What you may not understand, Gaffer, and it’s through no fault of your own as you’re British, is that sports in America do business differently than soccer in England. Players here demand trades all the time, they leave through free agency to make more money or to escape a bad situation at their previous team. I’m used to frequent player movement and players spouting off in the media; that’s second nature here. Those things don’t happen in England, you’re used to transfer fees and the teams having more control than the individual player.

I’m not shocked by the fact that a lot of Chelsea players now want to leave with Jose’s departure; in fact, I expected it and it’s a logical course of action for them. Do you really expect Ferreira and Carvalho, two Portuguese players, to stay at an English club now that their manager, a fellow countryman, isn’t there? Do you expect Lampard to stay when the only reason he came to Chelsea was to play for Mourinho? Yes, the name on their jersey does say Chelsea FC, but it’s naive of you to believe that every player dedicates themselves to their team. It’s a business, not a fairy tale. Players will go to the situation that’s best for them and their families, and without Mourinho, I completely understand why there will be a mass exodus at Stamford Bridge.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I don’t agree that my post was poorly written or researched.

There will be times when mistakes happen in my articles, I’m not perfect. And if you read through the past blog posts, you’ll notice that national newspapers such as The Guardian are also prone to making mistakes and not conducting good research, too.

When I wrote it at 7:11am ET today, there was no report of Lampard insinuating that he wanted to leave.

Philip,

I don’t feel that Chelsea players should be chained to the club and not allowed to leave. But I do think they at least owe the new manager a bit of respect and should try to play to the best capabilities rather than whine about a new manager.

Cheers,
The Gaffer

It’s not just the foreign players that are upset by Jose leaving. Considering the relationship he had with his players it’s understandable. Yet another poorly written/researched piece unfortunately a lot of people in States think you are the expert when it comes to the Preimer league which is not at all correct.

The only ‘allegiance’ that the Chelsea players have is to themselves, their families and their happiness in their employment. If they are unhappy in the way that a fellow employee has been treated they are fully within their rights to express their displeasure and to leave their place of work in a way that complies with all laws without being castigated.

How dare the author suggest that these players should stay in a job – for that’s what it is – that they are unhappy with just because they are footballers.

They are employees, nothing more nothing less, and if they want to leave they are fully within their rights and should do so.