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I was being optimistic! Liverpool are stupid enough to buy him back (after all they paid ?35m for the relatively unproven Andy Carroll) but he would have to accept a massive pay cut.

Regarding Torres... One rumour floating about is that Anzhi Makhachkala are interested... they too have a billionaire owner and Samuel Eto'o (who plays for them) is reputed to be on something like ?300,000 a week!!! Director of Football is Roberto Carlos (who was on a massive wage for his season or so there as a player) and the manager is Guus Hidink who is an old friend of Abramovich.

Now of course newspaper rumours are nowadays based on crap info some people tweet or post in blogs, the rest is made up by the journalists themselves who look for connections, however tenuous, and put 2 and 2 together to make a figure considerably bigger than 5!!! Still, one can but hope

The problem at Chelsea stems from a billionaire oligarch who seems to have surrounded himself not only with "yes" men, but "yes" men who on the whole know little to nothing about football. In some respects we've had great stability... same owner for 9 years, all the old debts under Ken Bates paid off... we even made a profit last year (OK so only ?1.5m, but that's a lot better than many clubs). The board hasn't changed much in that time either (Kenyon was there to start with and Ron Gourlay was promoted from within to take his place) and the club captain has remained the same. The problem lies in an owner who, while he allows others to run the business side (marketing etc) seemingly unhindered, thinks he knows better than the managers he appoints and continuously meddles in team affairs. Vanity purchases (Veron, Schevchenko and Torres) haven't helped, either.

It's OK to say "I'd like us to play more attractive football" but when you have managers who try to implement it and fail (either down to the wrong type of players in the squad or a squad so thin no player is given a rest) they get sacked and the new interim manager tries to "tighten things up" and the guys on the pitch look lost, unsure of what's expected of them.

If Abramovich wants expansive, entertaining football, Rafa is definitely NOT the answer! It's a testament to how poor teams like Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool etc are that we're still in 3rd place in spite of this bad run. Rafa also has no PR brains. We all know that the club won't give players over 30 contracts of more than 1 year at a time, which is why Lampard looked certain to leave at the end of the season, but at least Robbie di Matteo was saying the right things in press conferences... he was always saying that he was urging the board to give Ashley Cole, for example, more than just a 1 year extension. Rafa comes in and in his first press conference pretty much confirms that neither Lampard nor Cole will be at the club next season! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. No wonder Cole looked as if he no longer cared during the West Ham game!

Opinions on the Chelsea fans' boards seem evenly divided between bringing in Falcao or Cavani. My preference is Cavani. Falcao gets bags of goals against lesser sides (and yes that does include Chelsea in the European Super Cup) but struggles against sides with well marshalled defences. Cavani, who is also younger, offers a better all-round game and is used to poaching goals amongst the packed defences of the Italian league on a regular basis.

However, rather than splashing out on a marquee signing, I'd actually like us to get a couple of decent but not "super star" strikers (2 for the price of 1 sort of deal!) who are proven goal scorers in the Premier League... Demba Ba maybe?

We are also desperate for a physical presence in midfield, so I certainly wouldn't say no to Felaini but even if that happens it'll be in the summer, not January. I can't see Everton wanting to let him go while they're vying for a Champions league spot. But a Ballack/Yaya Toure like player is desperately needed.

I've supported Chelsea since 1968, so I've seen highs and lows... but I've never been quite as depressed or saddened as I am now... we've always had owners who seemingly tried their best to piss off everyone outside the club, but this is the first time we've had an owner so out of touch with the feelings of the fans. Surely someone could have told him that Rafa was the wrong person to bring in? Rafa could win the league, all the domestic cups and the CL and he'd still be hated by many Chelsea fans. So, so not the right man for us.

I only saw Chelsea once, v Carlisle at Brunton Park, can't recall the exact year but Wilkins played a blinder. They played in red if that helps date it better. What the directors forget is a football club is a huge part of a fans life. Fans pay the players wages, or at least a percentage and yet get treated like shite these days.

We had red away shirts for about two seasons in the mid 70s. One season was red with white shorts, the next all red. Wilkins left at the end of 79 for Man Utd

An article in today's Guardian reminded me, not for the first time, how different things are in Germany with their 50% + 1 rule regarding fans owning clubs. Mind you, would that solve the problems at Chelsea?

I've been on the CFCNet forums for many years... many wanted Ranieri gone, others wanted him to stay (pretty much all now thank him for putting together the side that would later win trophies... he made Terry captain, he bought Lampard, Gallas, Robben and Cech, though the latter two didn't actually join until after he'd gone). Debates over the merits of Scolari, Ancelotti, AVB and di Matteo have raged... so if the fans can't even agree on who should be manager, if and when they should be sacked etc., then what hope a club run by fans!!! Endless debates on which marquee signing, what formation to play, best players suited to this or that formation and style of play. The in-fighting is bad enough as it is, without people actually being able to influence things!

Football long since stopped being a just a sport. The one thing fans should never forget is that while, owners, chairmen, boards, managers and players will come and go, the only people truly loyal to the club are the fans, and despite this position, are treated as an after-thought, except where milking more money out of them is concerned.

Take heart, there's only 3 more Chelsea managers til Xmas !!!!