So I promised to write a FanPost on this a few days ago - I was planning to go into a little more detail than I will, but lately I haven't had as much time as I'd like, so this is pretty rushed.

Anyways, getting to the point - Chelsea FC, or Roman Abramovich, to be exact, has developed an identity in the footballing world, and not a pleasant one. It's gotten to the point where the acronym CFC has been dubbed by some as 'Coach Firing Club'. After copping some slack from a few mates of mine, however, I finally decided to stop being lazy and do some research - and, to my relief, I found some stats that shut them up for good.

What I'm going to do is take a look at the number of managers some clubs in the top 5 leagues in Europe (+Porto) have had, in the timespan from when Roman took over the club until now (ie, from 2003/04 season onwards). The clubs picked are totally random (ie, I just looked up whatever club I thought of and put up any with 6+ managers) I'll also go on to take a look at the trophies won in that timespan in the second part of the article. Here goes! In order:

1. Real Madrid - 10
   Athletic Club - 10
2. Atletico Madrid - 9
   Chelsea - 9
   Juventus - 9
   Villarreal - 9
   Sampdoria - 9
   Fiorentina - 9
   Marseille - 9
3. Tottenham - 8 (9 if you count Allen/Inglethorpe seperately)
   Porto - 8
   Bayern - 8
   Inter Milan - 8
4. Leverkusen - 7
5. Udinese - 6
   PSG - 6

As you can see from the list, Chelsea are far from ruthless in their hiring and sacking of managers - in fact, the count of 9 managers in 10 seasons is almost the most common in the big league, with a total of 9 of the 16 clubs I randomly picked having had 9 managers in that time span. Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao top the list with 10.
Now, the next point I was hoping to touch on, is the successes of these clubs. The sacking of managers obviously isn't something trivial - it's something the board of a club does in order to seek better results, more trophies. If a club were to sack managers who were winning every competition they were competing for, and replacing them with ones who didn't have a clue what they were doing, and never rested their key players, and lost to QPR and West Ham and Swansea, then it would be totally pointless. Otherwise, if the regurgitating of managers resulted in constant improvement of the team, and sustained success in all competitions which they competed for, then it would be a wise decision to tell managers to move on. So;

1. Real Madrid CF

La Liga 2006-07, 2007-08, 2011-12

Copa Del Rey 2010-11

Supercopa De Espana 2012

2. Athletic Club Bilbao

None

3. Atletico Madrid

Europa League 2009-10, 2011-12

Europe Super Cup 2010, 2012

4. Chelsea FC

Premier League 2004-05, 2005-06, 2009-10

FA Cup 2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2011-12

League Cup 2004-05, 2006-07

FA Community Shield 2005, 2009

UEFA Champions League 2012

5. Juventus FC

Serie A 2011-12

Coppa Italia 2003-04, 2011-12

Supercoppa Italia 2012

Serie B 2006-07

6. Villarreal CF

None

7. UC Sampdoria

None

8. ACF Fiorentina

None

9. Olympique de Marseille

Ligue 1 2009-10

Coupe de la Ligue 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12

Trophee des Champions 2010, 2011

10. Tottenham Hotspu FC

None (this put a smile to my face :D )

11. FC Porto

Primeira Liga 2003-04, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2011-12

Portuguese Cup 2005-06, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11

Portuguese Super Cup 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

UEFA Champions League 2003-04

UEFA Europa League 2010-11

12. FC Bayern Munich

Bundesliga 2004-05, 2005-06, 2007-08, 2009-10

DFB Pokal Cup 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010

DFB Liga-Pokal 2004, 2007 DFL

Super Cup 2010, 2012

13. Inter Milan

Serie A 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10

Coppa Italia 2004-05, 2005-06, 2009-10, 2010-11

Supercoppa Italia 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010

UEFA Champions League 2009-10

FIFA Club World Cup 2010

14. Bayer 04 Leverkusen

None

15. Udinese Calcio

None

16. Paris Saint-Germain FC

Coupe de France 2005-06, 2009-10

Coupe de la Ligue 2007-08

Looking at the list, Porto (19, Inter (15), Chelsea (12), Bayern (12) and Real Madrid (5) are the five most successful sides (Four of them have a certain Special One in common). Is sacking coaches really a bad thing? And, more importantly, are Chelsea sacking too many managers? Are they unjustly and worthlessly sacking managers, or does our merry-go-round have a purpose?
Hopefully you guys can use this next time your Arsenal/United supporting mates give you crap for another coach being fired (fingers crossed!). Adios!