Chelsea fans are frustrated. I think it's pretty obvious. There are many in the media and around the internet that are seemingly hoping to see AVB sacked, and I can't say that would be totally without cause at this point. I'd personally be against the move though, and I'm going to go to bullet point form to point out the reasons why.

• The obvious question first...who replaces him? There isn't much available in the way of quality managers at the moment, and frankly anyone that is available now will likely still be available in the summer along with ridiculous amounts of other options. I don't want Fabio Capello anywhere near this squad as he'd almost certainly trot Frank, FloMo, and company out there every single match. Rafa Benitez is, well, Rafa Benitez. Other than that we really don't have much to choose from at this point. If Guus hadn't signed on at Anzhi it may be a bit different, but he did and it's not.
• Financial Fair Play needs to be considered here as well. We spent a lot to bring AVB in. It will cost us an awful lot to replace him. While we should certainly consider the move, we should also make sure we're best utilizing the available funds. Changing managers every 6 months is going to hurt our ability to buy players under the new rule. Who would you rather see replaced...AVB or Fernando Torres? Frank Lampard? Florent Malouda?
• He clearly sees that this team has issues so far as it's makeup goes. The full blown attempts to add Modric and Pastore this past summer should tell us that he saw this midfield issue very early in his tenure here. While we questioned his judgement in looking at Perreira and Coentrao, the need for someone of that type seems fairly obvious now. He's also pretty clearly been looking for a more natural winger. It seems to me like he's correctly identified our three biggest areas of need regardless of out failure to actually add to those positions.

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This is always a fun time of year - new kits are being leaked left and right, and it looks like we're getting our first look at Chelsea's 2012/13 home shirts. Check it out:

via @NigelLim

Now, it's always possible that this is faked up, but as I said, it's about the time of year for these things to be coming out, and it looks a lot like the previous (really terrible) mockups of our potential home kits. I'm inclined to think it's legitimate.

Anyway, it's a lot like the 2010/11 homes, with red around the arms as well as the next and a diagonal striping that will probably end up pretty close to invisible. I quite like details that aren't immediately apparent on football shirts - they make it look most interesting from up close without being gaudy on television, etc, but I've never been a fan of red on Chelsea kits. What think the rest of you?

The Chronicles of Charsenal are back! Remember, this a fictitious account based on the video game Football Manager 2012. If you're not into that, or the thought of a Arsenal-Chelsea merger horrifies you, you don't have to read it. If you're just going leave negative comments, please don't. You're not going to change our minds, and you risk the laser.

Chapter Four: 01 September - 30 September

In his press conference this morning, the Charsenal manager unveiled his newest signings, Ivan Rakitic and Willian. The Rakitic and Willian deals were confirmed as £23,000,000 and £8,000,000 each, spread over 48 and 18 months respectively, with no fee in this window, and salaries of £65,000 and £36,000 p/w each. Due to their status as late window signings and Charsenal's previous transfer plan which involved no signings, Rakitic and Willian will wear the numbers 37 and 35 respectively, though they will likely change next season. In the squad, they have taken the places of Tomas Rosicky, who is no longer viewed as having enough quality for the squad, and will probably be sold in a future window, and Michael Essien, who will be out injured until the registration window opens again. When asked about the mystery signing who was announced with minutes left in the window, Singer responded by gesturing to the attendant...

[This is a long one, so be prepared. I'd also like to apologise to the SB Nation servers.]

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It will come as no surprise to anyone following English football to learn that Chelsea are having a hard time of things lately. I'm going to go ahead and assume that's true of everyone here, so there's no need to go into too much detail about the horrible slump we're currently mired in*. There's no denying it, anyway. Something is wrong with the club - we're playing badly and on a string of miserable results.

*If you somehow managed to stumble upon this site immediately after emerging from a sheltered life under a rock, I would advise you to go seek medical treatment immediately because you're probably malnourished. You should consider suing your parents.

Over the past few weeks, we've been hearing more and more complaints about the reign of Andre Villas-Boas, and now we've hit the apparent boiling point. The fans are mad, the football media's been itching to take the manager down a peg since he showed up in England as a handsome, well-spoken young man with as much respect for them as they deserve and now the players are apparently getting involved.

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The Chronicles of Charsenal are back! Remember, this a fictitious account based on the video game Football Manager 2012. If you're not into that, or the thought of a Arsenal-Chelsea merger horrifies you, you don't have to read it. If you're just going leave negative comments, please don't. You're not going to change our minds, and you risk the laser.

Chapter Three: 03 August 2011 - 31 August 2011

The international break has started badly for young Charsenal manager Alexander Singer, with reports from the U-20 World Cup that Spanish U-20 international Oriol Romeu has suffered a neck strain. Thankfully, the injury will only keep him out of action for a week or so. Thirty-one Charsenal players have been called up to their senior national sides, with John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, and Theo Walcott representing England. As the first round of matches takes place on his birthday, Singer will be hoping to receive the gift of his important players returning uninjured as he looks ahead to a tough opening fixture away to Liverpool. A match at Anfield is always a difficult proposition, and would only be made more difficult with key players missing. Charsenal will finish the month with league matches home to Queens Park Rangers, and away to Fulham. The period will also see an end to the English transfer window, though Charsenal aren't expected to bring any players in in this window. A few players may yet leave, however.

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DIego Maradona has never really been the epitome of intelligence, but today he's come out with some quotes that that are pretty much laughable. After doing an absolutely abysmal job as the manager of the Argentinian national side Maradona has now moved on to the greener* pastures of the UAE. Nevertheless, Maradona had to give us his two cents on the John Terry situation which eventually led to the resignation of Fabio Capello:

*Is the money in Dubai actually green?

As far as the situation with Capello is concerned, what we heard initially was about Terry. This is what the English FA was saying. But of course, this is not the real reason. It is clear the FA was looking to fire him. They wanted an excuse to do that. They weren’t happy with his performance. Any coach who doesn’t perform at the level expected, especially at the World Cup, is one whom they immediately look to replace.

I really enjoyed watching Maradona the player. He was truly a joy to watch, and easily one of the all time greats in the game. Watching (or listening to) Maradona the manager is pretty much like watching this. It's mildly amusing at first glance, but in the end there's nothing really intelligent to gain by doing so. It's probably worth pointing out for Mr. Maradona that Capello was not fired by the FA, but rather that he made the decision to resign. Silly facts though, they always screw up a good conspiracy theory.

This Capello situation is going to be the new flavor of the month for the English press for the foreseeable future, so I guess I should just resign myself to reading further idiocy of this nature. It would be nice if former players just stayed out of it though, as Maradona has just further proved that they really have nothing remotely intelligent to add to the discussion. The Terry situation is what it is. The FA hasn't handled it very well, much like they manage to handle nearly everything as poorly as possible. It's not a conspiracy, they just suck at their job.

Remember kids...cocaine is a hell of a drug.

Nine months ago, double-winning manager Carlo Ancelotti was sacked. It didn't take Chelsea very long to replace him with Porto boss Andre Villas-Boas, who had won the Primeira Liga and the UEFA Cup Europa League in his first year in charge. Most (including me) were fairly giddy with the appointment. Villas-Boas was young, smart and exciting.

Since his appointment, Villas-Boas has lost some of his lustre. He's been drawn into fights with the press, the results haven't been nearly as good as we'd have liked, the kids aren't playing and there are rumours of rifts in the dressing room. Fortunately, the manager knows that things aren't good enough right now - but he's committed to the 'project' regardless.

Are we a better team than in September? No, not really. The beginning of the season were our best results. We were solid, creative, positive. At this level, you shouldn't be allowed a transitional year, but the project for next year is good and is being built and we believe a lot in it, so we will be able to compete at a different level [next year].

-Andre Villas-Boas. Source: Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle.

Personally, I'm pretty vexed at some of the things Villas-Boas has done. It's difficult not to look at Chelsea's defensive structure without wincing, and being in fourth place after our long run of top three finishes is fairly embarrassing. I know it's silly to expect us to breeze through the Premier League, but after so many years of success, it's difficult not to.

However, I share the enthusiasm for Villas-Boas's long-term plans. Chelsea need to rejuvenate the squad and everything is pointing to a complete revamp this summer. Despite my reservations about what's going on in the here and now, I'm still pretty excited about the future. I remain convinced that the Blues are going to come good under AVB's leadership. The man has his warts, so I can see people falling off the bandwagon... but as far as I'm concerned, things still look pretty good in the long run.