they can do that when people pay £50 to watch them i don't know. Football should be about enjoyment. Someday Roman will leave and you'll be back in the mid table behind other clubs who deserve better like Aston Villa, Spurs and Everton. It's just a matter of time. United for the double!

Shane P, Edinburgh,

Chelsea won 5 trophies in 3 years under Jose, which included back-to-back Premiership titles (two years when we dominated the league) & Cup Final victories against Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool.

What has happened this year - a Cup Final loss against Spurs, getting knocked out by Barnsley and not winning the Premiership (drawing against Fulham, Villa & Wigan at the Bridge and losing against London-rivals Arsenal for the first time in 4 years) is an absolute disaster, by any standards.Considering the fact that the backup striker that Jose had on his disposal was Kezman, defenders were Del Horno & Boulharouz, while Avram had Anelka and Alex, says it all really. Jose should never have been removed and Avram as his replacement has been an absolute joke. He - and ten Cate - should be sacked and if we can't persuade Jose to come back, my choice would be Lippi AND Zola.

Thanks Roman (but no thanks) for proving again that money ONLY doesn't not win you anything!

A Syed, London, England

selling squad players is fine as long as each is being replaced by a better player, however the real key to chelseas so called down fall is the "big players" ala terry lampard carvalhio chech etc all suffering a number of injuries and thus impeding their availability for long periods, if you assess mourinhios first two years in charge the number of absentees was minimal wheras this year the combined non appearances of key personnell is dramatic, put this against man utd for example and that is the diference between first and second. Therefore the real dilema is do they get players in who are able to replace the so called stars. over to you avram / frank / whoever

wainy, sankey, chehsire

yes i agree with roma, the stars are past their winning date, and ahve too much cash in the bank. THOSE OF OTHER CLUBS who laugh aresenal have no english first team players, man utd have millions in debt, and liverpool have no ground and millions in debt, chelsea have a few players who need new opportunities to improve motivation aspect of their game. my list for the plank, droba, anelka, terry, lampard, meluda,shev, one golakeeper,pizza, oh grant, and the number cruncher who says chelsea need a chinese player to improve brand oppotunities in china.

michael joseph , cahersiveen>adams towns, madness

Even if he changes the squad, if he doesn't get a top manager the team will not ge anywhere. Grant can't win anything even if he gets his own player, he cant even manage in the lower for the mere fact that he is not inspiring. By scratching his head on monday when wigan scored, what message was he sending across, your guess is as good as mine. As for Jerry, concentrate on aussie rules, probably that's where you'll learn your history.

Michael, Abuja, Nigeria

So what do you guys want? Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool have a great history, so all the other clubs close down and go home? Ppl! Come to senses. If thats the case: Real Madrin, AC Milan, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, etc. have a greater history than Man Utd, Arsenal or Liverpool combined!!!

Its not only Chelsea that has a foreign investor in the EPL. Why is noone talkign about the others? Geez... Its like human beings. Some have more money than the other. You have to live with it. It doesnT make things good or bad...

Vijay, London,

It's all a bit like Leeds United in terms of the firesale of players. Leeds ended up paying part of the wages of some of their former "stars".

At Boro we got Mills and later Viduka while Leeds went bankrupt.

The only difference, and it's a big one, seems to be Abramovich's billions.

Hanging around Chelsea and picking up second hand players for knock down prices may not be a bad way to go....

Eric Sandelands, Middlesbrough, UK

Interestingly the above piece carries no quotes, and should therefore be treated as speculation.

I have heard that Grant detests Beletti and he is definitely on his way out.

Mourinho signed Sidwell to spite Reading. He wouldn't have been good enough to play for Chelsea even 10 years ago.

If we are to sell Frank Lampard, it must be this summer, ditto Drogba.

As for the rest, well RA has wasted his own money. Or JM wasted it for him.

I'll still be there next season, whoever the manager is/players are.

Blue Baby, London,

League Cup finalists, FA Cup quarter-finalists, Premiership runners-up (probably) and Champions League semi-finalists to date, potential winners. This is not a bad record especially when you take into account that we lost three senior players for the Africa Cup and we had a change of manager. Did Man U have such difficulties - no. In fact whilst they were knocking up wins in the Premiership we were still winning in the two dometic cup competitions which they had been ejected from. The only thing that separates us from Man U is one place in the league table. Apart from that our seasons record is better.

But I do agree there is some deadwood that needs to be removed - Malouda, Pizzaro, Ben Haim , Shevchenko and Sidwell have all had their chances and failed to make the grade. I would be sorry to see Wright-Philips or Cudicini go (he was the best Premiership goalie until Cech ousted him.

I would like to see more committment from Drogba. In the absence of it I dont mind if he goes.

John, shrewsbury, salop

Good work, Chelsea, ship in the next lot of mercenaries so we can all laugh at you for no longer being a club.

ST, London,

Chelsea has no history? If a 100 years is not history I do not know what is? Then again I do not expect Jerry to understand history coming from Sydney. Maybe he is getting history confused with lots of silverware.

Daniel Carroll, Bournemouth, UK

Abramovich will need to get in a competent manager to make any of the expense pay off. I'd rather see a return to the type of squad that Mourinho started with; young and hungry. And Jerry from Sydney, where does this tosh about 'natural station' come from? None of Utd, Liverpool or Arsenal were great when Bolton, Blackpool, Huddersfield, etc. were riding high. Shankley and Paisley made record signings when they were at Liverpool, the rich club of the time. Things change. No club has a divine right to success.

Neil, Birmingham , UK

Jerry, Grant has lost 3 games. He has them 2nd in the league by a whisker and in with a chance of the champions league?? Shows how fickle you fans of the 'pathetic game' are becoming.

Avi, London,

Jerry, Sydney, Australia

I'm a Liverpool fan but I think the adulation of Mourinho and rubbishing of Grant doesn't bear analysis. How did last season go? With Utd first, Chelsea second and the Blues knocked out of the semi's of the Champion's league. Grant will at least match that so how exactly has he taken the club backwards??

Dave, Beijing, China

Abramovich may have been able to buy short term success, but he cannot buy history like Utd, Arsenal and Liverpool genuinally have. Mourinho was exceptional and lifted Chelsea above their natural station, Grant is rapidly putting them back there.

Jerry, Sydney, Australia

Selling them proves they were overpriced buys, but getting money for them and getting them off the wage bill could be a good move financially. If they can replace them with loads of world-class players and get them to gel as a team then they could be really unstoppable.

It didn't work for Real or Barca recently but it did work for Barca in the 1990s. You just need a good manager with vision.

michael, brighton,

For Roman, its like Champion legue manager with real money. Game over?

Mark Shepperson, Chiang Mai, Thailand