You know jack sh*t about the situation of most of the fans you moan about. Will you be moaning as much next week when we get a sub 20k crowd for Palace?

Frankly I'm getting sick of some of the members of this board telling me I'm not a real fan because I'm not going on Saturday. Well, I probably could afford it, like I afford the 800 quid plus in season ticket fees we pay in our household each year (next year to increase as elder daughter steps up to the next level ticket). I could afford to go to the Worthy cup final and when we win on Saturday I can probably afford to go to the final. Fact is, for me, for a semi, on a Saturday at 12-15am, with a couple of young daughters, it is too much for what it is. If you think that makes me less of a fan then fine, that's your view. However, 4 of the paltry 20,000 last Saturday were me and mine. 4 of the no doubt paltry crowd a week on Wednesday will be me and mine. And so on. So please, keep your generalisations about others to yourself and well done to the guy who's arranged 122! Perhaps you can persuade them to the odd wet and windy Wednesday against Crystal Palace too

As did King Kenny after us...

Strange. Mourinho is essentially getting all the credit for what remains essentially a Ranieri side - key players like Terry, Gallas, Makalele, Lampard, Duff, Robben, Gudjohnsen, Huth, Johnson, Bridge, Smertin - he signed none of these. He did, however, sign Drogba for nearly £25M. And all this nonsense about he's built a team spirit. How short are people's memories? Chelsea had a great team spirit last year with many of the players just mentioned publicly coming out in support of Ranieri. And you may remember that under a "dead man walking" they finished 2nd in the league with a champions league SF, and the season before that they were 4th. Anyone else remember a team that finished 4th, 2nd and 1st !?! My point is this - I would argue that Chelsea would still be winning the league this year under Ranieri. Yes, he's tightened up the defence. Yes they may be more difficult to beat. Is it down to him and him alone as he seems to suggest - no, I think he's inherited the almost finished article and has been shrewd enough to take the credit.

No, he isn't. He is uncomprimising and tough. He rarely mouths off to the ref, genuinely looks like he's trying to play the ball and is actually a good example. The person making the statement, like many others, simply doesn't know @rse from elbow. There are plenty of genuine cheats in football. Check out the "Platoon" feature on Soccer A.M. for some good examples...

Interesting view on the "state" Mark Hughes has left Welsh football in by John Toshack here

I'm afraid it is written in the stars. The final will be Rovers vs Newcastle, although nobody will notice us as it will be billed as the first time Newcastle will win a trophy in 500 years, with Geordie skipper Alan "Geordie" Shearer lifting the hallowed trophy on his last ever game for Newcastle. Ever. No definitetly. Ever. Until, that is, in a tightly fought final, in the last minute, Pedersen hits a cross over that bounces off Titus Bramble's outstretched hoof, hits Stead on the @rse and flies past Given to give Rovers the cup. And the hatred of the nation for ruining the script. Remember, you heard it here first...

As somebody who said on these forums "If Reid's a premiership player then so am I" I am now sat here eating my hat with a generous side order of humble pie. He was excellent yesterday

Work has sent me to Durham next week so I'm going to miss the game live. Anyone know if it's on TV so I can begin the search for a bar in Durham that shows maqtches?

Utter nonsense and typical journalist - they always THINK they know best. And sports journo's are the worst - any old tripe and nobody cares if it's right or wrong. People in glass houses... By the way, my two kids have had free season tickets for the last 3 years. We'll have to pay for the eldest next year but the seed has been sown. Whose idea was that then?

Nonsense. Did you watch the game? Tugay was caught in possession a couple of times but that was because he ALWAYS makes himself available for a pass. His imaginery friend was off being sociable with Nelsen and Mokoena in the first half. Mokoena looks a bit too eager at times - like an 8 year old chasing the ball when somebody else has it covered. Nelsen looks pure class in the middle, and coupled with Todd looks very, very solid. Just a shame that Gally shot at the end was saved - would have done his confidence the world of good

I hope we don't live to regret not getting a striker in. Been saying this for a while now but we were in the same boat in the first season back - couldn't score. The signing of Andy Cole gave everyone, including the other players, a massive lift. The problem we have now is that the team know that one single mistake means the game, because we never look like scoring more than one goal. That puts pressure on everyone

Yes, I forget Andy Johnson, who is now rated at Beattie type fees. So in actual fact, you do go about wasting £7.5M+!

Looking at Bruce's track record I'd keep my gob shut if I were you Stern John Clinton Morrison (£4.25m) Dugarry Emile Heskey (£6.25m) Dwight Yorke Kuqi David Dunn (£5.5m) Martin Taylor Add to that Pandiani who hates it already, a Judas manager who WILL do the dirty on you in the future, and an uncontrollable urge to do all business through the media leading to humiliation with the likes of Bellamy. No, you lot are going places...

Frankly there were times last night when we did pass them off the pitch. You don't have 53% possession if all you are doing is kicking the opposition or lumping it - a little fact seemingly lost on Mr Mourinho. And I'm sorry, but real champions deal with each and every style thrown at them. Still, Chelsea should enjoy him while they have him - I can see Madrid coming in for him sooner or later

Just back. Very positive. Will everyone on here realise the reason we had so much of the game was the formation and that reverting to 4-4-2 20 minutes from the end wouldv'e meant we probably wouldn't have touched it again. Said it before though, without the Glasgow p*ff or Tugay, we do not have a real creative central midfielder and it's not Thommo. And some bite up front. Think the centre of defence is sorted - Nelsen just looks class to me. Don't know why people thought Neill was the worst full-back - you only had to look across at Dom "Oil Tanker" Matteo. If MGP has a wand for a left foot, Matteo has a log. But overall, keep that up and we will be safe

Anyone know if it is a sell-out - want to know what time to leave and whether the queue at the chippy will be out of the door ! !

Roy Carroll doesn't seem to think the white lines apply to him

Don't know if anyone has posted this but he's cost us £52k nett per appearance, or £500k per goal - both excluding his wages and bonuses. I'm sure Grabbi and Davies were worse than that but I'd be surprised if anyone else was

What a pathetic excuse for being spineless and having no ambition. Of course the old firm derbies are special, but they are 4 games out of a season. The remaining 32 are not even near Division 1 level. Sick to death of him now

Not surpised you think that. Tugay was the only decent player we've had off you - frankly you've taken us for quite a few million, what with Ferguson and Amoruso. Still, you can be happy that you have a skipper back who can lead by example and show real moral fibre and courage when the going gets tough... doh!

Christ you know things are bad when Jan is defending a Rangers player...

Smacks of desperation to me. FFS I know we can't expect really big expensive names any more but are they deliberately trying to reduce the gate size even further.

Some stats here

Well if he's anything like our last two from Rangers you know the answer already