what image?!
Chelsea FC, and their fans, have become the definition of shite. Hero worshipping a lying, selfish, ignorant fuck like Terry, tolerating the buuying and death threats to referees, directing their anger at the sacking of Di Matteo at his replacement because they are shit scared of upsetting their sugar daddy, the ony reason they have had success. This club finds new lows on a regular basis and makes United look like the Church of England in comparison. They have some true unpleasant scum, as there in every club, including ours, but the ease at which this dominant image is tolerated by the majority without backlash puts them at the top (or bottom) of the pile.
If Mourinho had come here, despite showing some 'lack of respect', apart from a minority, he would have been tolerated and supported I beleive, therein lies the difference in the clubs. It makes me regret somewhat the bile that was poured on Hodgson, who, and he had to go, did not deserve all the personal vitriol, excepting the fuuny stuff, that came his way.
Rafa is a good man, we know that, to see him treated like shit by grown adults for no good reason shows how far some parts of our society have sunk in the last 40 years or so.